Jesus is the only saving name, the name in which we receive - TopicsExpress

Jesus is the only saving name, the name in which we receive remission of sins, the highest name made known to us, and the name in which we are to say and do all things (Acts 4:12; 10:4-3; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 3:17). Thus the one supreme, saving name of Matthew 28:19 is Jesus. We are to fulfill the command of that verse as the Early Church did, by invoking the name of Jesus at baptism. The Historical Record Respected historical sources verify that the early Christian church did not use a threefold baptismal formula but invoked the name of Jesus in baptism well into the second and third centuries. • Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (1951), II, 384, 389: The formula used was in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ or some synonymous phrase; there is no evidence for the use of the trine name. . . . The earliest form, represented in the Acts, was simple immersion . . . in water, the use of the name of the Lord, and the laying on of hands. To these were added, at various times and places which cannot be safely identified, (a) the trine name (Justin), . . • Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (1962), I, 351: The evidence ...suggests that baptism in early Christianity was administered, not in the threefold name, but in the name of Jesus Christ or in the name of the Lord Jesus. • Otto Heick, A History of Christian Thought (1965), I, 87: At first baptism was administered in the name of Jesus, but gradually in the name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. • Hastingss Dictionary of the Bible (1898), I, 24-1: (One could conclude that) the original form of words was into the name of Jesus Christ or the Lord Jesus: Baptism into the name of the Trinity was a later development. • Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church (1947), page 58: The trinitarian baptismal formula . . . was displacing the older baptism in the name of Christ. • The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia (1957), I, 435: The New Testament knows only baptism in the name of Jesus . . . , which still occurs even in the second and third centuries. • Canneys Encyclopedia of Religions (1970), page 53: Persons were baptized at first in the name of Jesus Christ . . . or in the name of the Lord Jesus: . . . . Afterwards, with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, they were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. • Encyclopedia Bibilca (1899), I 4-73: It is natural to conclude that baptism was administered in the earliest times in the name of Jesus Christ; or in the name of the Lord Jesus: . . . This view is confirmed by the fact that the earliest forms of the baptismal confession appear to have been single-not triple, as was the later creed. • The Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 263: The baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church in the second century. Christians today should use the biblical baptismal formula as found in the New Testament. Everyone should be baptized by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Therefore, one being baptized in Jesus Name became His personal property. That is why the scriptures said, Ye are Christs. Now, from the New International Encyclopedia, Volume 22, page 40: The term trinity was originated by Tertullian, a Roman Catholic Church Father.