Baptism in the Name of Christ
Rev. Steve Marlowe
New Testament baptisms in the name of YAHSHUA. The New Testament describes baptism, as performed by the apostles, as done by submersion, fully in water, and always done in the name of YAHSHUA. The word baptize is a Greek word, “baptizo,” meaning to be submerged in water. John the Baptist needed a place with a lot of water for baptism.
As we read in John 3:23,
“Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptized.”
Now, remember the name “Jesus” did not exist in the time of Christ, as this name came into existence by the tongue of man and not by the revelation of God in the 17th century. Based on the Scriptures, the Bible, we know that the name of our Savior, the only begotten Son of God, is YAHSHUA.
Next, we come to the famous baptism of an Ethiopian man whom the apostle Philip was witnessing to, and…
In Acts 8:37-39, we read, “Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that YAHSHUA the Christ is the Son of God.’” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.”
What this tells us, is that the ritual of sprinkling water, in the performance of baptisms, was not practiced by the apostles, and that sprinkling of water baptisms was not done until centuries later.
YAHSHUA was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness.
We read in John 3:13-17,
“Then YAHSHUA came from Galilee to John at the Jordan (river) to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’
But YAHSHUA answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
When He had been baptized, YAHSHUA came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The apostle Peter tells us that baptism in the name of YAHSHUA saves us. Baptism is the outward expression of solidarity with Christ, in that we died with Him, as demonstrated by the emersion of baptism, and that we will rise up, as it were, out of the water. Baptism is the antitype of sin.
We read in 1 Peter 3:21-22, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of YAHSHUA the Christ, who has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Submersion into the water represents the death of the old, sinful carnal self and the rising out of the water as the birth of a new, spiritual being. We share in our baptism YAHSHUA’S death and resurrection.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-14, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into the Messiah YAHSHUA were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in the Messiah YAHSHUA our LORD.”
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Therefore, to be baptized is by immersion, and this is to be done by ordained Ministry in YAHSHUA’s name. For a bonafide baptism is to be done by one, who has sincerely repented of all sins, and this is to be preceded before one’s baptism, followed by the laying on of hands to receive, by the prayers of the elders, the Holy Spirit of God.
We read in Acts 2:36-41, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this YAHSHUA, whom you crucified, both LORD and Messiah.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Then Peter said to them, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of YAHSHUA the Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the LORD our God will call.”
And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”
Peter gives a declaration to Israel to repent and be baptized in the name of YAHSHUA. Most people are unaware of the two houses of the Hebrews, namely the House of Israel and the House of Judah, the latter being the Jews. Most believe that this declaration was to Israel in general, and while that is not an inaccurate statement, one recalls the statement given by YAHSHUA to His disciples when they asked Him to send a Canaanite woman away for incessantly calling after Him, while He ignored her. He gives a seemingly exclusive answer to His disciples, and it could be interpreted to be anti-Gentile, which we know is not true.
We read in Matthew 15:21-24, “Then YAHSHUA went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaanite (descent) came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
23 But He answered her, not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The people in Judea, Galilee, and surrounding areas were of the House of Judah, not the House of Israel. And yes, Jews are of Israel, but not all Israelites are Jewish. Three things could make you a Jew.
To be a descendant of Judah, the son of Jacob, who is called Israel.
To be of the Kingdom of Judah
To be of the religious system of the Jews.
What of the House of Israel?
Abraham is the ancestral progenitor of the Hebrew people, which includes both houses of Israel and Judah. The children of Jacob were known as Hebrews, and are the descendants of Shem, son of Noah. The Canaanites are the descendants of Ham, son of Noah, however, they are a very different people from the Hebrews. Few people know the history of ancient Israel and Judah, which spans from their early appearance, that is the return of the children of Israel from Egypt where they sojourned for a few hundred years, after first leaving Canaan. The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. These Israelites destroyed the kingdom of the Canaanites and most of its people. Israel became a kingdom of twelve tribes. Centuries later, two kingdoms emerged, the Kingdom of Israel, also known as the House of Israel, in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south, also known as the House of Judah (Bienkowski, Piotr; Millard, Alan, 2000, British Museum Dictionary of the Ancient Near East; British Museum Press, pp. 157–158).
According to the Bible, a "United Monarchy" of Israel existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of King Saul, King David, and King Solomon. The kingdom was divided into two kingdoms: Israel, with its Capital in the city of Samaria, in the north, and Judah, holding to the capital of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple, in the south. Historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCE and c. 850 BCE, respectively (Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher, The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories [1st Touchstone ed.], New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001). The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE when it was conquered by the Assyrian Empire (British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle 605–594 BCE, Archived). While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first the Assyrian Empire and then the Babylonian Empire. However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem between 589 and 586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon; this event was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles. The exilic period saw the development of the Israelite religion from Monolatrian theology to a Monotheistic theology, a strict monotheism, which today is monotheistic Judaism developed from 605 BCE.
