{"id":464,"date":"2020-02-03T16:20:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T23:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integritysyndicate.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2021-09-04T22:51:13","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T04:51:13","slug":"credibility-of-matthew-pt-3-matthew-2819","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integritysyndicate.com\/credibility-of-matthew-pt-3-matthew-2819\/","title":{"rendered":"Credibility of Matthew Part 3: Matthew 28:19"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
The the trinitarian\u00a0baptismal formula\u00a0of\u00a0Matthew 28:19, \u201cbaptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of The Holy Spirit\u201d is not likely original to Matthew. Evidence for this is includes quotes from numerous references as well as the citations of Eusebius. Based these citations the original reading of Matthew 28:19 was likely: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations\u00a0in my name.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\u201cBut while the disciples of Jesus were most likely either saying thus, or thinking thus, the master solved their difficulties, by the addition of one phrase, saying they should triumph “In my name.” And the power of His name being so great, that the apostle says: “God has given him a name which is above every name<\/strong>, that in the name of Jesus<\/u><\/strong> <\/u>every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” He shewed the virtue of the power in His Name concealed from the crowd when He said to His disciples: “Go, and make disciples of all the nations in my name<\/u><\/strong>.” He also most accurately forecasts the future when He says: “for this gospel must first be preached to all the world, for a witness to all nations.”<\/p> With one word and voice He said to His disciples: “Go, and make disciples of all the nations in my name<\/u><\/strong>, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,” \u2026<\/p> I am irresistibly forced to retrace my steps, and search for their cause, and to confess that they could only have succeeded in their daring venture, by a power more divine, and more strong than man\u2019s and by the co-operation of Him Who said to them; “Make disciples of all the nations in my name<\/u><\/strong>.”<\/p> And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, “Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in my name<\/u><\/strong>.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t It may be that this formula, so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the liturgical usage established later in the primitive community<\/strong>. It will be remembered that the Acts speak of baptizing “in the name of Jesus.”<\/p> Modern critics claim this formula is falsely ascribed to Jesus and that it represents later (Catholic) church tradition<\/strong>, for nowhere in the book of Acts (or any other book of the Bible) is baptism performed with the name of the Trinity…<\/p> It may be that this (Trinitarian) formula, so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the (Catholic) liturgical usage established later in the primitive (Catholic) community, It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptizing “in the name of Jesus.”<\/strong><\/p> “Matthew 28:19 in particular only canonizes a later ecclesiastical situation, that its universalism is contrary to the facts of early Christian history, and its Trinitarian formula (is) foreign to the mouth of Jesus<\/strong>.”<\/p> “It is often affirmed that the words in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost are not the ipsissima verba [exact words] of Jesus, but…a later liturgical addition<\/strong>.”<\/p> It is doubted whether the explicit injunction of Matt. 28:19 can be accepted as uttered by Jesus<\/strong>. …But the Trinitarian formula in the mouth of Jesus is certainly unexpected.<\/p> \u201cBaptism was changed from the name of Jesus to words Father, Son & Holy Ghost in 2nd Century<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p> “The historical riddle is not solved by Matthew 28:19, since, according to a wide scholarly consensus, it is not an authentic saying of Jesus<\/strong>“<\/p> Matthew 28:19 “… has been disputed on textual grounds, but in the opinion of many scholars the words may still be regarded as part of the true text of Matthew. There is, however, grave doubt whether thy may be the ipsissima verba of Jesus. The evidence of Acts 2:38; 10:48 (cf. 8:16; 19:5), supported by Gal. 3:27; Rom 6:3, suggest that baptism in early Christianity was administered, not in the threefold name, but “in the name of Jesus Christ” or “in the name of the Lord Jesus<\/strong>.” This is difficult to reconcile with the specific instructions of the verse at the end of Matthew.