Matthew 28:19 “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.”
Another aspect of being baptised in water is that we are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. I have already quoted the above passage of scripture, but I will mention it here again; the reason being that there is much debate about whether we are to baptize in the name of Jesus, or if we are to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as our Lord instructed in this passage. The answer to that issue is that there is nothing wrong with baptizing as our Lord instructed, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as long as the name of Jesus is always used, for it is the name of Jesus that gives us the authority to perform the act of baptism. Scripture reveals to us that every act that we do in this life for the kingdom of God, we do in the name of Jesus. For example, we pray to God our Father in the name of Jesus (John 16:23), we receive the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus (John 14:26), we cast out demons in the name of Jesus (Mark 16:17), we heal the sick in the name of Jesus (Mark 16:18), and there are many other acts we do, but all of them we do in the name of Jesus. And so we also baptize in the name of Jesus.
Acts 8:16 “For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
There are numerous examples in scripture that confirm the precedent that when we baptise the Lord’s disciples, that we are to baptise them in the name of the Lord Jesus. In the passage of scripture quoted above we see that Philip the evangelist had gone to the city of Samaria and preached the gospel to them. As a result of his preaching multitudes were saved under his ministry, but this scripture reveals to us that none of his converts had yet been baptised with the Holy Spirit. However, this scripture does reveal to us that Philip had baptised all of his converts in water, and in so doing, Philip baptised them in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 19:5 “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
The second example that I have quoted above refers to the account when Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus to the twelve disciples of John the Baptist. This account reveals to us that after they believed the gospel and were born-again, Paul then baptised them in water. If you read the rest of the account in scripture you will see that after Paul baptised them in water that he laid hands on them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. But I want you to notice that when Paul baptised them in water, that he baptised them in the name of the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:12-15 “Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." (13) Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (14) I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, (15) lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.”
We have seen that the name of Jesus gives us the authority to baptize, but there is another aspect that we need to understand that takes place when we are baptized in His name. For baptism in His name also declares that we have become a part of the Lord Jesus. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul is dealing with divisions that had arisen in the church at Corinth. But I want you to notice from this passage, that he links baptism to the disciple declaring that they belong to the Lord Jesus. In explaining that concept to us Paul says that he only baptized a few disciples, just in case the disciples should say that they belonged to Paul, having been baptised in his name. And so we see that to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, is to publicly declare that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour and that we now belong to Him. Therefore, water baptism is also an outward declaration of that which has already taken place in the spirit when we are born-again and are baptised into Christ. The public declaration that we make when we are baptised in water is to the witnesses that are present in the natural, but there is also one other very important category of witnesses that are present when we make our public declaration, which is the spirit realm. The witnesses in the spirit realm are the angels of God and also Satan and his angels.
Michael E.B. Maher
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