For those that left the UPC...

[missourimary]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

The "convert" happens to be Saul of Tarsus giving an account of his life and his salvation.

Yes, that's what I just said. He was telling what Ananias told him right after his Damascus road experience. Ananias told him to call on the name of the Lord in baptism, not to make sure someone baptized him in Jesus' name.

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

A beautiful story wherein Saul had come to the realization of who this Jesus really was. Ananias was, in effect, saying the same thing that was instructed in Acts 2:21 "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Exactly. And doesn't that verse still mean the same today?

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

Every other account of baptism doesn't give the impression that the person being baptized is saying anything at all. There are more scriptures that appear to be showing that the one baptizing is the one invoking the wording - in the name of Jesus.

Acts 8:16 "(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Acts 10:48 "And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days."

Acts 19:5 "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."B]

The thing is, if the exact formula needed to be stated, wouldn't the verses read with quotations as follows:

Acts 8:16 "(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus".)

Acts 10:48 "And he commanded them to be baptized "in the name of the Lord". Then prayed they him to tarry certain days."

Acts 19:5 "When they heard this, they were baptized 'in the name of the Lord Jesus'."

Of course, we aren't reading the text in the original, and I understand that. It's just that the verses are grammatically incorrect if they were intended to direct a specific phrase invoked over candidates at baptism.

I have also wondered why, if it was so important what was said at baptism, none of the epistles were written including a reminder about baptizing a certain way or in a certain formula.


We certainly are off topic.

For the record, I was baptized in Jesus' name. I'm not arguing for a Trinitarian formula. But sometimes I think our logic on why we do certain things is off. We get so good at hitting "play back" and spouting off a few verses on certain topics, we sometimes forget to really look at them in depth.