At the PB the question was asked: We know that there are at least two categories of people within Scripture, the elect, and the non-elect. However, it might be apparent that there is a third class of people, those who have taken . . . Continue reading →
We heard a sermon from Genesis 17 this morning, and I couldn’t help but draw some conclusions relative to the current discussion about infant baptism that is ongoing at Together For the Gospel and at Between Two Worlds. Of course this is . . . Continue reading →
It’s not unusual for evangelicals, which movements have been heavily influenced by Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice since the early 19th century. In that case we would not expect them to be aware of the categories “covenant of works” and “covenant of . . . Continue reading →
Wendy writes, I remain confused as to why God in being ‘more generous’ has actually also made it ‘more ambiguous’. Wheras under the Old Covenant the command (and its benefits) were explicit, under the New they must be deduced by inference…. I . . . Continue reading →
After a summer re-model, the seminary bookstore is back online, which makes it again possible to order copies of Baptism, Election, and the Covenant of Grace more easily. Click on the image for your copy. It’s $1.50 plus shipping. You can also . . . Continue reading →
Now concerning baptism, baptize as follows: after you have reviewed all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in running water. But if you have no running water, then baptize in . . . Continue reading →
From Zwingli’s 1524 Exposition Of the Articles Baptism is being enrolled by an “oath of allegiance” (sacramentum) into the church visible, an initiation into the people of God. If there is one people of God, with one faith, in one Savior, then it follows . . . Continue reading →
There is a certain amount of pressure within the NAPARC world to “move on” from the Federal Vision. In the next three episodes we’re going to consider why that is and how Reformed folk, particularly ministers and elders (but laity too), should . . . Continue reading →
Exposition of the Articles (1524) © R. Scott Clark, 2000; 2014. Baptism is being enrolled by an “oath of allegiance” (sacramentum) into the church visible, an initiation into the people of God. If there is one people of God, with one faith, in . . . Continue reading →
In recent days this question has come up a few times but it occurs regularly. It occurs in the context of a new members class at church when someone entering a Reformed congregation, coming from outside the Reformed church approaches the pastor . . . Continue reading →
Merrit asks this question. “Two friends and I have been talking about this verse (1 Peter 3:21) and passage for quite some time today. The more we seem to talk about it the more confused I seem to get about it.” Merritt, . . . Continue reading →
In March I had the privilege of contributing to the 9 Marks blog. The point of my post there (and here) was not to argue the specifics of the paedobaptist (infant baptizing) case but, nevertheless, in response to that contribution a correspondent . . . Continue reading →
Back in 2002 I gave a chapel talk on Exodus 4:24–26. It’s a difficult but not an impossible text. “At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint . . . Continue reading →
There are about 60 million evangelicals in North America. Most of them assume or hold a Baptist interpretation of redemptive history, a Baptist hermeneutic (way of reading Scripture), and consequently, a Baptist view of the sacraments or signs and seals of the . . . Continue reading →
The new covenant is the new administration of the Abrahamic covenant. Just as the typological (looking forward) sign and seal of admission to the administration of the covenant of grace was applied to Abraham’s children (beginning with Ishmael) so the sign and . . . Continue reading →
Adam writes to ask about the baptism of fifteen-year old children of an adult convert. Should they be baptized before or after catechesis? § Hi Adam, This is a great question and a difficult one. I think it is correct to say . . . Continue reading →
The Federal Vision is still an issue. That should not surprise anyone. Some version of this error has been with us at least since the mid-16th century, when the Protestant doctrine of justification was severely threatened. It became a serious issue in . . . Continue reading →
Neither Holy Baptism nor the Holy Supper create the realities they signify and seal but they are gospel sacraments. They are promises of good news to believers. Faith receives what they promise. Faith knows, assents, and trusts and receives all that they promise. The sacraments do not replace faith. They supplement faith. They confirm faith the way a registered letter embossed or stamped with a government seal confirms a declaration. Continue reading →
69. How is it signified and sealed to you in Holy Baptism, that you have part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross? Thus: that Christ instituted this outward washing with water and joined therewith this promise: that I am . . . Continue reading →
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 →