p. 7 | Baptized Into the Name by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Sep 26, 1912

Baptized Into the Name

By C. M. S.

THERE is significance in the fact that those who surrender to God, become his willing possession, and join his people, are baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All the divinely given formula of the Christian body means something. The old and new dispensations are alike in this. The sanctuary was typical in its construction and in its rituals. All that was done by the priest in the sanctuary of old had its meaning. It is none the less true that the ordinances of the Lord's house now were given for a well-defined purpose, and have their significance in the Christian life.

What does it mean to be baptized into the name of the Father? It means that we have signified our intention of bearing the character of the Father; for his name stands for his character. But to bear his character, we must be in harmony with his will. As his will is expressed in his law, it means that the principles of the law, the law in its entirety, are to be the actuating principles of our life. Christ declared to his followers that seeing him, they saw the Father. That was true because no will but the will of the Father was actuating him in all his life. So the psalmist writes of him:—

"I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart."

And so he says of himself:—

"I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."

Again he says:—

"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works." John 14:10.

He "emptied himself" that there might be in him nothing to rise up and assert itself and its way in opposition to the way of the Father and the character and purpose of the Father. To be baptized into his name, and yet be out of harmony with his character and his purpose, is to misrepresent the Father. Having been baptized into the name of the Father, and having been faithful to that baptism, a great company are seen finally standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb, "having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads." Rev. 14:1. And the revelator, in speaking of the overcomer, says: "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name." Rev. 3:12. This signifies the perfect harmony there is then existing between the Father, the Son, and the overcomer. In place of the rebellion which Satan brought in, there is love, devotion, harmony, loyalty, and all that makes for happiness and peace.

The blessed promise given to the "church in Philadelphia" was given because it had not denied God's name. Yet that denial may be made even while professing his name. Life speaks louder than words.

Thus it is evident that to be baptized into the name of the Father and to be true to that baptism, we must be in harmony with every principle of the law of God. He who calls himself by the name Christian, and is baptized into the name of the Father, and yet repudiates the law of God, which is the expression of the will and character of God, denies by his life what he professes with his lips. He misrepresents God, and can not say with his Saviour, "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Then may such a one expect to hear the declaration, "He that denieth me in the presence of men shall be denied in the presence of the angels of God." Luke 12:9. How much more blessed to be among those of whom it is said, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus"! It is no light matter to be baptized into the name of the Father.

What is the significance of being baptized into the name of the Son? It means first that we have accepted him as our Saviour, that we are his through the purchasing power of his blood shed on Calvary. But being baptized into his name means that we are taking the same attitude toward the law of God that he took, that we are placing self on the altar, that we are seeking not our own interests, as Satan sought his in heaven, but, like Christ, are laying aside self and putting on the garments of service for others. It means that we shall make his experiences our experiences; that the spirit of sacrifice which he manifested shall be seen in us; that the interests of

others shall be above our own. It means that we shall take the same attitude toward the tempter that Christ took, turning our backs upon temptation, and our faces toward God for the power and grace that will make us victors.

Christ's life was a life of service. If we have been baptized into his name, it means that we have entered a life of service. To live true to that baptism will mean no insignificant struggle, for the predominant spirit of the age is the spirit of self-seeking, self-service, and self-adulation. To receive baptism in the name of the Son, and then go out in the service of self to pattern after the world and imbibe its spirit, is to deny the name and the experience and the character of the Son of God. It means something to be baptized into the name of the Son of God.

What is signified by being baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit was given to be a comforter to an otherwise comfortless world. There is no true comfort to those who are not in the truth. So the office work of the Holy Spirit is to "guide you into all truth." The result of that guiding is the comfort of God, the comfort of the truth. When the Holy Spirit was given in such rich measure on the day of Pentecost, those who received it began at once to bear their testimonies to the truths of the gospel, in the various languages of the earth. They were foreign missionaries at home, enlightening the ends of the earth by enlightening those who had come to Jerusalem from the ends of the earth. The fruit of the Spirit in their lives then, and from then on, was service for others.

We read that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control." Being baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit signifies that we have expressed it as our intention to bear such fruit in our lives. But to be baptized into that name, and bear fruit of a different character, signifies that we have denied the name into which we were baptized, and that our lives are denying what our lips profess.

The result of such a profession coupled with such a life is shown in the lesson of the fig-tree which bore no figs. Being in full foliage, it should have had fruit upon its branches; but it had none. It was professing, but not fulfilling. So it withered and died from the condemnation of our Lord. Just so will it be with each individual who, having been baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit, signifying dedication to a life of service, brings no fruit to the garner of God.

The child of earth might well be discouraged, if, after receiving such baptism, he were left to his own resources and his own strength to do all that is signified by true baptism. But not so. Christ's charge to his followers was: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:19, 20. Every assistance that man needs to enable him to live up to his baptism is embraced in that promise; and in testing that promise, we shall not find him lacking, nor the needed help wanting. These thoughts concerning the significance of true baptism are not brought out to discourage any; but that, realizing the deep significance of our baptism, we might be more guarded and more earnest in our lives and our activities; and realizing what Heaven expects of us, that we come to realize also our great need of the help which Christ has pledged himself to give.

If, then, being baptized into the name of the Father, we are set before the world as representing his character; and if, being baptized into the name of the Son, we are placed before the world as those whose lives are representing the life of Christ; and if, being baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit, we are set before the world as those specially dedicated to the service of others and to the bearing of fruit for the kingdom,—then what circumspection and what diligence, what carefulness and consecration, we should manifest in all our thoughts and words and actions!