Being Baptised in Jesus(only) Name?

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a family member the is "Jesus Only", and we had a very good conversation. I am just looking for a complete understanding to follow that belief fairly. He believes that Jesus is the Father and is also the Holy Spirit and that when we see Jesus praying to the Father, Jesus is really praying to himself in heaven. He continues to say that this was ok because Jesus was a physical form of God(or himself) therefore in a human body and nature it was neccesary for him to do so. He also stated that Jesus was God but had no Godly power.

Now, what i am looking at here is hard to swallow and I will be fair to say that even the trinitarian concept is hard to swallow also, in all fairness. But, the dogmatism of what he is explaining to me, that you must be baptised in or by saying Jesus' name is causing me to ask, does it really matter?

Should not that belief be called "Yashua Only"?
If we set the argument that Jesus is the equivalent of Yashua, could we not say that saying, baptise in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit has the same implication? I understand that Matt. 28:19 is speaking of the authority of Gods nature or power and not our own. The same is true as in Matt. 10:41 which speak of receiving a prophet in a prophets name, this speaks of the authority of one prophet of God being authoritative enough for the ecceptance of another prophet of God. My cousin believes that the verse in Matt. 28:19 should be literal and Jesus is the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Steve or anyone else with knowledge on this subject, your input would be appreciated.

Thank you

[Guest]

There is so much evidence that Jesus is seperate from the Father it's hard to know where to start. It would seem that in order to view them as one person you would have to superimpose that view over much scripture and read into scripture that are simply not there. As far as the trinity goes one thing that helps me is that the shema "The Lord our God the Lord is one" , the hebrew word for one is "echad" which means unity. So we have three persons but one in unity. So if we have 3 persons than it seems to me people s/b baptized in the 3 names.

[Guest]

thank you Steve for that info.

I have been doing alot more studying and found out more about what they believe and if you have any more info to share please give it to me, i could use as much as I can get.

[Guest]

He believes that Jesus is the Father and is also the Holy Spirit and that when we see Jesus praying to the Father, Jesus is really praying to himself in heaven.

So if Jesus was praying to God in heaven, why did he call Him father? Why didn't Jesus say "Self, not my will but yours be done"?

It doesn't make sense. That's why Jesus said "Not my will but yours be done". Two wills. Also, Jesus wasn't in heaven, he was on earth, praying to the Father in heaven. Did Jesus ever pray to Jesus?

Sometimes they will say that Jesus was two (human and divine) so the human side prayed to the divine side. But He didn't pray to Himself. And the human side didn't die for us. The singular, divine, Godman died on the cross, otherwise it would be just the human side (ordinary man) dying on the cross. Does that make any sense?

Matthew 28 says baptize in the name (singular, not names plural) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The apostles baptized in Jesus name. It seems they saw Father, Son and Holy Spirit = to Jesus.

He continues to say that this was ok because Jesus was a physical form of God(or himself) therefore in a human body and nature it was neccesary for him to do so. He also stated that Jesus was God but had no Godly power.

Why would it be necessary for "Him to do so" if Jesus is God? If Jesus is the fullness of deity they why pray outside himself? It's hard to explain so I don't know if I'm making any sense. Can you see what they are doing? On the one hand they don't like the "trinity" because it divides God up. But on the other hand they divide Jesus into two parts, two Jesus's. One human and one divine. While in a sense this is true it's not as if one "side" has to pray to the other "side". Either they are "one" or there is a trinity. Jesus prayed to the Father.

Also, we see many of the epistles starting this way:

Rom 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Rom 1:2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
Rom 1:3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh

1Co 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2Co 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gal 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

And on and on it goes. I never read: "the Father Jesus Christ". Since Paul felt the need to keep them distinguished as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I do too.

[Guest]

So if we have 3 persons than it seems to me people s/b baptized in the 3 names.

Oneness people point out that Jesus said, "baptizing them in the NAME of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Not "names" but "name". They say there is ONE NAME of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that ONE NAME is "Jesus" which means "Yahweh saves".

They say that the One Divine Individual express Himself in three different forms. In the early church, this belief was called Sabellianism. Later theologians called it "modalism".

[Guest]

Steve Gregg has answered a similar question of mine at

http://www.wvss.com/forumc/viewtopic.php?t=83