Answers · The Church & Its History
When was baptism in Jesus' name preached again?
In the beginning it was not a recovery; it was simply the practice. On the day of Pentecost, Peter's answer to the convicted crowd set the form, and the book of Acts never varies it:
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
— Acts 2:38 (KJV)
The same pattern runs through the book — in Samaria they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16); at Caesarea, Peter "commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord" (Acts 10:48); and at Ephesus, disciples who had known only John's baptism were baptized again, this time in the name:
"When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
— Acts 19:5 (KJV)
After the apostolic age the practice receded. Oliver F. Fauss, the early Pentecostal writer whose historical case the History page quotes, observed that there is not one instance recorded in the New Testament, or in any genuine book of the first century, where any other formula was ever used — and that baptism in Jesus' name continued for at least the first one hundred years of the early church. In the long centuries after, the words of Matthew 28:19 alone became the church's custom, and the apostolic practice waited in the text of Acts itself.
The recovery came at a camp meeting. In April 1913, at Arroyo Seco near Los Angeles, evangelist R. E. McAlister preached on water baptism and observed that the apostles in Acts baptized in the name of Jesus, not with the words of Matthew 28:19 alone. John G. Scheppe, who heard the sermon, received what he described as a revelation of the power in the name — and the question of the baptismal formula, and behind it the nature of the Godhead, was open from that night.
A year later it was acted on. On April 15, 1914, Frank J. Ewart and Glenn A. Cook rebaptized each other in the name of Jesus at Los Angeles, and the Jesus-name baptism campaign began in earnest; Ewart's paper, Meat in Due Season, spread the message widely. From Arroyo Seco forward, baptism in Jesus' name has been preached again as the apostolic norm.