Scriptural Basis for Jesus-Name Baptism:

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 20:31 (ESV)

"But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

Luke 24:46-47 (ESV)

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Acts 2:36-38 (ESV)

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 4:10-12 (ESV)

"let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

Acts 8:12-17 (ESV)

But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:44-48 (ESV)

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…

Acts 19:2-7 (ESV)

And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

1 Peter 3:18-22 (ESV)

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. "

Romans 6:2-4 (ESV)

... "How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

Colossians 2:11-14 (ESV)

"In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."

1 Corinthians 1:13-15 (ESV) 

"Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name."

1 Corinthians 6:11 (ESV)

"But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

Hebrews 6:1-8 (Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation)

"Because of this, we should leave the starting point of the word of Christ and we should come to maturity. Or will you again lay another foundation for repentance from dead works and for the faith that is in God and for the doctrine of baptism and of the laying on of  hands and for the resurrection from the dead and for eternal judgement?  If the LORD permits, we will do this. But they are not able, those who once have gone down into baptism and have tasted the gift that is from heaven and have received the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the age that is to come, to sin again and to be renewed to repentance from the beginning and to crucify to disparage the Son of God from the beginning. For the earth, which drinks the rain that comes to it many times and produces the green herb that is useful to those because of whom it was cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorn and thistles, it is rejected and is not far away from a curse, but rather its end is fire."

The Name of Jesus

Jesus in the Origianal Languages

Hebrew: Yeshua, Y'suah or Yehoshua (ישוע or יְהוֹשֻׁעַ)

Aramaic: Yeshuʿ or Yisho (ܝܫܘܥ )

​Greek: Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς)

Latin: Iesu

Meaning of the Jesus name

There have been various proposals as to the literal etymological meaning of the name Yəhôšuaʿ (Joshua, Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎), including Yahweh/Yehowah saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help.​

The  Greek name Iēsous comes from Hebrew/Aramaic and means "healer or physician, and saviour."

Variations of Jesus name in English

John Wycliffe (1380s) used the spelling Ihesus and also used Ihesu. Tyndale in the 16th century has the occasional Iesu. The 1611 King James Version uses Iesus throughout, regardless of syntax. 'J' was once a variant of 'I'. 'J' and 'I' were not considered to be a separate letter until the 1629 Cambridge 1st Revision King James Bible where "Jesus" 1st appeared. Jesu came to be used in English, especially in hymns.

Jesu (/ˈdʒiːzuː/ JEE-zoo; from Latin Iesu) is sometimes used as the vocative of Jesus in English.

Jesus is the Model for Our Salvation

Jesus died, was buried and was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

• Repentance is symbolic of death

• Water baptism is symbolic of burial

• Reciveiving the Holy Spirit is symbolic of being raised from the dead (being born again)

We must die and be buried with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:2-4)

• We die to sin / repent (Rom 6:2)

• We are buried with Christ in baptism (Rom 6:2-4, Col 2:11-14)

• We are born again by recieving the Holy Spirt confirming our hope in the ressurrection from the dead (Rom 6:4)

• We believe that if we die and are buried with Christ that we will also be raised with Christ

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)

Why Baptism in Jesus Name?

• We are buried with Christ in baptism (Rom 6:2-4, Col 2:11-14)

• Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God (Luke 4:41, John 4:25-26, John 20:31)

• Through Jesus we receive adoption as sons of God (Rom 8:29, Gal 4:4-5, Eph 1:5, Heb 2:8-13)

• Jesus is the only name given among men by which we might be saved. (John 4:11-12, John 4:16, Acts 4:11-12, Acts 10:42-43)

• The Father loves Jesus and has given all things into his hands (John 3:35, John 13:3, John 17:2, Matt 28:18, 1Cor 15:27)

• Jesus is the one mediator between God and man (1Tim 2:5-6, Heb 8:6, Heb 9:15, Heb 12:24)

• Jesus is our Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Heb 2:17, Heb 3:1-6, Heb 4:14-15, Heb 5:5-6, Heb 7:26, Heb 8:1-2, Heb 9:24, Heb 10:19-21)

• God has exalted Jesus above all other names (Phil 2:8-11, Eph 1:20-22, Acts 2:36, Acts 5:30-31, 1Cor 8:5-6, Rom 10:9-13)

• God has appointed Jesus to be judge over the world (Acts 10:42, Acts 17:30-31, 2Cor 5:10)

• Jesus is the plan hidden for ages in God to unite all things to himself (Eph 1:3-11, Eph 3:9-11, 1Thes 5:9-10, 2 Tim 1:8-10)

Why not baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?"

