As evangelical Christians continue to come into contact with historic Reformed writers and the Reformed confessions they often notice some significant discrepancies between what they have known and believed, what is being presented as “Reformed,” and what they are reading in older sources. Covenant theology and baptism are two of the focal points in such discussions. What readers are discovering is that there are competing covenant theologies and competing ways of understanding the history of redemption and of interpreting Scripture that both claim to be Reformed.

Below are some resources written to help readers to cross the bridge from modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice to classical, confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice. My advice is to read these free, online resources in the order presented. The actual discussion of baptism comes toward the end last because one’s understanding of baptism is really the product of a number of other assumptions and conclusions that one has already drawn about the nature of the history of redemption and about how the Bible is to be read and interpreted.

1. Why Does It Take So Long To Explain Infant Baptism?
2. A Really Short Case For Infant Baptism (117 words)
3. On the New Covenant
4. Is There A Covenant Of Grace?
5. What Is The Substance Of The Covenant Of Grace?
6. Jude On the Continuity of the Covenant of Grace
7. Did The Covenant Of Grace Begin In The New Covenant?
8. Tracing the Paradigm Shift: Two Ways Of Being In The One Covenant of Grace
9. Some Of The Differences Between Baptists And Reformed Theology On The New Covenant
10. Three Ways Of Relating To One Covenant Of Grace
11. Moses Was Not Abraham
12. The Abrahamic Covenant Unifies Redemptive History
13. What Is And Is Not New About The New Covenant
14. Resources On The Role Of Abraham In Redemptive History
15. Yes, The Reformed Churches Do Baptize On The Basis Of The Abrahamic Promise
16. Video: The Abraham Paradigm
17. What Do We Mean By Sacrament, Sign, and Seal?
18. Abraham, Moses, and Circumcision
19. Jesus: Baptism Is Death
20. Circumcision And Baptism
21. True Circumcision Was Always Spiritual
22. Ishmael and Infant Baptism
23. Baptism and the Benefits of Christ: The Double Mode of Communion
24. Does Baptism Save?
25. If We Baptize Infants Why Do We Not Also Commune Them?
26. Untangling Webs of Assumptions About Baptism
27. Does Romans 8:9–11 Require Believer’s Baptism?
28. A Reformed Defense Of Infant Baptism
29. Seed, Seeds, and Infant Baptism
30. What’s the Use Of Infant Baptism?
31. What About Matthew 19:13–15?
32. Does Romans 8:9–11 Require Believer’s Baptism?
33. Household Baptisms In Acts
34. Is Infant baptism a Roman Catholic leftover?
35. Does the Nicene Creed Teach Baptismal Regeneration?
36. The Reformed Churches confess Infant Baptism
37. Video: Why Baptize Infants
38. Dunking, Sprinkling, Or Pouring (Or Does It Matter)?
39. Further Reading on Covenant Theology
40. What Advantage Has The Jew? Much In Every Way
41. Deconversion And Covenant Theology
42. Should We Talk About Breaking The Covenant Of Grace?
43. For Whom Is Christ Mediating?
44. Baptists And Federal Visionists Together?
45. Engaging With 1689 (series)
46. An Intramural Baptist Debate That Illumines The Profound Differences Between Baptist And Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice
47. Acts 2:39: What Is The Promise And To Whom Is It Made?
48. There Is No Credo Baptist Heidelberg Catechism or Why Hercules Collins Was Not Reformed
49. Engaging Confessional Baptists on Covenant Theology (Part 1): Typology
50. Engaging Confessional Baptists on Covenant Theology (Part 2): Unity of Salvation in the Old and New Testaments
51. The 1689  Compared and Contrasted With the WCF
52. Some Practical Consequences Of Reformed Covenant Theology
53. Heidelcast Series: I Will Be A God To You And to Your Children
54. Heidelcast Series: Chad Vegas On Covenant and Baptism

@RScottClark I wish I would’ve had this when I was wrestling

— Jay Sawrie (@JaySawrie) January 12, 2016

Resources

• Subscribe To The Heidelblog!
• The Heidelblog Resource Page
• Heidelmedia Resources
• The Ecumenical Creeds
• The Reformed Confessions
• The Heidelberg Catechism
• Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
• Why I Am A Christian
• What Must A Christian Believe?
• Heidelblog Contributors
• Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to:

Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization