Heidelcast 118: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (13)

Heidelcast

on October 1, 2016

With this episode now we dive into the question of baptism itself. So far we have been setting the stage because, from the historic, confessional Reformed point of view, the debate about infant baptism is really a debate about how to understand . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 116: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (12)

Heidelcast

on September 17, 2016

We are just about ready to immerse ourselves, as it were, in the question of baptism but we have at least one more thing to discuss before we get to baptism and that is this: what is baptism? In the Reformed tradition, . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 115: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (11)

Heidelcast

on September 10, 2016 | 3 Comments

In this episode we see that the benefits of the New Covenant are the benefits of the covenant of grace. There are some who see a strong discontinuity between the promises made to Abraham and the new covenant promised Jeremiah 31. There . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 114: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (10)

Heidelcast

on August 25, 2016

In the last episode, in this episode and in the next, we’re looking at what Scripture says about the new covenant. We’ve looked at what Jeremiah 31:31-34 actually says, how Paul interprets it, and now we want to turn our attention to . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 113: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (9)

Heidelcast

on August 16, 2016

Does initiation of covenant children into the visible covenant people expire with the new covenant? Is the new covenant absolutely relatively new? Is it new relative to Abraham or new relative to Moses? These are the topics we’re investigating in this episode of the Heidelcast. Continue reading →

Heidelcast 111: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (7)

Heidelcast

on July 28, 2016 | 5 Comments

This is episode 7 of our series: I will be a God to You and to Your Children. For the last two episodes we have been thinking about what is temporary and what is permanent in the history of redemption. We have . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 110: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (6)

Heidelcast

on July 23, 2016

This is episode 6 of our series: I will be a God to You and to Your Children. Last time we began looking at how types and shadows help us sort out what, in the history of redemption, is temporary and what . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 109: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (5)

Heidelcast

on July 21, 2016

This is part 5 of the series: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children. Last time we looked at the distinction between the substance of the covenant of grace and its accidents or its outward (external) administration throughout redemptive . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 108: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (4)

Heidelcast

on July 15, 2016

This is part 4 of the series: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children. Last time we considered whether it’s right to speak of a “covenant of grace.” We saw that, from the very beginning of redemptive history, . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 107: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (3)

Heidelcast

on July 2, 2016 | 6 Comments

Last time we looked at some of the challenges we face in learning how to interpret Scripture properly and how the Ancient Christian Churches and the Reformed churches read the Scriptures, with Christ at the center. One way to understand this unity . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 106: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (2)

Heidelcast

on June 16, 2016 | 3 Comments

This is part 2 of the series: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children. We’re talking about how to read the Scriptures, about what Scripture says about the covenant of grace, its administration, and baptism. One of the . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 105: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (1)

Heidelcast

on June 11, 2016 | 13 Comments

One of the most frequent topics and questions for discussion on the Heidelblog has been this: Who should be baptized and why? To anticipate an objection: some will say that the Heidelcast should not be addressing this subject because it causes needless . . . Continue reading →

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

R. Scott Clark

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 →

Zwingli On Sacramentarians And Infant Baptism (1529)

R. Scott Clark

on April 20, 2016 | 2 Comments

Others, like the sacramentarians, (those are justly called sacramentarians, who attribute to the sacraments what they do not contain, and by high-sounding but false and made-up promises, lead men away from simple trust in the one God to belief in the power . . . Continue reading →

Samuel Rutherford On Acts 2:39 In Defense Of Infant Baptism

R. Scott Clark

on April 7, 2016 | 9 Comments

Q. What warrant is there, Act. 2. 39. for Infant Baptism? Ans. I shall not contend for the actual baptizing of them at that instant. But every one of you be baptized ἕκαστος father and sons. Why? the promise is to you . . . Continue reading →

John Owen Was Not A Baptist

R. Scott Clark

on April 6, 2016 | 65 Comments

Recently I had a question from a reader of the HB asking about John Owen’s view of baptism. It is sometimes implied either that he was a Baptist or became all but Baptist in his covenant theology. This is a puzzling thing . . . Continue reading →

Calvin On Acts 2:39: Against The [Ana] Baptists

R. Scott Clark

on March 31, 2016 | 3 Comments

And we must note these three degrees, that the promise was first made to the Jews, and then to their children, and last of all, that it is also to be imparted to the Gentiles. We know the reason why the Jews . . . Continue reading →

Is Infant Baptism A Roman Catholic Leftover?

R. Scott Clark

on March 19, 2016 | 41 Comments

Like a growing number of people in the Reformed churches I did not begin my Christian life there. I began my Christian life in an evangelical (Southern) Baptist setting. As part of my initiation into that culture I was given an explanation . . . Continue reading →

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

R. Scott Clark

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

R. Scott Clark

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 →