• There are many compelling reasons for baptizing in the name of Jesus, as noted in the above sections

• Baptizing in the trinitarian formula loses the symbolic meaning of dying and being buried with Christ

• Jesus is the name by which we have access to the Father and recieve the Holy Spirit

• In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which chronicles the growth of the early church, the apostles only preached Jesus name baptism and baptized in Jesus name

• The earliest Christians within the 1st and early 2nd century baptized in Jesus name

• Early church fathers attest that Jesus name baptism was acceptable (as an alternative to the trinitarian formula of Matt 28:19)

• Modern scholarship asserts that the trinitarian formula of Matt 28:19 is not likely original to Matthew but was added later

Bible Footnotes and References Regarding Matthew 28:19

The Jerusalem Bible, 1966

It may be that this formula, so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the liturgical usage established later in the primitive community. It will be remembered that the Acts speak of baptizing "in the name of Jesus."

New Revised Standard Version

Modern critics claim this formula is falsely ascribed to Jesus and that it represents later (Catholic) church tradition, for nowhere in the book of Acts (or any other book of the Bible) is baptism performed with the name of the Trinity...

James Moffett's New Testament Translation

It may be that this (Trinitarian) formula, so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the (Catholic) liturgical usage established later in the primitive (Catholic) community, It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptizing "in the name of Jesus."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, page 2637

"Matthew 28:19 in particular only canonizes a later ecclesiastical situation, that its universalism is contrary to the facts of early Christian history, and its Trinitarian formula (is) foreign to the mouth of Jesus."

The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, I, page 275

"It is often affirmed that the words in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost are not the ipsissima verba [exact words] of Jesus, but...a later liturgical addition."

A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, J. Hastings, 1906, page 170

It is doubted whether the explicit injunction of Matt. 28:19 can be accepted as uttered by Jesus. ...But the Trinitarian formula in the mouth of Jesus is certainly unexpected.

Britannica Encyclopedia, 11th Edition, Volume 3, page 365

“Baptism was changed from the name of Jesus to words Father, Son & Holy Ghost in 2nd Century.”

The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 1, 1992, page 585

"The historical riddle is not solved by Matthew 28:19, since, according to a wide scholarly consensus, it is not an authentic saying of Jesus"

The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, page 351

Matthew 28:19 "... has been disputed on textual grounds, but in the opinion of many scholars the words may still be regarded as part of the true text of Matthew. There is, however, grave doubt whether thy may be the ipsissima verba of Jesus. The evidence of Acts 2:38; 10:48 (cf. 8:16; 19:5), supported by Gal. 3:27; Rom 6:3, suggest 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." This is difficult to reconcile with the specific instructions of the verse at the end of Matthew.”

The Dictionary of the Bible, 1947, page 83

"It has been customary to trace the institution of the practice (of baptism) to the words of Christ recorded in Matthew 28:19. But the authenticity of this passage has been challenged on historical as well as on textual grounds. It must be acknowledged that the formula of the threefold name, which is here enjoined, does not appear to have been employed by the primitive Church”

The Evidence of Eusebius

• Eusebius Pamphili, or Eusebius of Caesarea was born about 270 A.D. and died about 340 A.D.
•  Eusebius, to whose zeal we owe most of what is known of the history of the New Testament" (Dr. Westcott, General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament, page 108).
• "Eusebius, the greatest Greek teacher of the Church and most learned theologian of his time... worked untiringly for the acceptance of the pure word of the New Testament as it came from the Apostles. Eusebius...relies throughout only upon ancient manuscripts" (E. K. in the Christadelphian Monatshefte, Aug 1923; Fraternal Visitor, June 1924)
• "Eusebius Pamphilius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, a man of vast reading and erudition, and one who has acquired immortal fame by his labors in ecclesiastical history, and in other branches of theological learning."... he lived in great intimacy with the martyr Pamphilius, a learned and devout man of Caesarea, and founder of an extensive library there, from which Eusebius derived his vast store of learning." (J. L. Mosheim, editorial footnote).
• In his library, Eusebius must have habitually handled codices of the Gospels older by two hundred years than the earliest of the great uncials that we have now in our libraries" (The Hibbert Journal, October., 1902)
• Eusebius was eyewitness of an unaltered Book of Matthew that was likely an early copy near to the original Matthew.
• Eusebius quotes the early book of Matthew that he had in his library in Caesarea. Eusebius informs us of Jesus' actual words to his disciples in the original text of Matthew 28:19: "With one word and voice He said to His disciples: "Go, and make disciples of all nations in My Name, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
• The MSS which Eusebius inherited from his predecessor, Pamphilus, at Caesarea in Palestine, some at least preserved the original reading, in which there was no mention either of Baptism or of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It is evident that this was the text found by Eusebius in the very ancient codices collected fifty to a hundred and fifty years before his birth by his great predecessors (F.C. Conybeare, Hibbert Journal, 1902, p 105)

