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Sam
09-09-2010, 04:09 PM
Just wondering.

I realize some say that Matthew 28:19 is not inspired by God but was added by the Roman Catholics about 300 years after the death of Jesus and should be removed from our Bibles or revised, but for purposes of discussion, let's say we leave it in there.

In context, here is the verse
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20 KJV

There are various teachings among oneness pentecostals.

Some say that the name of the Father is Lord, the name of the Son is Jesus, and the name of the Holy Ghost is Christ and therefore our triune God has a triune name i.e. "Lord Jesus Christ"

Some say our Lord is both man and God, human and divine, a dual nature or dual something else/whatever and that the name of His humanity is Jesus and the name of His deity is Jesus.

Some say that there is only one name shared by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and that one name is Jesus.

There may be other oneness theological opinions that I can't remember right now.

Anyway, most OP's are quite adamant that terms like "Father" and "Son" and "Holy Ghost" are titles and not names and therefore should not be used in the water baptism ritual even if used in connection with "THE NAME".

My two questions are:
1. Aren't terms like Lord and Christ/Messiah/Anointed also titles?
2. If we should not vocalize words or titles like "Father" or "Son" or "Holy Ghost" as part of the baptism ritual, is it OK to vocalize words like "Lord" or "Christ"?

TGBTG
09-09-2010, 04:37 PM
My two questions are:
1. Aren't terms like Lord and Christ/Messiah/Anointed also titles?
2. If we should not vocalize words or titles like "Father" or "Son" or "Holy Ghost" as part of the baptism ritual, is it OK to vocalize words like "Lord" or "Christ"?

I believe it has more to do with who we believe Jesus to be than the name/names/titles. IOW, I believe Jesus to be the Father, Son , and Holy Ghost, therefore I understand the baptism command as in the "NAME" not as "in the name". So whether it is Jesus Christ (or Lord Jesus or Lord Jesus Christ), I understand it as referring to the same person.

However, a trinitarian generally (emphasis on generally) will not want to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (or Lord Jesus or Lord Jesus Christ) because he feels that he has excluded two-thirds of the Godhead. They see Jesus name baptism as baptizing only into the Son (while excluding the Father and the Holy Spirit).
If I see Jesus as the fulness of God, then I want to take his name in baptism.
If I see Jesus as the 2nd person in the Godhead, then I sure don't want to exclude the 1st and 3rd persons in my public display of christian faith

So to iterate, I do not believe it is necessarily the words spoken during baptism as much as who the baptizee believes Jesus to be.