Someone found the blog today by typing in the following search term:
“trinitarians who baptize in jesus name”
Now I’ll be honest in saying that my church is a Trinitarian church who baptizes in both Jesus’ name and with the Trinitarian formula. In other words, we say: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name.” My pastor does this so as to be covered from all angles. This way he can’t be accused of not baptizing with the proper formula.
But in keeping with my honesty, I’ve always found this a stupid practice. This formula is as open to criticism as the others and what’s worse is that this one isn’t found anywhere in the NT while the other two are. I also see it as a way of trying to appease the Oneness Pentecostals who are really the only group of any prominence that takes issue with baptizing with the Trinitarian formula. But as Trinitarians, why should we be worried about pleasing the Oneness crowd? From my standpoint, we shouldn’t. And we certainly shouldn’t be baptizing Oneness believers as their brand of Modalism is heresy.
In any event, that’s my take on the issue. So for the person who found my blog with that search term, there are Trinitarian churches that do it, I happen to attend one (that mixes the formulas at least), but I think the practice is wrong and we should follow Matthew 28:19.
B”H
*Note: I don’t think it proper to call baptism in Jesus’ name a “formula” so to speak but I have done so above so as not to detract from my overall point.
Posted in Search Terms, Trinity
