Matthew 28:19

by Mike James

Throughout my years in the Church of God, I have heard different ideas about the following scripture (Matthew 28:19):

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (KJV)

“Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: (ASV)

“having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them -- to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, (YLT)

The Greek word used here for “in,” “into,” and “to” is eis. The word is a primary preposition and indicates the point reached or entered of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose.

The significant expression in verse 19 is the phrase “in the name of.” In Greek it is eis to onoma, an expression only used here in the entire New Testament. Literature from that time period in Greek has been found with this expression and shows its full meaning: “The phrase…is frequent in the papyri with reference to payments made ‘to the account of any one’…. The usage is of interest in connection with Mt. 28:19, where the meaning would seem to be ‘baptized into the possession of the Father, etc.’” (J.Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, p. 451).

According to the Worldwide Church of God bible correspondence course lesson 10: Matthew 28:19 simply means that when we receive the Spirit of God, we automatically, through this miraculous begettal, become unborn children in the divine family called “God.” This becomes our “baptism” or immersion into both the family and power of God or into sonship, brotherhood (with Christ) and their inherent blessings.

This is in addition to our immersion into the spiritual “body of Christ,” both occurring at the same time.

This scripture is often used by Trinitarians as a proof text that God is a Trinity. But be careful with proof texts. Always make sure you are looking at all the scriptures on a biblical topic and not just a few. Greater clarity comes when you sift through all the relevant scriptures on God considering this scripture.

There is another aspect to this discussion too.

Some in the Church over the years have argued that the verse in question is not in the oldest manuscripts. But this is more of a theory than fact.

All the full manuscripts we do have date back to the 4th century. In none of these manuscripts is there any variation in Matthew 28:19. Yet there are other variations between these manuscripts.

Some of the older papyri (partial manuscripts prior to the 4th century) do not have this verse in them, but they are also missing other parts of the text of Matthew. So we can’t use the older documents to judge anything related to Matthew 28:19.

But we do have written Christian data prior to the 4th century that can weigh in on this controversy. For example, in the Didache (a book about Christian practices) which was written between 60 and 150 A.D., we find the familiar mentioning to baptize, “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

In the First Apology (around 155 A.D.) by Justin Martyr, he mentions baptism with this line: “receive washing in water in the name of God the Father and Master of all, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.”

In his book, Against Heresies by Iraneaus (180 A.D.), we read the following: “…And again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into God, he said to them, ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’…”

The conspiracy theory idea states the Church historian Eusebius quoted a shorter version of Matthew 28:19 before the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and then after 325 A.D. quoted the better-known version. I will have more to say about this in a coming article.

Another argument proponents of the conspiracy theory make has to do with the book of Acts. In Acts, there are four scriptures (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 10:47-48; Acts 19:5-6) that address being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus or Jesus Christ only. In these four scriptures, the Father and the Holy Spirit are not mentioned.

According to Everett Ferguson, this is why that may be: The phrases in Acts may not, however, reflect alternative formulas in the administration of baptism or alternative understandings of the meaning of the act. In some cases the description in Acts may mean a baptism administered on a confession of Jesus as Lord and Christ (cf. Acts 22:16), or it may be a general characterization of the baptism as related to Jesus and not a formula pronounced at the baptism. In the later history the only formula regularly attested as pronounced by the administrator includes the triune name, but in Matthew it too may be descriptive rather than formulaic. If Matthew 28:19 is not a formula, then there is no necessary contradiction to the description “in the name of the Lord” in Acts and Paul. (Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2009) p. 136).

For those of you who have an interest in this topic, I will be writing a much lengthier article in the next edition of the International News.

Sources: “Matthew 28:19,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_28:19#:~:text=Matthew%2028%3A19%20is%20the,disciples%20with%20the%20trinitarian%20formula.

“Is Matthew 28:19 A Forgery?” by Sean Finnegan on Restitutio.org in biblicalunitarian, https://www.biblicalunitarian.com/articles/is-matthew-2819-a-forgery

“Is Matthew 28:19 Legitimate or Spurious? By Jason Smith, June 12, 2018, https://asitreads.com/2018-2-7-is-matthew-2819-legitimate-or-spurious/

“Should You Be Baptized?” Ambassador College Correspondence Course, Worldwide Church of God, Lesson 10, 1977.