\u201d<\/p> “It has been customary to trace the institution of the practice (of baptism) to the words of Christ recorded in Matthew 28:19. But the authenticity of this passage has been challenged on historical as well as on textual grounds<\/strong>. It must be acknowledged that the formula of the threefold name, which is here enjoined, does not appear to have been employed by the primitive Church<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t “It is clear, therefore, that of the MSS which Eusebius inherited from his predecessor, Pamphilus, at Caesarea in Palestine, some at least preserved the original reading, in which there was no mention either of Baptism or of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”<\/p> \u201cEusebius cites in this short form so often that it is easier to suppose that he is definitely quoting the words of the Gospel, than to invent possible reasons which may have caused him so frequently to have paraphrased it. And if we once suppose his short form to have been current in MSS. of the Gospel, there is much probability in the conjecture that it is the original text of the Gospel, and that in the later centuries the clause “baptizing…Spirit” supplanted the shorter “in my name.” And insertion of this kind derived from liturgical use would very rapidly be adopted by copyists and translators.”\u00a0<\/p> “The chief Trinitarian text in the NT is the baptismal formula in Mt 28:19…This late post-resurrection saying, not found in any other Gospel or anywhere else in the NT, has been viewed by some scholars as an interpolation into Matthew. It has also been pointed out that the idea of making disciples is continued in teaching them, so that the intervening reference to baptism with its Trinitarian formula was perhaps a later insertion into the saying. Finally, Eusebius’s form of the (ancient) text (“in my name” rather than in the name of the Trinity) has had certain advocates. Although the Trinitarian formula is now found in the modern-day book of Matthew, this does not guarantee its source in the historical teaching of Jesus. It is doubtless better to view the (Trinitarian) formula as derived from early (Catholic) Christian, perhaps Syrian or Palestinian, baptismal usage (cf Didache 7:1-4), and as a brief summary of the (Catholic) Church’s teaching about God, Christ, and the Spirit…”<\/p> \u201cThe threefold name (at most only an incipient Trinitarianism) in which the baptism was to be performed, on the other hand, seems clearly to be a liturgical expansion of the evangelist consonant with the practice of his day (thus Hubbard; cf. Did. 7.1). There is a good possibility that in its original form, as witnessed by the ante-Nicene Eusebian form, the text read “make disciples in my name” (see Conybeare). This shorter reading preserves the symmetrical rhythm of the passage, whereas the triadic formula fits awkwardly into the structure as one might expect if it were an interpolation\u2026 It is Kosmala, however, who has argued most effectively for the shorter reading, pointing to the central importance of “name of Jesus” in early Christian preaching, the practice of baptism in the name of Jesus, and the singular “in his name” with reference to the hope of the Gentiles in Isa. 42:4b, quoted by Matthew in 12:18-21. As Carson rightly notes of our passage: “There is no evidence we have Jesus’ ipsissima verba here” (598). The narrative of Acts notes the use of the name only of “Jesus Christ” in baptism (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; cf. Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27) or simply “the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:16; 19:5)<\/p> “Jesus, however, cannot have given His disciples this Trinitarian order of baptism after His resurrection; for the New Testament knows only one baptism in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:43; 19:5; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:13-15), which still occurs even in the second and third centuries, while the Trinitarian formula occurs only in Matt. 28:19, and then only again (in the) Didache 7:1 and Justin, Apol. 1:61…Finally, the distinctly liturgical character of the formula…is strange; it was not the way of Jesus to make such formulas… the formal authenticity of Matt. 28:19 must be disputed…”.<\/p> As to Matthew 28:19, it says: It is the central piece of evidence for the traditional (Trinitarian) view. If it were undisputed, this would, of course, be decisive, but its trustworthiness is impugned on grounds of textual criticism, literary criticism and historical criticism. The same Encyclopedia further states that: “The obvious explanation of the silence of the New Testament on the triune name, and the use of another (Jesus Name) formula in Acts and Paul, is that this other formula was the earlier, and the triune formula is a later addition.”