The Great Commission Baptism - Mt. 28:19-20

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

1. We know there was no other existing water baptism at the time this commission was given other than the baptism of John.

2. We know there was no other water baptism that Christ could "HAVE" commanded at the time He gives this great commission other than the baptism of John. His disciples administered that baptism under his leadership in John 4:1-2. He defended the baptism of John and rebuked all who did not submit to it in Luke 7:29-30. He is explicity commanding them to observe "ALL THINGS" he had commanded and the baptism of John was one of those things.

3. We know this command to baptize preceded the day of Pentecost

4. We know that John the Baptist believed in the Trinity as he uses Isaiah 40 where the word "Yahweh" is found to define "him" the Christ (Mk. 1:1-2; Jn. 1:23) and explicitly states of Christ "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all." and directly calls him "the Son" of the Father. There can be no question he distinguished the Holy Spirit from both the Father and the Son as he claimed that he was told by God that he would see the Holy Spirit come upon the Christ in the form of a dove.

5. He administered baptism in the "name" (authority - see Acts 4:7) of the one Triune God.

6. Jesus when asked by what authority he conducted his ministry he turned to the ministry of John as his ministry began with the baptism of John and thus when asking whether the baptism of John was from heaven or from men implied that his own authority was inseparable from John's authority in baptism. Salvation begins with new birth but service or ministry begins with scriptural baptism.

CONCLUSION: The Great Commission is authority to perpetuate the baptism of John as it is the only water baptism He had submitted unto, commanded and existent when he gave the Great Commission.