“Is it heresy to baptize only in the name of Jesus Christ?”

January 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: Is it heresy to baptize a person in the name of Jesus Christ rather than in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

ANSWER: Shortly before returning to glory our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth. They were therefore to go and “make disciples of all the nations” and baptize “them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:18-20 NKJV ).

Notice that our Lord said “name,” not “names.” Our God is one God, but He exists as three divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These divine Persons are absolutely equal and work in full harmony, yet each has His own role, characteristics and attributes. We do well to keep the Persons separate, not confounding them or the work the Bible ascribes to each one.

We do not intrinsically understand the divine mystery of God being both three and one, but we accept this as being that which God’s Word teaches us. Indeed, no true Christian can reject this doctrine; it is fundamental to the faith and differentiates Christianity from religions such as Islam or Judaism, which are also termed monotheistic religions.

The standard wording Christians use when baptizing a new convert is to say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This in a sense puts the individual being baptized on Christian ground. Often when baptizing someone the baptizer asks the one being baptized whether or not he or she has accepted the Lord Jesus as his or her own Savior. Once hearing the assent, the baptizer may say, “Upon your confession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

These words are not a kind of spiritual formula that must be recited word for word to make a baptism valid. Ungodly people can recite words correctly. True Christianity does not rest upon words correctly spoken, but upon faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith in Him and acceptance of what Scripture teaches about God, baptism would only be a mockery. Baptisms are often mentioned in the Acts, less so in the Epistles. Most of these references to baptism simply speak of people being baptized.

Scripture sometimes uses other terminology in connection with baptism. After preaching his powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter told those who “were cut to the heart” by it and had asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” to “repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:37-38). Those in his audience were Jews. Less than two months before this the Jews – perhaps even some of these very individuals – had cried out, “Let Him be crucified” and, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Mt. 27:22-25). Peter told these Jews to “be saved from this perverse generation,” and those who accepted what he said were baptized (Acts 2:40-41). By this action they identified with Jesus Christ whom the Jews had so thoroughly hated and crucified. This was vital.

Gentiles who were saved had largely been idol worshipers. The Thessalonians are commended for having “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Th. 1:9-10). The baptismal formula the Lord gave His disciples in Matthew 28 is especially in view of their going to and making disciples of all the nations. Earlier the Lord had restricted His disciples from going to the nations (Mt. 10:5), but now they must go to them – something they found difficult as Jews. Cornelius, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always,” was commanded “to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:2,48).

The disciples that Paul found at Ephesus in Acts 19:1-7 evidently were Jews, for they had been baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist. When Paul told them that the One of whom John spoke was Christ Jesus, “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Looking at the many examples we find in the New Testament, we come to the conclusion that it certainly is not heresy to baptize a believer solely in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! While we do well to stay close to the language of Scripture, the words used in baptizing a person do not in themselves make a baptism valid or invalid.

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.