And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Compare incantation texts. Dozens from third through seventh centuries CE, under the Sassanian Empire.
In the name of Hapkiʾel and Raḥmiʾel and ʿAqriʾel and Yaḥziʾel […] In the name of Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts; all the earth is full of his glory.
in the name of Rophiel and Suriel and Gabriel [and …] and Raḥmiel and .ḥatiel and Suriel … and Serariel
in the name of the great God […] in the name of Gabriel and Michael and Raphael, and in the name of the angel ʿAsiel and Ermes the great Lord
in the name of Yah, Yahu, Ah […] in the name of LLZRyon and Šabiel and Gabriel and Eliel
In the name of Gabriel, Michael, and Rophiel. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Hallelia, Selah.
In the name of Michael the healer and Rofiel the reliever and Gabriel the servant of the Lord.
Jesus is given authority. He does not already have it. This is an exaltation christology. The baptismal formula resembles magical incantations of God, angels, and sometimes humans. ‘In the name of’ is singular even when grouping multiple, distinct beings. It carries the connotation of ‘in the authority of’. The phrasing ‘in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit’ is a truncation of a longer version, perhaps something like ‘in the name of God the Father and in the name of the son of God and in the name of the holy spirit’. The text as it stands does not convey a trinitarian theology—the son and the holy spirit are not called ‘God’—but it does suggest an early personification of the holy spirit.