Quotes from Eusebius

Proof of the Gospel (the Demonstratio Evangelica), 300-336 AD

Book III, Chapter 7, 136 (a-d), p. 157

“But while the disciples of Jesus were most likely either saying thus, or thinking thus, the master solved their difficulties, by the addition of one phrase, saying they should triumph "In my name." And the power of His name being so great, that the apostle says: "God has given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth," He shewed the virtue of the power in His Name concealed from the crowd when He said to His disciples: "Go, and make disciples of all the nations in my name." He also most accurately forecasts the future when He says: "for this gospel must first be preached to all the world, for a witness to all nations."

Book III, Chapter 6, 132 (a), p. 152

With one word and voice He said to His disciples: "Go, and make disciples of all the nations in my name, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," …

Book III, Chapter 7, 138 (c), p. 159

I am irresistibly forced to retrace my steps, and search for their cause, and to confess that they could only have succeeded in their daring venture, by a power more divine, and more strong than man’s and by the co-operation of Him Who said to them; "Make disciples of all the nations in my name."

Book IX, Chapter 11, 445 (c), p. 175

And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in my name."

Additional References Regarding Matthew 28:19 and Baptism

History of New Testament Criticism, Conybeare, 1910, pages, 98-102, 111-112

"It is clear, therefore, that of the MSS which Eusebius inherited from his predecessor, Pamphilus, at Caesarea in Palestine, some at least preserved the original reading, in which there was no mention either of Baptism or of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; S. Driver, A. Plummer, C. Briggs; A Critical & Exegetical Commentary of St. Matthew Third Edition, 1912, pages 307-308

“Eusebius cites in this short form so often that it is easier to suppose that he is definitely quoting the words of the Gospel, than to invent possible reasons which may have caused him so frequently to have paraphrased it. And if we once suppose his short form to have been current in MSS. of the Gospel, there is much probability in the conjecture that it is the original text of the Gospel, and that in the later centuries the clause "baptizing...Spirit" supplanted the shorter "in my name." And insertion of this kind derived from liturgical use would very rapidly be adopted by copyists and translators." 

Hastings Dictionary of the Bible 1963, page 1015:

"The chief Trinitarian text in the NT is the baptismal formula in Mt 28:19...This late post-resurrection saying, not found in any other Gospel or anywhere else in the NT, has been viewed by some scholars as an interpolation into Matthew. It has also been pointed out that the idea of making disciples is continued in teaching them, so that the intervening reference to baptism with its Trinitarian formula was perhaps a later insertion into the saying. Finally, Eusebius's form of the (ancient) text ("in my name" rather than in the name of the Trinity) has had certain advocates. Although the Trinitarian formula is now found in the modern-day book of Matthew, this does not guarantee its source in the historical teaching of Jesus. It is doubtless better to view the (Trinitarian) formula as derived from early (Catholic) Christian, perhaps Syrian or Palestinian, baptismal usage (cf Didache 7:1-4), and as a brief summary of the (Catholic) Church's teaching about God, Christ, and the Spirit..."