Monolatry is the worship of only one God although other gods are recognized as existing (Frank E. Eakin, Jr., The Religion and Culture of Israel, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971, p. 70).
The early Israelites were Monolatrian as evidenced from the Bible, for we read Deuteronomy 10:17, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome…” And again, in Psalms 136:2, “Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.”
Since they are not Jews, where is the House of Israel now?
We read in Jeremiah 16:14-15, “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
And in Jeremiah 16:16-17, we understand better what YAHSHUA meant when in Matthew 4:18-19, “And YAHSHUA, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Let us continue with Jeremiah 16:16-17,
“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them, and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.”
More on the two Houses at another time…
After one is baptized in the first-century church, the elders would gather around the one baptized and lay their hands upon him, as we read in 1 Timothy 4:14, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.”
Is baptism really necessary?
Will let our Lord and Savior answer, as we read in John 3:5-6, “YAHSHUA answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ‘Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.’ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
The apostle Paul only recognized one’s baptism in the name of YAHSHUA, as he writes, in Romans 6:3-4, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Messiah YAHSHUA were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Many Christians today are swayed into thinking diversity is more acceptable, but Christianity is not about diversity. The apostle Paul states it this way, as we read in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord {YAHSHUA}, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” by the Holy Spirit of the Father. In this single statement, the apostle Paul demolishes today’s ecumenism and widespread belief in diversity. Only one body of believers, that is one faith, one baptism, as it is according to the Gospel, and as practiced by the apostles of Christ.
What is Ecumenism?
Ecumenism is the concept that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any group of Christians, who take the initiative and thereby encourage greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches.
The fact that all Christians belonging to mainstream Christianity profess faith in Jesus, a name never revealed by God, and has only existed since the 17th century, and even though they believe that the Bible is inspired by God (John 1:1), however, they receive baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which the disciples of Christ did not believe. Yes, believing that the Bible is inspired by the LORD is very good, and faith in the name of Jesus, and baptisms done by the Trinitarian formula are problematic, and yet this is seen as being a basis for ecumenism and its goal of Christian unity. Ecumenists cite John 17:20–23, which quotes YAHSHUA, and we read, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
This serves as the biblical grounds for striving for church unity, in which YAHSHUA prays "may all be one" in order "that the world may know" and believe the Gospel message. But until all come to truly understand the Word of God, as it is in the Bible, we cannot possibly become one.
What is wrong with the Trinity formula in Baptism?
There is only one place in the New Testament where Christ is believed to have commanded His disciples to baptize according to the Trinitarian formula. We find this in Matthew 28:19, and we read, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
Well, there is no doubt that the disciples did as the Lord commanded, right? And even if they forgot that He even said this, that is “...baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit…” the promise of the Holy Spirit would remind them, right? It is right here in John 14:25-26, and we read, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Except the apostles never baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost in the New Testament!
All baptisms in the New Testament were done in the name of YAHSHUA. They were not done in the name of Jesus because that name was never known by them, the very apostles and disciples of Christ. This is a historic fact. The well-known historian Ernest Renan acknowledges this in his book, The Life of Jesus, p. 90. There is no evidence in the New Testament of any baptisms done using the Trinitarian formula. All baptisms were done in the name, by which they knew the Messiah, YAHSHUA.
All Scriptures in the New Testament testify to believers being baptized in the name of YAHSHUA only.
Acts 2:38, and we read, "Then Peter said to them, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of YAHSHUA the Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:16, and we read, “For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord YAHSHUA.”
Acts 10:48, and we read, “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.”
Acts 19:5, and we read, “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord YAHSHUA.”
Acts 22:16, and we read, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
Romans 6:3, and we read, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ YAHSHUA were baptized into His death?”
Galatians 3:27, and we read, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
There is no evidence in the New Testament that the Church of Christ in the 1st century of any baptisms done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
What are we to make of this? Is Matthew 28:19 authentic? Is there any evidence to the contrary that Christ never said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”?
Let us turn to the earliest church historian Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea, he was born around 260 AD and died on May 30, 339. He was the official Church historian of Christianity. In about the year AD 314, he became the bishop of Caesarea in the Roman province of Syria Palestine. Eusebius was a scholar of the biblical canon and is regarded as one of the most learned Christians during late antiquity. He was known as the "Father of Church History," and he produced the Ecclesiastical History, The History of the Church, which is now a Penguin Classics Book, published in 1967, and we note p. 68.
Eusebius quotes Matthew 28:19, and we read, “Go and make disciples in My name.” He quotes from an ancient text of The Gospel According to Matthew, and there is nothing mentioned of baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”!
Therefore, the apostles were never commanded by Christ to baptize using the Trinitarian formula.
Historian H. G. Wells in his noted work, The Outline of History, writes, “There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the Trinity–at any rate from him” (Vol. 2, p. 499).
And finally, a quote from Martin Luther, It is indeed true that the name ‘Trinity’ is nowhere to be found in the Holy Scriptures, but has been conceived and invented by man” (The Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 3, 1988, p. 406).
THE END
