I would like to quote something from Marvin R. Vincent’s book entitled, Word Studies of the New Testament. “Baptizing them INTO the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. ‘Into’ denotes union or communion with. Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with Him. The name is the sum total of the divine being. It is equivalent to His person. His name is of no avail detached from His nature. When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that he is and in all that he does for man.”
I believe we are clear. To baptize people into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit means to put them into the Triune God. According to Mr. Vincent, this is to put them into the sum total of the divine being, and this is a kind of spiritual and mystical union.
Christianity tells us that Jesus was born simply to save sinners. But Matthew does not end that way. Matthew ends with Jesus as the life-giving Spirit, embodying the Triune God, putting all of God’s chosen people into Himself. And His presence is with all the baptized ones. Matthew tells us far more than just the saving of Jesus. Matthew ends with Jesus baptizing all of God’s people into the Triune God. And He is the ever present one with all those He has put into Himself. This is simply the church life. It is not merely the saving of Jesus. It is being put into Jesus as the life-giving Spirit, embodying the Triune God, that we may enjoy His indwelling presence in the church life.
Matthew 28 speaks of the baptizing into the name of the Triune God. But Romans 6 speaks of being baptized into Christ. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). And Galatians 3:27 says the same thing: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Then 1 Corinthians 12:13a says that we have been baptized into one Body: “For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body.” So from these verses we can see that we are baptized into the Triune God, baptized into Christ, and baptized into one Body.
Now we have some trouble. Are these three baptisms, or are they one? If they are one, how could one baptism put us into three categories of beings? We have been put into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the one Body. Are we in three, or are we in one? We have been put into one because the Triune God is Christ, and Christ is the one Body. To be baptized into the Triune God is simply to be put into Christ, and to be put into Christ is to be put into His Body. Hallelujah! We have been baptized into the Triune God, we have been baptized into Christ, and both Jews and Gentiles have been baptized into one Body. These are not three categories of separate beings. They are one. The Triune God is simply Christ, and Christ today is His Body. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12). Christ in many members is one Body, and in one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body.
I have the deep conviction that this is all very new to us. But on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius, Christ as the baptizing Spirit, embodying the Triune God, put all God’s chosen people into the Triune God. To be put into the Triune God simply means to be put into Christ Himself, and to be put into Christ Himself is to be put into the one Body.
Now we know why Matthew mentions the Triune God in such a clear and emphatic way. It is because Matthew shows us how God became incarnated, born of a virgin to be Emmanuel, God with us. But we could not be put into Emmanuel. He had to go through some thirty-three years of process. He was processed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. And the life-giving Spirit is the last Person of the Triune God, being His full embodiment and realization. Now Christ is such a Spirit, into whom we all have been baptized.
Whenever the church baptizes new believers, we must have the faith and realization that Jesus is baptizing with us. For us to baptize others means nothing. But in our baptizing, the Lord Jesus is putting people into the Triune God. That really is something. He is the Baptizer, and as the life-giving Spirit, He embodies the very Triune God, into whom they are baptized. They are baptized into the Triune God, into Himself, and into His one Body.