Answers · Baptism & Salvation
Why do Apostolics baptize in Jesus' name?
Because that is the pattern the book of Acts records, without exception. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter's answer to the crowd's question — what shall we do? — named the name:
"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 practice that follows in Acts never varies: converts are baptized in the name of Jesus — at Jerusalem, in Samaria, at Caesarea, at Ephesus. The Doctrine page sets the teaching out in full: baptism is for those who have fully repented, and it is administered in the name of Jesus. The name is not a formula laid over the act; on the site's teaching, it is the act's own content — the convert is baptized into the name.
Nor is the practice a modern invention. The Doctrine page's historical survey quotes an early Christian writer (about A.D. 144) describing baptism practiced "in the name of Jesus Christ," and traces the form through the early centuries. In the modern movement, the message of baptism in Jesus' name was preached again at the Arroyo Seco camp meeting in 1913 — the recovery the History page's timeline records — and it has defined Apostolic baptism ever since.