Manuel asked:I have a friend from an apostolic denomination and he asks me why we baptize in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit. They only do it in the name of Jesus.Tim Staples replied:"... take him to, and I know he knows this, Matthew 28:19. Jesus, when he is teaching the apostles ... as a group, this is after the resurrection, and he says, 'go into all the world, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe and do according to all that I have asked you ... there he gives the form of baptism to the apostles.Your friend is going to Acts chapter 2 verse 38 where Peter is now proclaiming the truth to thousands of Jews ... he says repent and be baptized each one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We believe here that Saint Peter is proclamiing the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ, like a police officer might say stop in the name of the law ... you're not going to recite all of the laws to people ... the key is to understand is how did Jesus command to be baptized? There were many other baptisms floating around. The Jews had many baptisms in the plural. Their purification rites which are referred to as batpismal rites ... John's baptism ... Saint Peter is clarifying Jesus' baptism in the name of Jesus that is salvific ..." Copyrights:Catholic Answers, "Open Forum" (San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2014)Editor's note: This is an excerpt of the answer provided. For the complete response download the podcast. |  Click icon for archived podcast answering this question in its entirety. Show air date: January 21, 2014 Name of show: Open Forum Guest comments by: Tim Staples Question appeared in show: 41:28 |