<\/p> “It may be that this formula, (Triune Matthew 28:19) so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is a reflection of the (Man-made) liturgical usage established later in the primitive (Catholic) community. It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptizing “in the name of Jesus, “…”<\/p> “Feine (PER3, XIX, 396 f) and Kattenbusch (Sch-Herz, I, 435 f. argue that the Trinitarian formula in Matthew 28:19 is spurious. No record of the use of the Trinitarian formula can be discovered in the Acts or the epistles of the apostles”.<\/p> Critical scholarship, on the whole, rejects the traditional attribution of the tripartite baptismal formula to Jesus and regards it as of later origin. Undoubtedly then the baptismal formula originally consisted of one part and it gradually developed into its tripartite form.<\/p> “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” leads us to expect as a consequence, “Go and make disciples unto Me among all the nations, baptising them in My name, teaching them to observe all things I commanded you.” In fact, the first and third clauses have that significance: it looks as though the second clause has been modified from a Christological to a Trinitarian formula in the interests of the liturgical tradition”.<\/p> The authors acknowledge there has been controversy over the question as to whether baptism in the name of Christ only was ever held valid. They acknowledge that texts in the New Testament give rise to this difficulty. They state the \u201cExplicit command of the Prince of the Apostles: \u201cBe baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins (Acts, ii).\u201d \u2026 Owing to these texts some theologians have held that the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ only. St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, and Albertus Magnus are invoked as authorities for this opinion, they declaring that the Apostles so acted by special dispensation. Other writers, as Peter Lombard and Hugh of St. Victor, hold also that such baptism would be valid, but say nothing of a dispensation for the Apostles.\u201d<\/p> They further state, \u201cThe authority of Pope Stephen I has been alleged for the validity of baptism given in the name of Christ only. St. Cyprian says (Ep. ad Jubaian.) that this pontiff declared all baptism valid provided it was given in the name of Jesus Christ\u2026 More difficult is the explanation of the response of Pope Nicholas I to the Bulgarians (cap. civ; Labbe, VIII), in which he states that a person is not to be rebaptized who has already been baptized \u201cin the name of the Holy Trinity or in the name of Christ only, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles.\u201d<\/p> \u201cThe basic form of our\u00a0profession of faith took shape during the course of the second and third centuries in connection with the ceremony of baptism. So far as its place of origin is concerned, the text (Matthew 28:19) came from the city of Rome.\u201d<\/p> “The testimony for the wide distribution of the simple baptismal formula [in the Name of Jesus] down into the second century is so overwhelming that even in Matthew 28:19, the Trinitarian formula was later inserted.”<\/p> “All but the most conservative scholars agree that at least the latter part of this command [Triune part of Matthew 28:19] was inserted later. The [Trinitarian] formula occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and we know from the only evidence available [the rest of the New Testament] that the earliest Church did not baptize people using these words (“in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”) baptism was “into” or “in” the name of Jesus alone. Thus it is argued that the verse originally read “baptizing them in My Name” and then was expanded [changed] to work in the [later Catholic Trinitarian] dogma. In fact, the first view put forward by German critical scholars as well as the Unitarians in the nineteenth century, was stated as the accepted position of mainline scholarship as long ago as 1919, when Peake’s commentary was first published: “The Church of the first days (AD 33) did not observe this world-wide (Trinitarian) commandment, even if they knew it. The command to baptize into the threefold [Trinity] name is a late doctrinal expansion.”<\/p> “With the early disciples generally baptism was “in the name of Jesus Christ.” There is no mention of baptism in the name of the Trinity in the New Testament, except in the command attributed to Christ in Matthew 28:19. That text is early, (but not the original) however. It underlies the Apostles’ Creed, and the practice recorded (*or interpolated) in the Teaching, (or the Didache) and by Justin. The Christian leaders of the third century retained the recognition of the earlier form, and, in Rome at least, baptism in the name of Christ was deemed valid, if irregular, certainly from the time of Bishop Stephen (254-257).”