3 – Matthew 28 – The Attack on the Great Commission: Ener Cabangis
THE ATTACK ON THE GREAT COMMISSION
INTRODUCTION
“IN THE NAME OF JESUS”
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, AND GIVEN HIM A NAME which is above every name:” “That AT THE NAME OF JESUS every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” (Phil. 2:9,10)
Therefore, Jesus said to His disciples…
“…saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18)
The word “power” in the verse is the same Greek word “authority” in Luke 4:36.
When Jesus said to His disciples, “Go ye therefore” (Matt. 28:19), they were to go forth in the authority of His name to “…teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Ibid)
The name of Jesus gave them authority to baptize new believers as recorded in Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5. Some think that the mention of the name of Jesus in these recorded instances of baptism referred to the liturgy of the ceremony, but there is no record of the instruction of Christ to baptize in the name of His Father, and of His name, and of the name of Their Spirit of ever being annulled; therefore, they must remain.
“In the absence of any scriptural proof that He has removed or abolished them, we must conclude that they were intended to remain.” (Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pg. 135.2)
The “great commission” is the terminology that Christians are familiar with when citing Matthew 28:18-20.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matt. 28:18-20)
However, the words in verse 19 that I emphasized above have long been controverted as spurious and accused of being an interpolation done by the Catholic Church to promote their doctrine of the Trinity.
The main argument against those words is the fact that Luke’s narration of the baptism done by the apostles in the book of Acts all mentioned being done in the name of Jesus only; therefore, the conclusion was that if those words in verse 19 were truly from Christ as the liturgy for the rite of baptism, then it’s either His disciples misunderstood Him or worse, disobeyed Him, which sounds unlikely; therefore, the best and logical conclusion was that the disciples had it correct because those words in verse 19 were inserted by the Catholic Church. This last one is widely accepted by the opponents of the Trinity because you will find that many historians made the assertion that this baptismal formula was indeed added in the original text.
In this study, I will present my case in support of the words in Matthew 28:19 as reflected in the King James Version of the Bible despite all these seemingly strong arguments against it.
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3 – Matthew 28 – The Attack on the Great Commission: Ener Cabangis
