BAPTIZED “INTO” HIS NAME
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
The name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost in the New Testament is Jesus. The apostles understood this and baptized people in the Name of Jesus. In Acts 19, Luke recounts Paul’s encounter with the twelve men in Ephesus who, like Apollos, were zealous followers of John the Baptist’s teaching of repentance but
weren’t conversant with the baptism of Jesus.
After Paul’s dialogue with them, the Bible says “… they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5). It further makes it evident that the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost is Jesus. But
something else that isn’t immediately obvious in Paul’s encounter with those twelve disciples in Ephesus is when he asked them: “…Unto what then were ye baptized…” (Acts 19:3).
The word “unto” is from the same Greek word as “into.” So, when you’re baptized, you’re baptized “into” something. In essence, Paul was asking those men, “Into what then were you baptized?” This suggests something deeper than just being immersed in water for baptism.
The connotation of that verse is better deciphered in some newer translations such as the NIV. It says, “On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” When you’re baptized in water, you’re baptized into Jesus Christ, not just in the name; that’s the significance of it.
Apart from the minister who’s baptizing you in the Name of the Lord Jesus, which is one part of it, the most significant thing is actually being baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus. Water baptism, therefore, seals the legal aspect of your union with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Blessed be God!
PRAYER
Thank you, Father, for giving us the Name of Jesus to live in, and to live by. I’m baptized into Christ, and I’ve become inseparably one with Him, for in Him I live, move and have my being! I live in, and by, the Name of Jesus, and I rule and dominate my world by the power of that
Name. Glory to God!
FURTHER STUDY:
Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 10:47-48
1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Hebrews 4:1-13 & Jeremiah 41-43
2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Peter 2:13-25 & Ezekiel 35
