Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern day believers live out the teachings of the First Century Church. This podcast is part of the teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard.

Dr. Bernard is dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives. In apostolic life in

the 21st century, Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those

teachings apply to everyday life. Thank you for joining us for this broadcast. The following question

was submitted on one of the UPCI's social media outlets.

The person said they knew of a church that teaches that baptism is not valid unless the preacher

uses the name Christ when they baptize.

This church teaches that Christ was Jesus' name in heaven and Christ is part of his names,

so the name Christ must be

included in every baptism. Is this true? And I think it also begs a bigger question. According to the

scriptures, what words must be used at baptism in order to make it valid? Well, as Apostolic Pentecostals,

we always go to the Bible for our answers.

And particularly, when it comes to the New Testament Church, we go to the New Testament.

We go to the teaching, preaching, and consistent practice of the apostles

and the first century believers as recorded in the Bible.

And it's interesting that every account of water baptism in the New

Testament Church that mentions a name or a formula, every single one mentions the name of Jesus.

The name Jesus literally means Jehovah Savior or Yahweh Savior. That is, the God of the Old Testament, the one true and living God, who revealed

himself by the name Yahweh to the Hebrews of the Old Testament, has come in the flesh to be our

Savior as the Lord Jesus Christ. So the name of Jesus is that unique name that identifies who he is.

So Acts 412 says neither is there salvation in the other,

for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

...