John Calvin refutes the Anabaptists from Genesis 9. Continue reading →
For the promise is to you and to your children and to all those who are far away, as many as the Lord our God shall call. 1 This passage is an important text in the Reformed understanding of the continuity of . . . Continue reading →
This two-part series engages recent confessional Baptist publications on the nature of covenant theology in order to help Reformed readers understand the Baptistic view better and to have some starting points for responding to it. Part one looked at new developments in . . . Continue reading →
The elephant in the room of any discussion about the development of redemptive history is the disagreement between Baptist and Reformed theologies about the unity of the covenant of grace, including the whole language of the covenant’s substance and administration. Continue reading →
Our comparison and contrast of the WCF with the 2LC continues through chapter 1, “Of the Holy Scriptures.” After the first section, the documents are identical until section 2, where the Savoy and the 2LC add a definite article to the last . . . Continue reading →
One often hears the refrain, “Doctrine is not practical,” and many Reformed folk might protest, but of all the doctrines, we can agree that baptism is the most practical. When my own daughter was born, I knew I needed to have a . . . Continue reading →
The discussion of the differences between Baptist and Reformed theology is a sensitive but important question. Thus, I think I should explain why I am writing this series. In my experience, some Baptists, especially those who identify with the Particular Baptist tradition, . . . Continue reading →
That infant baptism is the practice of all branches of the Christian church, with one solitary exception, is a well-known fact. That it has been the practice of the church of God for eighteen centuries is also beyond dispute. When one sect, . . . Continue reading →
Le Ann Trees, publisher of Beautiful Christian Life and friend of the HB, wrote to ask for resources on the mode of baptism. So, I thought it would be useful to explain how the Reformed think about this matter generally and why . . . Continue reading →
It is possible for someone to have been brought up in a Christian home, who has never known a day when they didn’t know about the Lord Jesus, who have been taught to pray Our Father in Heaven, and have loved being . . . Continue reading →
Jackson writes to ask, “As it relates to continuity with the Abrahamic covenant, for example, Abraham and his children get circumcised, therfore in the new administration, Jesus and his children (spiritual) get baptized. Do you think that someone can retain their Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Though the mode of baptism is not the primary argument that moved me away it was the starting point that caused me to re-examine Reformed covenant theology as a whole and Jeremiah 31 in particular. Continue reading →
Cet essai a d’abord été écrit sous forme de livret vers 1988 pour ma congrégation à Kansas City comme une explication simple de la doctrine réformée du baptême des enfants pour ceux qui ne sont pas familiers avec notre théologie et notre pratique. Pour des explications et des réponses plus détaillées, voir les annexes ci-dessous. Continue reading →
III. The question is not whether all infants are to be baptized or not; for, according to the will of God, some are not to be baptized, even such whose parents are strangers from the covenant. But hence it will follow that . . . Continue reading →
The Rev Mr Scott McDermand is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California (MA, MDiv). He is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Bad Axe, Michigan. A native of San Diego and a former baseball player, Scott served as full-time pulpit supply at Alpine . . . Continue reading →
From the point of view of the covenant of grace, every command to baptize, is a command to baptize the children of believers. Because the promise of the covenant of grace, God is a God not only to adult believers, but also to their children. That is why, in 1 Corinthians 7:14, Paul said that children of believers are “holy.” Paul deliberately used Old Covenant, ceremonial, language to teach the Corinthians that their children shouldn’t be considered outside of the visible people of God. To use old covenant language, children of believers are “clean,” and therefore have a right to share in the blessings of being a part of the visible people of God, including baptism. Continue reading →
This question/objection occurs frequently in the context of the debate over infant baptism and it reveals a widely-held Baptist misunderstanding about the sacraments.
Several Baptist writers are discussing the propriety of baptizing younger children. Justin Taylor provides of roundup of the debate.
I get this question frequently but it is not the right question. Continue reading
CONSIDERATION TWO. That though a ministerial succession should be granted to be drawn through the Church of Rome, and that from the days of the first apostasy in that church to the times of Protestant Reformation, yet thereby the truth of that . . . Continue reading →