<\/p> “The very account which tells us that at the last, after his resurrection, he commissioned his apostles to go and baptize among all nations (Mt 28:19) betrayed itself by speaking in the Trinitarian language of the next century, and compels us to see in it the ecclesiastical editor, and not the evangelist, much less the founder himself. No historical trace appears of this baptismal formula earlier that the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” (ch. 7:1,3 The Oldest Church Manuel, ed. Philip Schaff, 1887), and the first Apology of Justin (Apol. i. 61.) about the middle of the second century: and more than a century later, Cyprian found it necessary to insist upon the use of it instead of the older phrase baptized “into Christ Jesus,” or into the “name of the Lord Jesus.” (Gal. 3:27; Acts 19:5; 10:48. Cyprian Ep. 73, 16-18, has to convert those who still use the shorter form.) Paul alone, of the apostles, was baptized, ere he was “filled with the Holy Ghost;” and he certainly was baptized simply “into Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 6:3) Yet the tri-personal form, unhistorical as it is, is actually insisted on as essential by almost every Church in Christendom, and, if you have not had it pronounced over you, the ecclesiastical authorities cast you out as a heathen man, and will accord to you neither Christian recognition in your life, nor Christian burial in your death. It is a rule which would condemn as invalid every recorded baptism performed by an apostle; for if the book of Acts may be trusted, the invariable usage was baptism “in the name of Christ Jesus,” (Acts 2:38) and not “in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”<\/p> Matthew 28:19, “the Church of the first days did not observe this world-wide command, even if they knew it. The command to baptize into the threefold name is a late doctrinal expansion. In place of the words “baptizing… Spirit” we should probably read simply “into my name,”<\/p> “The baptismal command in its Matthew 28:19 form cannot be the historical origin of Christian baptism. At the very least, it must be assumed that the text has been transmitted in a form expanded by the [Catholic] church.”<\/p> ” Baptism in the Apostolic age was in the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 1:13; Acts 19:5). We cannot make out when the formula in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit emerged”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tBook III, Chapter 6, 132 (a), p. 152<\/h4>
Book III, Chapter 7, 138 (c), p. 159<\/h4>
Book IX, Chapter 11, 445 (c), p. 175<\/h4>
Bible Footnotes and References Regarding Matthew\u00a028:19<\/h2>
The Jerusalem Bible, 1966<\/h4>
New Revised Standard Version<\/h4>
James Moffett’s New Testament Translation<\/h4>
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, page 2637<\/h4>
The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, I, page 275<\/h4>
A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, J. Hastings, 1906, page 170<\/h4>
Britannica Encyclopedia, 11th Edition, Volume 3, page 365<\/h4>
The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 1, 1992, page 585<\/h4>
The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, page 351<\/h4>
The Dictionary of the Bible, 1947, page 83<\/h4>
Additional References Regarding Matthew 28:19 and Baptism<\/h2>
History of New Testament Criticism, Conybeare, 1910, pages, 98-102, 111-112<\/h3>
The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; S. Driver, A. Plummer, C. Briggs; A Critical & Exegetical Commentary of St. Matthew Third Edition, 1912, pages 307-308<\/h3>
Hastings Dictionary of the Bible 1963, page 1015:<\/h3>
Word Biblical Commentary, Vol 33B, Matthew 14-28; Donald A. Hagner, 1975, page 887-888<\/h3>
The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, page 435<\/h3>
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics<\/h3>
The Jerusalem Bible, A Scholarly Catholic Work<\/h3>
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, 1946, page 398<\/h3>
The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 1, Harry Austryn Wolfson, 1964, page\u00a0143<\/h3>
G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962, page 83<\/h3>
The Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 1913, Baptism<\/h3>
Joseph Ratzinger (pope Benedict XVI) Introduction to Christianity: 1968 edition, pp. 82, 83<\/h3>
Wilhelm Bousset, Kyrios Christianity, page 295<\/h3>
For Christ’s sake, Tom Harpur, page 103<\/h3>
A History of The Christian Church, Williston Walker, 1953, page 63, 95<\/h3>
The Seat of Authority in Religion, James Martineau, 1905, page 568<\/h3>
Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1929, page 723<\/h3>
Edmund Schlink, The Doctrine of Baptism, page 28<\/h3>
History of Dogma, Vol. 1, Adolph Harnack, 1958, page 79<\/h3>