The Apostle Peter is notorious for his threefold denial of Jesus (Mark 14:66ff). But did Peter also deny that God is Holy Trinity? Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost is a model of apostolic preaching and doctrine. In that sermon, Peter declared,
Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
During the formative years of Pentecostalism a major theological controversy threatened the movement. After the Azusa Street revival, some leaders began espousing a “new issue” – water baptism should be performed in the name of Jesus only. This led to a “new revelation” concerning the nature of God – Jesus is God and God is one. The names Father, Son, and Spirit are temporary manifestations of one divine person. Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Son, and Jesus is the Holy Spirit. God is one person, one substance, with three names. This is “Oneness” Pentecostalism. Oneness Pentecostals refer to themselves as apostolic, believing that their doctrine of God best reflects the apostles’ doctrine.
However, the apostles did not baptize in the name of Jesus only; they baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Peter concluded his Pentecost sermon with the call to repent and be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ.” In Peter’s theology the name “Jesus Christ” is implicitly Trinitarian. The Greek term Christos means “anointed One.” This implies a Trinitarian theology in which the Father is the Anointer, the Son is the Anointed One, and the Spirit is the Anointing. Peter’s Trinitarian theology is explicit throughout his message. He declared,
This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear (Acts 2:32-33).
What is the apostolic witness? The Father exalted the Son; the Son received the Holy Spirit from the Father; the Spirit is “poured forth” upon humanity from the Father through the Son. In Peter’s theology the Father, Son, and Spirit are not mere names, but distinct persons of equal divinity who act together as one.
Jesus commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). This baptismal confession affirms the deity and eternal distinction of the Son and the Spirit. The God of the New Testament is Holy Trinity. Yes, God is one. The oneness of God is expressed in a singular divine will, and a unity of being. Father, Son, and Spirit are each fully and equally God – three eternally distinct persons who share one divine essence. In other words, God is one “what” and three “whos.” The Father eternally generates the Son and the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father.
Peter’s command to baptize in the name of Jesus Christ is not a denial of Holy Trinity. Instead, Peter planted the theological seeds that would inform the Christian revelation of God as Trinity. When Athanasius defended the full deity of Jesus Christ against the Arians, apostolic preaching was his theological foundation. When the bishops gathered at Nicaea to establish orthodox Christian teaching they constructed a theological dogma from Peter’s first confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” (Matthew 16:16). This is the foundation of the church’s Trinitarian confession.
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