Baptism

Strangers And Aliens (17b): As It Was In The Days Of Noah (1 Peter 3:18–22)

by on May 16, 2016 | 6 Comments

They were saved (διεσώθησαν) “through the waters” (δι᾿ ὕδατος). What Peter says is that it was in the midst of the circumstance of the flood or from the flood that Noah and his congregation were saved. Peter is not saying that the water was an instrument of their salvation. He has already said that the ark was the instrument or means of their salvation. If you have ever been whitewater rafting or found yourself in rough waters in a canoe, you understand. The rapid waters do not save anyone. No one was saved by the rising flood waters in Hurricane Katrina. They were saved in the midst of them by clinging to a rooftop or by a brave member of the Coast Guard (known affectionately as “Coasties”) dangling from a helicopter. Continue reading →

Tracing The Paradigm Shift: Two Ways Of Being In The Covenant Of Grace

by on March 18, 2016 | 5 Comments

In like manner, the participation (communio) of the covenant of grace is two-fold. The one includes merely symbolical and common benefits (beneficia), which have no certain connection with salvation, and to which infants are admitted by their relation to parents that are . . . Continue reading →

Questions And Answers About Baptism

by on January 29, 2016 | 13 Comments

Earlier this week Calvinist Batman and I discussed covenant theology, baptism, and Reformed identity. That led to a follow-up discussion with some listeners. For the sake of brevity and clarity I have re-worded and abbreviated some of the questions and I have . . . Continue reading →

Abraham, Moses, And Circumcision

by on January 8, 2016 | 6 Comments

Introduction Since the early to mid-19th century, American evangelical Christianity has been largely dominated by a set of assumptions about the nature of redemptive history and the progress of revelation that may be called Baptistic. Not everyone who holds these assumptions or . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 74: We Are Abraham’s Children

by on May 26, 2015 | 1 Comment

74. Are infants also to be baptized? Yes, for since they belong to the covenant and people of God as well as their parents, and since redemption from sin through the blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit who works faith, are . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 72–73: To Be Clear—Baptism Isn’t Magic But It Is Powerful

by on May 23, 2015 | 2 Comments

What is the frame of reference for baptism and washing? It is the flood. Did the flood save anyone? No. It condemned those who did not believe (an aspect of baptism sometimes neglected; there is a judicial aspect of baptism for the reprobate) but God’s people were saved out of the judgment by the ark. To what does the ark correspond? Christ. He is the ark. The Noahic baptismal flood was an antitype of Christ, who underwent the flood of judgment for us, and it testifies to our outward identity with Christ and to believers it signifies and seals that just as he suffered the judgment flood for us, as he was drowned in divine wrath, as it were, we have died with him and by his grace we have been redeemed. Continue reading →

Heidelberg 71: What’s Baptism Got To Do With It?

by on May 22, 2015

Scripture does not say that baptism is the instrument of salvation any more than the Noahic flood or the Red Sea were the instruments of salvation. No, faith is the sole instrument of salvation. We were delivered through, i.e., out of the flood and the Red Sea. Continue reading →

Heidelberg 70: Washed With Christ’s Blood And Spirit—The Double Benefit Of Christ

by on May 21, 2015 | 1 Comment

Baptism testifies and seals to us believers that we have been declared clean on the basis of Christ’s perfect righteousness and condign merit imputed to us. We have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:24). It also testifies and seals to us believers that we are being cleansed, i.e., that we are being progressively, graciously sanctified by Christ’s Spirit, that Christ’s sprinkled blood not only justifies but it is unto (toward) actual “sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:2). Continue reading →