Is Baptizing in the Name of Jesus Christ Biblical?

One of the questions that new believers might have is whether they should be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit as Jesus states in Matthew 28:19 or whether they should be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, as the apostles do in Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48 and Acts 19:5. I think in addressing this, the first question that we should be asking ourselves is if there is a difference and if there is, does that mean that the apostles disobeyed the commandment of Jesus in Matthew 28:19? I'm going to argue that this is a false dichotomy and therefore, the accusation that the apostles didn't follow through the commandment of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19 will be falsified by the end of this article. In Matthew 28:19, we read that after the resurrection Jesus says to the apostles, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in THE Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The reason I capitalized "THE Name" in this verse is to emphasize the fact that Jesus is claiming that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all share the same name! I'm not the first person to catch this by the way. In fact, Matthew 28:19 is one of the most favorite verses that is used by Trinitarians to point out that the three persons in the Godhead share the same name and therefore, they must be united in essence!

The next question that arises is what is this name and why didn't Jesus explicitly mention this name? The answer to this question is quite simple to be honest. The reason Jesus didn't explicitly mention the name is because names can be claimed by other people which would ruin the commandment in a sense. So what Jesus did instead was make an implicit statement which would not only demonstrate the Triune nature of God, but also give us some sort of freedom in terms of baptism as long as we make it clear to the disciples we make, who Jesus of Nazareth really is. Now, it is almost undeniable that God has many different names in the Jewish Bible(Tanakh), however it is also almost undeniable that the most unique name that is used to refer to God in the Tanakh is YHWH, or Yahweh and some would even translate it into Jehovah. There are also other Hebrew terms used to refer to God in the Tanakh such as Elohim and Adonai which are believed to be more common compared to YHWH and are therefore translated into God and Lord in English. Most English translations that we have today translate Yahweh into LORD(all capital) rather than God or Lord in order to distinguish between the unique name of God in the Tanakh as opposed to more common ones such as Elohim and Adonai.

Interestingly enough, the unique name of God in the Jewish Bible(Tanakh), YHWH, or Yahweh is quoted in the New Testament multiple times and is applied to Jesus Christ. For example, Mark 1:3 quotes from Isaiah 40:3 and claims that prophet Isaiah has prophesied the coming of Yahweh even though the author is clearly referring to the coming of Jesus! Another example which is one of my favorites in the New Testament is where Jesus Himself in Matthew 21:16-17 clearly claims to be Yahweh! We read that children are praising Jesus as the Jewish Messiah(Son of David) in the temple; a place where only Yahweh is to be praised! Teachers of the Law become indignant and ask Jesus, "DO YOU HEAR WHAT THESE CHILDREN ARE SAYING?" Jesus not only doesn't rebuke the children at the temple, but rather responds by asking a rhetorical question that includes quoting from Psalm 8:2 which talks about Yahweh receiving praise from the mouths of infants and children! Having said that, it might be noteworthy to say that we know from Matthew 22:42 or Luke 20:41 that "Son of David" was a title that people at that time used to refer to Jesus because they believed that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. A title that Jesus took issue with by questioning them after quoting from Psalm 110:1 and asking them why David refers to the Messiah as his Lord rather than his Son! A question that leaves the people speechless afterwards according to Matthew 22:46.

So I think there is enough evidence in the New Testament for us to conclude that Jesus is clearly claiming to be YHWH, or Yahweh! However, since God is introduced more intimately to mankind through incarnation in the person of Jesus, born of virgin Mary, it seems very clear that the name Jesus takes precedence over the name Yahweh! There is clear evidence for this in Philippians 2:9. In fact, the very next verses claim that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is while we read in the Tanakh, in Isaiah 45:23, that every knee will bow before Yahweh and every tongue will swear by Yahweh! Further evidence is found in Acts 4:10-12 where Peter claims that there is no name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved, other than the name of Jesus Christ! This is again while we read in the Tanakh, that Yahweh is the only Savior! Is there then any question why we read in Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48 and Acts 19:5 that the apostles were baptizing the believers in the name of Jesus Christ?

Now I understand that most people are simply baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit rather than the Name of Jesus Christ or Yahweh. I personally don't have any issues with that because let's not forget that anyone can be named Jesus or even Yahweh which is most definitely why Jesus Christ didn't explicitly mention any names in the commandment that He gave to His followers in Matthew 28:19. Having said that, from context in the book of Acts, we know that the name of the Lord Jesus or the name of Jesus Christ refers to the Son of God who died on the Cross for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. In Acts 19:13 we read for example, that some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. The author says that these Jews would say, "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." In other words, they would make it clear to the demons which Jesus they're referring to! I think we need to do the same today, because many false prophets have gone into the world and have deceived many. I believe as long as we're clear that we're referring to the Jesus spoken of in the New Testament rather than the Jesus spoken of in the Quran for example, we're good. To recap, I would say that what's in our hearts matters more than our words; as apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:10, "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."