I have reserved to myself 144,000 who will not bow to the image

Matthew 28:19 says: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

This text is typically understood to mean that when an apostle or minister baptizes someone, he is supposed to baptize them using the formula “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

But what is the record of the apostles who directly heard Jesus?

Acts 2:38 records the first time this command was carried out. Peter said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Peter instructed these people to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ rather than in the names of three separate persons.

In Acts 10:48, Peter “commanded [Cornelius and his brethren] to be baptized in the name of the Lord.”

From these verses it is plain that Peter didn’t understand Christ to have commanded him to baptize into a Trinity.

Peter must have understood the command of Jesus differently than most Trinitarians understand it today. As we continue in the book of Acts, we find that Peter was not alone in his understanding of this command.

When Peter and John came to Samaria they found a group of people who had been “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16).”

Let us also consider Paul, who claimed he received the gospel directly from Jesus Christ.

When he visited Ephesus and met some brethren who had only been baptized with John’s baptism, he instructed them about Christ, and the Bible says “when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5).”

There is no record in the Bible of anyone baptizing in three separate names of three individual persons. There are a few possibilities that could explain why the disciples always baptized in the name of Jesus:

1)      The disciples may have been in direct rebellion against Jesus.

2)      They may have misunderstood what he said.

3)      Matthew 28:19 may be a gloss. Perhaps Jesus never gave this command.

4)      The disciples understood the command of Jesus differently than most Trinitarians understand it today.

I do not believe that we can accept any of the first three possibilities, but the fourth statement offers a reasonable solution.

Jesus was not trying to teach us that God is a Trinity or he would have been contradicting other statements he had made and many statements made by other Bible writers.

This verse says nothing about God being three persons. However, Ephesians 4:6 says that there is “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” The Bible uses the phrase “God the Father” thirteen times, but it never says “God the Son” or “God the Holy Spirit.”   

To literally baptize someone in the name of a person we must know the person’s name. Yahweh (Jehovah or other similar spellings) is the personal name of the Father. Jesus (Yahshua or some other similar spellings) is the personal name of the Son, but the Scripture nowhere gives a name for the Holy Spirit. The Bible does not even hint that such a name exists, so we can see that Jesus was not giving a specific formula of words for the preacher to recite at a baptism.

We know this first of all because all the recorded examples of people baptizing after this command was given show that it was done in the name of Jesus and, secondly, because it would not be possible to literally baptize in the proper name of the Holy Spirit because the Bible makes no mention of such a name.                                                 

The word “name” in the Bible often refers to a person’s character. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel because his character had changed. The word “name” in Matthew 28:19 has reference to the character rather than the proper names of individuals.    

Once we realize that Christ was commissioning his disciples to baptize into the character of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, it is easier for us to understand his words. This command is closely connected with the command to teach.

Christ wants his disciples to understand the truth about God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three of these are vital in a Christian’s life. The Father loves us so much that he gave his Son to die for our sins, and he gives his Spirit to guide us in our lives. If a person lacks the knowledge and experience of any of these aspects, his relationship with God will suffer. This is why Christ specifically mentioned all three.      

 From this we can see that Matthew 28:19 certainly does not prove a Trinity nor does it prove that the Holy Spirit is a separate being from the Father and his Son. If we are to find proof of these doctrines in the Bible, we must look somewhere else.

Interestingly, there is evidence that a portion of this verse is a gloss just like portions of 1 John 5:7, 8. What a blessing that even if there are legitimate concerns about these verses they have not been distorted so as to teach error.

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