Can the term “in the name of” in Matthew 28:19 have multiple referents?

This question relates to “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” in Matthew 28:19

• εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος

There is already a separate answer on this website showing that the whole context of Matthew 28:18-20 is about baptism that does not have to literally be in any given formula, but is by the authority of God, or his Son and through the ‘Holy Spirit’, a New Testament term related in this context to the new breath in the new creation, or new life. New men and women born again through baptism into Christ.

Is in the name of Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit missing in early manuscripts of Matthew 28:19? Answered by BibleQ . July 29, 2021 – 5:27 pm

This usage is obviously different from a completely subordinated use of a name such as when “Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.” (Esther 8:10 NIV)

 

In the name of A and B.

The use of “in the name of” to refer to more than one person is certainly common enough in both English and Latin and other languages. The following examples are mainly equivalents of the Greek dative case (in the name of) not the rarer accusative use (into the name of) but the principle is the same.

• in the name of the King and of my commanding officer (English, Sir Walter Scott)
• all the regal power is now acted in the name of the king and queen (English, Parliamentary debate on the regency bill of William and Mary 1690)
• in the name of the emperor and of the Hungarian clergy , he spoke with such energy against several abuses of the church of Rome, and particularly against the celibacy of the clergy (Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Johann Lorenz Mosheim  1867)
• in nomine IMPERATORIS et archiepiscopus Toletanus domnus Raymundus  – in the name of the EMPEROR and of the archbishop of Toledo, Lord Raymond. (Latin, Corpus historiographicum latinum hispanum, saeculi VIII-XII)
• Nous vous engageons donc, au nom de notre honneur, au nom du roi et de la patrie, à venir nous joindre ici le plus tôt que vous pourrez. – We therefore urge you, in the name of our honour, in the name of the king and the country, to come and join us here as soon as you can. (French, Lecture de M. Gossuin des lettres des officiers du dixième bataillon du Mans à leurs soldats, des chasseurs de Gévaudan et de M. Schmidt, lors de la séance du 6 juillet 1791)
• en nombre del Rey y del principe de Asturias – On behalf of the King and the Prince of Asturias (Spanish, Crónica del serenissimo rey don Juan 1591)
• im Namen des Kaisers und der Kaiserin einzuleiten – in the name of the Emperor and Empress (German, Holy Roman Empire)
• im Namen des Kaisers und der Stände zu erfüllen hatte – in the name of the Emperor and the Estates (Germany, 16th Century)

However examples of the same kind are less common in Greek. Partly because the earlier the text, the less likely there would be shared authority of any kind.

Grammatically though it is clear that “in the name (singular) of A, B, C” doesn’t mean that A, B, C are the same being, not in any language, not in Greek. Take this example from the Greek Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 18:20 LXX ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι θεῶν ἑτέρων in the name (singular) of other gods (plural)

That is a conclusive demonstration that as singular “in the name of” only implies a collective of those names following, not them being the same thing.

In addition to the languages above take also these examples from Greek Orthodox usage:

• επ΄ ονόματι των Αγίων Τεσσαράκοντα Μαρτύρων στην Ιερά Μητρόπολη Τρίκκης, Γαρδικίου και Πύλης ..
• in the name (singular) of the Holy Forty Martyrs (plural) in the Holy Metropolis of Trikki, Gardiki and Pyle..
• Ιερά Αγρυπνία στο εορτάζον παρεκκλήσιο επ’ ονόματι των Αγίων Αποστόλων Πέτρου και Παύλου εντός του Επισκοπείου Τρικάλων.
• Holy Vigil in the celebratory chapel in the name (singular) of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (plural) within the Diocese of Trikala.

Note as with the list of English, Latin, French, Spanish and German examples above that the meaning in Deuteronomy 18:20 LXX is dative “in name” ep’ onómătĭ (shown by the -ατι case declension on the end of the noun stem)  whereas in Matthew 28:19 “into the name” eis tò ónomă is accusative case, and the noun form in accusative singular declension is in this case the same as the nominative form shown in dictionary headers. If it had been in the names (plural) of the multiple pagan gods in Deuteronomy 18:20, or names (all 40 of them) of the 40 martyrs or (names (both) of Apostles Peter and Paul in the Greek Orthodox examples above then the dative plural of onoma would be onomasi, not onomati. It isn’t.

To find further matches in Greek a full search on the databases of classical Greek texts would need to be run, looking for, for example, lines like:

• “ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ..” – in the name of the king and..
• “ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ Καίσαρος καὶ..” – in the name of the emperor and..

Beyond these examples with “name” there are obviously many other similar expressions – to the memory of A, B and C, the account of A, B and C, and so on, where no one would suggest that A, B and C and the same person. It is primarily the literalist idea of a name as being limited to an actual name, which the examples above in English, Latin and French show is not the meaning that “in the name of” has in these languages.

In fact going back to Deuteronomy that is also a good example to show that the literalist reading of Matthew 28:19 as a literal name is not a very Jewish (nor Greek etc) way to understand the text.

• Deuteronomy 18:20 Hebrew   [בְּשֵׁם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים] b’shem (in the name singular) elohim (can be singular or plural depending on accompanying verb or adjective) aherim (plural adjective form of aher, other)
• Deuteronomy 18:20 LXX ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι θεῶν ἑτέρων in the name (singular) of other gods (plural)

The Hebrew there also shows that the Hebrew word ‘shem’ (name), like the Greek word ‘onoma’ (name) can be used like memory of, reputation of, or any other noun that would make sense in the sentence context, to have multiple loosely collective named individuals with different identitities and names bracketed together. From this straightforward Bible Hebrew-to-Bible Greek example alone it should be clear that the Trinitarian or Oneness claim that “in the name of A, B and C” means that they are the same one person goes against common sense and usage in Greek or any other common language.
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The broad usage of ὄνομα, ONOMA, name in Hellenistic Greek texts.

Kittel’s lexicon is helpful in demonstrating the wider uses of “in the name of”.

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament – Volume 5 Gerhard Kittel, ‎Geoffrey William Bromiley, ‎Gerhard Friedrich · 1964. Page 243-245 in particular, at the start of a lengthy entry.

• a. name
• b. repute
• c. name as opposed to thing
• d. the actual person so named
• e. noun, a substantive in grammar
• f. “The papyri extend the usage at some points . Thus ovoμa is the name of a person in books or on lists establishing its owner’s rights and obligations” etc.