THOUGHTS ON MATTHEW 28:19 by G. W. A.

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 29, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 5

THOUGHTS ON MATTHEW 28:19.

By G. W. A.

BY G. W. A.

In this text our Lord commands that the nations of the earth be baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Question: Does not being baptized “in the name of the Father,” signify that our purposes and acts are in harmony with the Father’s holy will? Now, can persons, in the fullest sense of this passage, be baptized into the name of the Father, who are knowingly or ignorantly living in disobedience to the Father’s law? This law, the ten commandments, is a transcript of his mind. By obedience to it, through faith in the blood of Christ, we are brought near to God. But what about that baptism where individuals are baptized into the error of the observance of a false Sabbath? Can such, in letter and spirit, in the highest sense of the great commission, be baptized in the name of the Father?

Again, persons are to be baptized “in the name of the Son.” Does not this, also, signify that we are to be one with the Son? But how can any one in the complete sense of the text be baptized “in the name of the Son,” who wholly ignores some of the plainest requirements of the “faith of Jesus”? The “rejected ordinance” of John thirteen might be instanced as one particular, though many others could be mentioned.

Finally, persons are to be baptized “in the name of the Holy Spirit.” Now, in all candor, can a person in the fullest sense of this passage be baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time deny the perpetuity of the gifts of the Spirit of God? This

idea might be greatly protracted, but the bare suggestion seems sufficient.

Do not the above suggestions have an important bearing on the subject of re-baptism?