Interesting Questions-60

Nothing more than a baptismal formula
(Matthew 28:19)

Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, October 1998, p.2

I WROTE TO ask for your explanation of the verse Matthew 28:19 that says "Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Could not the "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" mentioned here refer to the Holy Trinity?

Bong Reyes
Las Pinas, Philippines

Editor's reply:

Matthew 28:19 does not in any way introduce the Trinity or the so-called three divine persons of the Godhead. The commandment “baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit” is the baptismal formula prescribed by the Lord.

     Before Christ ascended to heaven, He had instructed the apostles to go to all peoples everywhere and make them His disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, the expression is simply a baptismal formula.

     The Bible makes it clear that the Father knows no other God besides Himself (cf. Is. 46:9).

     The Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught that there is only one God, the Father, while He (Christ) was sent by God (cf. Jn . 17:1, 3). The Father who sent Christ is distinct from Christ who was sent by the Father. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is sent both by the Father and by Christ (cf. Jn. 14:26; 15:26) and is not God.

     The teaching that the Holy Spirit is God was only created by the Catholic Church at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. (cf. Discourses on the Apostles’ Creed, p. 206).

     The doctrine of Trinity is unscriptural. In fact, the complete formulation of this teaching was declared only at the 11^th Synod of Toledo in 675 A.D. (cf. Fundamental of Catholic Dogma, p. 53).

     “The term ‘Trinity’ is not found in Scripture,… The invention of the term is ascribed to Tertullian.” (Systematic Theology, p. 30) 

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Bible Study Suggestion: If you have further questions, please feel free to visit the Iglesia ni Cristo congregation nearest you. A minister or an evangelical worker would be happy to answer any biblical question you have in mind.