Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 11/17/2011

Question
QUESTION: dear sire
In Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:16
because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus

Acts 10:48
And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized both men and.

and
Baptism was the name of Jesus and the disciples were all baptized in Jesus' name had not heard of Christ or the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.
How far is the baptism name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Gospel of Matthew and said a formula contrary to the apostles of Christ,so it was incorrect and false

ANSWER: Janet, Matthew is part of the inspired Word of God and cannot be false.  When you were baptized in the name of someone you were identifying with that person or doing it on their behalf.  

Acts 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. KJV

As we can see there was a baptism of John and then one of Jesus.

The tri-unity or trinity of the Godhead was hard for people to understand so that God inspired Matthew to add that formula is not surprising. It is both a teaching tool and stands against modalism and its current expression in Oneness doctrines as well as Gnostic theology.  

Oneness doctrine makes God look strange or even crazy. At the baptism of Christ there was clearly a voice from Heaven and the Spirit descended as a dove.  That scene makes no sense unless there is a trinity being represented.  Also, who is He praying to in the Garden? Himself?  Is He asking Himself to spare Himself the cup?  And how did He forsake Himself on the Cross?  He is not schizophrenic.  Jesus clearly spoke of going to the Father and coming from the Father showing the Father to be a separate personality and yet part of a Triune God.  He so said that the Spirit could not come until He went.  It is not the same person in three different roles.  That makes no sense.  

Even in the OT we see a trinity.

Isa 48:14-17

14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me .

17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. KJV

In this passage God is speaking and yet in verse 16 He says that the Lord God and His Spirit sent Him yet He is God.  So how many Gods are there?  The Scripture is replete with I am the Lord and there is none else type statements.  Yet, unless we have a trinity we see 3 Gods in this passage.  Two Gods with personality and authority sent the Lord thy God which teacheth thee.  That is a hard nut that Jews and Oneness folks cannot crack.  

I have included a link from an apologetic site that may also help you with this issue.  Just because man cannot always fully understand the nature and character of God as He has shown to us does not mean wee can change it to fit our small minds.  If we could throughly understand everything then we would be equal with God or at least on a much higher scale that we are now.

http://carm.org/religious-movements/oneness-pentecostal/must-baptism-be-jesus-na

May God grant you great discernment as you study the Word.  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: dear sire
you said that (God inspired Matthew to add that formula is not surprising).
this is wrong idea because In the Gospel of Matthew  Matthew not inspired by god because mattew wrote THE EVENTS AND JEUSE SAYS not meceived from god.
when matthew  said Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
these words were from jesus not mattew where mattew said the story and what jesus said not god gave mattew this this words.
 so   Matthew 28:19
     false

ANSWER: True, I misspoke that.  Matthew was inspired to write what Jesus said on the subject thus it is not a surprise that He expanded the formula for the teaching purpose and as a preemptive strike on the coming errors.    Therefore the formula was said by Christ so Matthew could not be in error as you originally stated.  That was where I was concentrating and got myself a bit turned around.  Old age can do that to you sometimes.  Thank you for your observation and allowing me to restate my point.  


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear sire
Question is: why apostles   did not baptize with the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? this not found in act but was the name of jesus? Why apostles    go against the teachings of Christ when he said, name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Because eleven  apostles   heard the formula of baptism from jesus and ignored it.
how this?
thank you

Answer
While we cannot say for sure since the Scripture is silent, I believe the problem is in considering Matthew as a formula rather than a doctrinal truth. It is not a mystical thing, but a doctrinal thing.  In their preaching the Apostles taught who the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are and so baptizing in the name of Jesus is the identification of Teacher (Jesus) with the Disciple/Student (The one baptized)and since the other two persons are intrinically a part of Jesus being they are the other two personages you are truly baptizing the person in the name (authority/identification) of all three.  The theology of the Trinity behind this does not need to be said in so many words at a baptism as long as the theology is know by the recipient of baptism.  Indeed, I believe that someone could be baptized without any words being said as long as the recipient knows why and for whom he is being baptized.  

It may be simliar to the misuse of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew, which is actually the Disciple's prayer since the outline or sample was given to the Disciples.  Jesus's main prayer is in John 17 and that really should be called the Lord's Prayer.  Nonetheless, the "Our Father" was not meant to be a repetitious mantra as it is commonly used but rather a basic outline of topics or a format to use our own thoughts in relation to the sample not mindless repetition.   

IF it were a specific formula that had to be said at every baptism then the Apostles would have used it as such.  Since we do not see them using it then we are not to be concerned for indeed their writings are also inspired by the same God who wrote Matthew.   Again, it may well have only been given in Matthew to mitigate against heresy and provide the proper theology of the Trinity to be expressed since He also taught them to teach the truth about the Gospel.  

May God be with you as you study.  I will be offline for a couple of days so I will not get back to you quickly if you have other questions.  I am sorry for the inconvenience.