Acts 8:16

[icelandic_iceskater]

"Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit."

-Acts 8:14-17

What do they mean by "Only baptized in the name of Jesus"? Would these baptisms have been considered valid? *is very confused about this*

[Thy Geekdom Come]

There is some debate among theologians about the precise meaning of the phrase, but it can easily be understood (and my favored interpretation is) that by "name" they are meaning, "in the authority of" or even that they had been baptized into Christ Himself. Remember that St. Paul and others early on would say that faith was belief in the name of Jesus. The "name" of a person is that person's authority and identity. Belief or baptism in the name of Jesus designates belief or baptism in Jesus.

There are some theologians, however, who hold that early on, they baptized "in the name of Jesus," instead of in a Trinitarian formula. Those theologians almost always hold that the intention was to baptize in the name of the Trinity, but that the rest of the Trinity was implied. I don't buy it, personally, and I don't feel very confident about the orthodoxy of that view.

I hope this helps.

God bless,

Micah