Question?

[ILG]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

If such is true, uttering the name of Jesus for any reason then becomes unnecessary.

Jesus is a real, living being, currently in heaven at the right hand of God. It's not enough to just presume that we have the authority represented by His Name. We must exercise that authority by invoking It.

When I baptize people in the name of Jesus Christ, it's not just me uttering a ritualistic phrase or incantation. When I am baptizing someone in the name of Jesus Christ, and I speak the name out loud, I, along with the immersed, am calling on the name of the Lord in faith for the person's salvation, simply because there is salvation in no other Name.

All who CALL upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This requires using the voice and speaking the Name. The idea that the immerser just pushes a person underwater, saying nothing just doesn't match up to the requirements of Scripture.

When Paul cast the spirit of divination out of the "damsel", he verbally called out and commanded the spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus. He didn't just silently cast out the demon because he had been authorized by the One who bears that Name.

You can do all of those things, but if you tell a person "unless you are baptized with a preacher saying the name Jesus over top of you, you are lost" I think you are wrong and unbiblical.