In the Name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit

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Claim: While the Bible does not use the term "Trinity," the idea is clearly there. For example, Jesus directed that people be baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Reply: As for Matthew 28:19, 20 since when is being baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," supposed to be the same as saying that they are of the same substance and essence?

McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, though advocating the Trinity doctrine, acknowledges regarding Matthew 28:18-20: "This text, however, taken by itself, would not prove decisively either the personality of the three subjects mentioned, or their equality or divinity." (1981 reprint, Vol. X, p. 552)

Why?

Let us look at one reason.

Using a singular form of NAME does not necessarily denote singularity.

Genesis 5:2 "Male and female created he them: and blessed them, and called their NAME Adam, in the day when they were created."

Here two distinct and separate individuals are called by one NAME.

Genesis 48:6 "And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance." All the brothers had
different names although the text represents that by the singular, "name".

It is interesting that the NIV and NEB distributes the term by translating it "names".

Genesis 48:16: "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a mulititude in the midst of the earth."

Did Abraham and Isaac have the same name? Clearly, the singular term here "name" is used in a distributive sense.

Mark 5:9: "Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, ‘For we are many.’" In this case one name was given to a plural number of distinct demons.

The Bible clearly distinguishes between the name of the Father and the name of the Son.
Proverbs 30:4 (NIV): "Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is HIS NAME, AND THE NAME OF HIS SON? Tell me if you know!"

Revelation 14:1 (NIV): "Then I looked, and theme before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had HIS NAME AND HIS FATHER’S NAME written on their foreheads." It is quite obvious that the Father has one name and that the Son has another.

To look for anything else in Matt 28:19 also ignores the "authority" that is placed within the lexical range of ONOMA itself.

If simply mentioning the 3 together ensures triunity, then God, and the Son and the angels must be some mysterious triad, as they are mentioned together more often,

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matthew 16:27. See also Matt 18:10,11; Matt 24:36; Mk 8:38; Mk 13:32; Luk 9:26; 12:8; Jn1:51; 1Cor 4:9, 10; 1Tim:21; Heb 1:6; Heb 2:9; 1Pet 3:22; Rev 14: 21,22.

..or even Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." Exodus 6:3 KJV. See also Gen 50:24; Ex 2:24; 3:6, 15,16; 4:5; 6:3, 8; 33:1; Lev 26:42; Num 32:11; Deut 1:8; 6:10; 9:5, 27; 29:13; 2Kings 13:23; Jer 33:26; etc.