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and Baljon, in their Lexicons. It is also that adopted by the commentators, such as Meyer,
Alford, Allen, Bruce, Grosheide, and Van Leeuwen. This meaning of the term is fully borne out
by such parallel expressions as eis ton Mousen, I Cor. 10:2; eis to onoma Paulou, I Cor. 1:13; eis
hen soma, I Cor. 12:13; and eis Christon, Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27. Dr. Kuyper’s argument touching
this point is found in Uit het Woord, Eerste Serie, Eerste Bundel.[pp. 263 ff.] It would seem that
we should translate the preposition eis by “into” or “to” (that is, “in relation to’”) the name. The
word onoma (name) is used in the sense of the Hebrew shem as indicative of all the qualities by
which God makes Himself known, and which constitute the sum total of all that He is for His
worshippers. Deissman in his Bible Studies[p. 146.] refers to interesting examples of this
particular use of the word onoma in the papyri. Interpreted in this light, the baptismal formula
indicates that by baptism (that is, by that which is signified in baptism) the recipient is placed in
a special relationship to the divine self-revelation, or to God as He has revealed Himself and
revealed what He will be for His people, and at the same time becomes duty bound to live up to
the light of that revelation.
It is not necessary to assume that, when Jesus employed these words, He intended them as a
formula to be used ever after. He merely used them as descriptive of the character of the
baptism which He instituted, just as similar expressions serve to characterize other baptisms,
Acts 19:3; I Cor. 1:13; 10:2; 12:13. It is sometimes said with an appeal to such passages as Acts
2:48; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5, and also Rom. 6:3, and Gal. 3:27, that the apostles evidently did not use
the trinitarian formula; but this is not necessarily implied, though it is entirely possible since
they did not understand the words of Jesus in the great commission as prescribing a definite
formula. It is also possible, however, that the expressions used in the passages indicated served
to stress certain particulars respecting the baptism of the apostles. It should be noted that the
prepositions differ. Acts 2:38 speaks of a baptism epi toi onomati Jesou Christou, which
probably refers to a baptism on the confession of Jesus as the Messiah. According to Acts 10:48
those who were present in the house of Cornelius were baptized en onomati Jesou Christou, to
indicate that they were baptized on the authority of Jesus. All the remaining passages mention
a baptism eis to onoma Jesou Christou (or tou kuriou Jesou), or simply a baptism eis Christon.
These expressions may simply serve to stress the fact that the recipients were brought into
special relationship to Jesus Christ, whom the apostles were preaching, and were thereby made
subject to Him as their Lord. But whatever may have been the practice in the apostolic age, it is
quite evident that when the Church later on felt the need of a formula, it could find no better
than that contained in the words of the institution. This formula was already in use when the
Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) was written (c. 100 A.D.).[Cf. Chapter VII.]