Difference between revisions of "Baptised into the Name"

Revision as of 22:57, 29 August 2011

The phrase 'being baptised into his name' occurs several times in the New Testament. (Most versions translate it as in his name). We also read of'being baptised into his body'. These two phrases now perfectly correspond.

His body is his sanctified people. His name is his sanctified people. His name and his body are the same. Both phrases speak of a deep identification with the Father and the Son. The real baptism in the sight of God is not a ceremony that man can see, nor even a dramatic experience in the supernatural. Rather it is an ongoing experience of God by which we become so one with him that we may be called his body and his name.

On the subject of baptism Matthew and the book of Acts appear to contradict each other. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus instructs his disciples to'baptise into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit'.

In the book of Acts, the disciples baptised in or into the name of Jesus. To God, a name is not a sequence of phonetic sounds that must be pronounced correctly. It is a people sanctified and set apart for him. Through that people the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will be made known to the world. With this new understanding we find these scriptures harmonize.

Sanctifying the name

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, 'Our Father, may your name be sanctified, may your kingdom come'. Millions recite this prayer daily, but few understand it. Now perhaps we can see its meaning more clearly. The name to be hallowed or sanctified was Jesus himself and those whom he would call. John chapter 17 records Jesus' last prayer in Gethsemane before his arrest.

Praying for his disciples he says, 'Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth' (v17) and 'For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth' (v19). Both prayers then perfectly accord as requests for the sanctification of himself and his people.

So when Jesus prayed the prayer that millions recite daily, its very first request, 'may your name be sanctified' was a prayer for the setting apart of his people in holiness. Only on that basis will the second request, 'May your kingdom come', find its fulfilment. When his people are sanctified, his kingdom will come.

Names, places, buildings and days can never truly be sanctified. These things in their nature cannot be holy. They have served their purpose and their time, and are but shadows of the reality. Only people can be holy. The Holy Spirit comes on people and sets them apart for God.

Exaltation of the Name

Philippians chapter 2 speaks of Jesus passing through humiliation and death into resurrection and exaltation. 'God has highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow'. Can his name in this context really be his people?

In Revelation chapter 1, John saw a vision of the entire head and body of the glorified Christ. His voice was not the single voice of Jesus, but like the sound of many waters. This was not Jesus the head alone, but the completed Christ body.

John fell prostrate at its feet as a dead man. The time is coming when Jesus the head will receive his completed body. This body is the name to which every knee will bow.

Other scriptures indicate that people will bow down to the body of Christ. Revelation 3:9 reads 'I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan ... to come and bow down at your feet'. Isaiah 45:14 says 'they will bow down to you; they will make supplication to you', and Isaiah 49:23 and 60:14 are similar.

This will not be like the bowing of Muslims physically prostrating their bodies in a mosque. Rather it will be a bowing in spirit as people come face to face with God manifest in man. When the queen of Sheba met King Solomon, and heard his wisdom, and saw all his wealth, we read that there was no more spirit in her. She was completely overcome with wonder, awe, admiration and love.

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