Word Biblical Commentary, Vol 33B, Matthew 14-28; Donald A. Hagner, 1975, page 887-888

“The threefold name (at most only an incipient Trinitarianism) in which the baptism was to be performed, on the other hand, seems clearly to be a liturgical expansion of the evangelist consonant with the practice of his day (thus Hubbard; cf. Did. 7.1). There is a good possibility that in its original form, as witnessed by the ante-Nicene Eusebian form, the text read "make disciples in my name" (see Conybeare). This shorter reading preserves the symmetrical rhythm of the passage, whereas the triadic formula fits awkwardly into the structure as one might expect if it were an interpolation… It is Kosmala, however, who has argued most effectively for the shorter reading, pointing to the central importance of "name of Jesus" in early Christian preaching, the practice of baptism in the name of Jesus, and the singular "in his name" with reference to the hope of the Gentiles in Isa. 42:4b, quoted by Matthew in 12:18-21. As Carson rightly notes of our passage: "There is no evidence we have Jesus' ipsissima verba here" (598). The narrative of Acts notes the use of the name only of "Jesus Christ" in baptism (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; cf. Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27) or simply "the Lord Jesus" (Acts 8:16; 19:5)

The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, page 435

"Jesus, however, cannot have given His disciples this Trinitarian order of baptism after His resurrection; for the New Testament knows only one baptism in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:43; 19:5; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:13-15), which still occurs even in the second and third centuries, while the Trinitarian formula occurs only in Matt. 28:19, and then only again (in the) Didache 7:1 and Justin, Apol. 1:61...Finally, the distinctly liturgical character of the formula...is strange; it was not the way of Jesus to make such formulas... the formal authenticity of Matt. 28:19 must be disputed...".

The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics

As to Matthew 28:19, it says: It is the central piece of evidence for the traditional (Trinitarian) view. If it were undisputed, this would, of course, be decisive, but its trustworthiness is impugned on grounds of textual criticism, literary criticism and historical criticism. The same Encyclopedia further states that: "The obvious explanation of the silence of the New Testament on the triune name, and the use of another (Jesus Name) formula in Acts and Paul, is that this other formula was the earlier, and the triune formula is a later addition."

The Jerusalem Bible, A Scholarly Catholic Work

"It may be that this formula, (Triune Matthew 28:19) so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the (Man-made) liturgical usage established later in the primitive (Catholic) community. It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptizing "in the name of Jesus, "..."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, 1946, page 398

"Feine (PER3, XIX, 396 f) and Kattenbusch (Sch-Herz, I, 435 f. argue that the Trinitarian formula in Matthew 28:19 is spurious. No record of the use of the Trinitarian formula can be discovered in the Acts or the epistles of the apostles".

The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 1, Harry Austryn Wolfson, 1964, page 143

Critical scholarship, on the whole, rejects the traditional attribution of the tripartite baptismal formula to Jesus and regards it as of later origin. Undoubtedly then the baptismal formula originally consisted of one part and it gradually developed into its tripartite form.

G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962, page 83

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" leads us to expect as a consequence, "Go and make disciples unto Me among all the nations, baptising them in My name, teaching them to observe all things I commanded you." In fact, the first and third clauses have that significance: it looks as though the second clause has been modified from a Christological to a Trinitarian formula in the interests of the liturgical tradition".

The Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 1913, Baptism

The authors acknowledge there has been controversy over the question as to whether baptism in the name of Christ only was ever held valid. They acknowledge that texts in the New Testament give rise to this difficulty. They state the “Explicit command of the Prince of the Apostles: “Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins (Acts, ii).” … Owing to these texts some theologians have held that the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ only. St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, and Albertus Magnus are invoked as authorities for this opinion, they declaring that the Apostles so acted by special dispensation. Other writers, as Peter Lombard and Hugh of St. Victor, hold also that such baptism would be valid, but say nothing of a dispensation for the Apostles.”

They further state, “The authority of Pope Stephen I has been alleged for the validity of baptism given in the name of Christ only. St. Cyprian says (Ep. ad Jubaian.) that this pontiff declared all baptism valid provided it was given in the name of Jesus Christ… More difficult is the explanation of the response of Pope Nicholas I to the Bulgarians (cap. civ; Labbe, VIII), in which he states that a person is not to be rebaptized who has already been baptized “in the name of the Holy Trinity or in the name of Christ only, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles.”

Joseph Ratzinger (pope Benedict XVI) Introduction to Christianity: 1968 edition, pp. 82, 83

“The basic form of our profession of faith took shape during the course of the second and third centuries in connection with the ceremony of baptism. So far as its place of origin is concerned, the text (Matthew 28:19) came from the city of Rome.”

