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 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 →
For some years I have complained about Baptist squatters in the Reformed house. These are those Baptists who insist on re-defining the adjective Reformed. As it turns out, however, this habit of squatting is not new at all. Indeed, one of the . . . 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 →
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 →
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 →
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.
I get this question frequently but it is not the right question. Continue reading
Yesterday someone commented on one of the BigSocialMedia platforms that the Heidelcast series, “I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children” helped them to understand and accept infant baptism (paedobaptism) as the biblical position. Someone else objected, in effect, . . . Continue reading →
In the third place, it is said, as I also have read, that they base their faith on this verse, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” [Mark 16:16]. This they interpret to mean that no man should be baptized . . . Continue reading →
But since before baptism was instituted God’s people had circumcision instead, let us examine how these two signs differ from each other, and in what respects they are alike. From this will appear the anagogic relationship of the one to the other. . . . Continue reading →
Infants of believing parents are likewise to be baptized. The grounds of their baptism are these. First, the commandment of God, “Baptize all nations” (Matt. 28:19), in which words the baptism of infants is prescribed. For the apostles by virtue of this . . . Continue reading →
But as surely as we who read approach the book in this context of expanded interest in the Early Church, Ferguson has himself worked from within an identifiable context. That context is his active participation in a branch of the Christian tradition . . . Continue reading →
Ever since Karl Barth began around 1940 to oppose the justifiability of infant baptism, the controversy has continued unabated. Even though it cannot be said that Barth’s criticism exerted great influence, his considerations nevertheless gave rise to new reflection and a tremendous . . . Continue reading →
The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through . . . Continue reading →
For in respect of the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that . . . Continue reading →
Introduction Sean writes with a question that I have received at least once before. Thus, I take it that this is an argument that is mooted in Particular Baptist circles: The argument comes from Particular Baptists and in essence says that while . . . Continue reading →