Matthew 28:19
Matthew 28:1919Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
JWs acknowledge the baptismal command but redefine its terms. The "holy spirit" is God's impersonal active force, not a person equal to the Father and Son. Being baptised "in the name of" the spirit simply means recognising its role, not conferring personhood. The NWT lowercases "holy spirit" to reinforce this reading.
Jesus commands baptism "in the name" (singular — eis to onoma) "of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit." One name shared by three — not three names. The substitution test clarifies: "Would you baptise someone in the name of Jehovah, Michael, and electricity?" An impersonal force cannot share a divine name or receive baptismal devotion. The Greek onoma is used 228 times in the NT, referring to persons in all but four place-name instances. The triadic formula appears alongside (three personal actions — grace, love, fellowship) and (three persons interacting — Father sends, Son requests, Spirit indwells). The NWT preserves the singular "name" — the key trinitarian feature — even while lowercasing "spirit."
The NWT lowercases "holy spirit" throughout, including in the baptismal formula — "the holy spirit" rather than "the Holy Spirit." This is classified as a subtle pneumatological move: the singular "name" shared by three is preserved, but the lowercase treatment reinforces the depersonalisation of the Spirit seen across the NWT's pneumatological passages.