Wilhelm Bousset, Kyrios Christianity, page 295

"The testimony for the wide distribution of the simple baptismal formula [in the Name of Jesus] down into the second century is so overwhelming that even in Matthew 28:19, the Trinitarian formula was later inserted."

For Christ's sake, Tom Harpur, page 103

"All but the most conservative scholars agree that at least the latter part of this command [Triune part of Matthew 28:19] was inserted later. The [Trinitarian] formula occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and we know from the only evidence available [the rest of the New Testament] that the earliest Church did not baptize people using these words ("in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost") baptism was "into" or "in" the name of Jesus alone. Thus it is argued that the verse originally read "baptizing them in My Name" and then was expanded [changed] to work in the [later Catholic Trinitarian] dogma. In fact, the first view put forward by German critical scholars as well as the Unitarians in the nineteenth century, was stated as the accepted position of mainline scholarship as long ago as 1919, when Peake's commentary was first published: "The Church of the first days (AD 33) did not observe this world-wide (Trinitarian) commandment, even if they knew it. The command to baptize into the threefold [Trinity] name is a late doctrinal expansion."

A History of The Christian Church, Williston Walker, 1953, page 63, 95

"With the early disciples generally baptism was "in the name of Jesus Christ." There is no mention of baptism in the name of the Trinity in the New Testament, except in the command attributed to Christ in Matthew 28:19. That text is early, (but not the original) however. It underlies the Apostles' Creed, and the practice recorded (*or interpolated) in the Teaching, (or the Didache) and by Justin. The Christian leaders of the third century retained the recognition of the earlier form, and, in Rome at least, baptism in the name of Christ was deemed valid, if irregular, certainly from the time of Bishop Stephen (254-257)."

The Seat of Authority in Religion, James Martineau, 1905, page 568

"The very account which tells us that at the last, after his resurrection, he commissioned his apostles to go and baptize among all nations (Mt 28:19) betrayed itself by speaking in the Trinitarian language of the next century, and compels us to see in it the ecclesiastical editor, and not the evangelist, much less the founder himself. No historical trace appears of this baptismal formula earlier that the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" (ch. 7:1,3 The Oldest Church Manuel, ed. Philip Schaff, 1887), and the first Apology of Justin (Apol. i. 61.) about the middle of the second century: and more than a century later, Cyprian found it necessary to insist upon the use of it instead of the older phrase baptized "into Christ Jesus," or into the "name of the Lord Jesus." (Gal. 3:27; Acts 19:5; 10:48. Cyprian Ep. 73, 16-18, has to convert those who still use the shorter form.) Paul alone, of the apostles, was baptized, ere he was "filled with the Holy Ghost;" and he certainly was baptized simply "into Christ Jesus." (Rom. 6:3) Yet the tri-personal form, unhistorical as it is, is actually insisted on as essential by almost every Church in Christendom, and, if you have not had it pronounced over you, the ecclesiastical authorities cast you out as a heathen man, and will accord to you neither Christian recognition in your life, nor Christian burial in your death. It is a rule which would condemn as invalid every recorded baptism performed by an apostle; for if the book of Acts may be trusted, the invariable usage was baptism "in the name of Christ Jesus," (Acts 2:38) and not "in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Peake's Commentary on the Bible, 1929, page 723

Matthew 28:19, "the Church of the first days did not observe this world-wide command, even if they knew it. The command to baptize into the threefold name is a late doctrinal expansion. In place of the words "baptizing... Spirit" we should probably read simply "into my name,"

Edmund Schlink, The Doctrine of Baptism, page 28

"The baptismal command in its Matthew 28:19 form cannot be the historical origin of Christian baptism. At the very least, it must be assumed that the text has been transmitted in a form expanded by the [Catholic] church."

History of Dogma, Vol. 1, Adolph Harnack, 1958, page 79

" Baptism in the Apostolic age was in the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 1:13; Acts 19:5). We cannot make out when the formula in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit emerged"

Bible Catechism, Rev. John C Kersten, S.V.D., Catholic Book Publishing Co., N.Y., N.Y.; l973, p. 164

“Into Christ. The Bible tells us that Christians were baptized into Christ (no. 6). They belong to Christ. The Acts of the Apostles (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5) tells us of baptizing “in the name (person) of Jesus.” -- a better translation would be “into the name (person) of Jesus.” Only in the 4th Century did the formula “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” become customary.”