I’m in the midst of an interesting discussion of baptism with a friend, who has Baptist convictions but who understands Reformed theology better than many Reformed folks. He is quite sympathetic to historic and confessional Reformed theology. For example, he affirms that . . . Continue reading →
Paedobaptism
More Summer Reading: Infant Baptism and the Silence of the NT
One of the more persistent arguments made by Baptist critics of infant baptism is: “It’s not in the NT.” Bryan Holstrom has written a brief (156 pp) book to address this and related questions about infant baptism. Infant Baptism and the Silence . . . Continue reading →
Post-Thanksgiving Cartoons: Reply to James White
Yes, I’m aware that James White has posted a caricature of my views. Thanks to everyone who wrote to make sure I saw that. Rather than trying to respond to all of his claims, let me focus today on just one to . . . Continue reading →
Baptism Debate Audio
Several folks have written to ask about a debate on baptism. It’s been done. Here are links to two debates between Reformed theologians and Baptist theologians
Ishmael and Infant Baptism
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 →
Lingering Doubts About Baptism
I could not understand why, given the Old Testament emphasis of God’s working through families, the New Testament did not signal a change in that policy. It seemed passing strange to me that the new covenant sacrament included women and Gentiles but . . . Continue reading →
Untangling Webs Of Assumptions About Baptism
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 →
A Really Short Case For Infant Baptism (117 words)
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 →
Seed, Seeds, And Infant Baptism
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 →
Christ Is Both The Foundation And Fulfillment
As far as I can tell, this perspective has been all but lost in modern biblical studies. But a text like Gal 3:16 was fertile ground for the development in classical Reformed theology for the belief that the covenant of grace was . . . Continue reading →
Abraham, Moses, And Circumcision
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 →
A Curriculum For Those Wrestling Through Covenant Theology And Infant Baptism
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With Calvinist Batman On Covenant Theology And Reformed Identity
There are a number of evangelical people who are questioning the broadly evangelical theology, piety, and practice (whether Dispensational or Pentecostal or both) they inherited. For them covenant is a new category and they are working through the implications of the history of redemption . . . Continue reading →
Questions And Answers About Baptism
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 →
John Owen Was Not A Baptist
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 →
Samuel Rutherford On Acts 2:39 In Defense Of Infant Baptism
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 →
Zwingli On Sacramentarians And Infant Baptism (1529)
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 →
Heidelcast 112: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (8)
This is episode 8 of our series: I will be a God to You and to Your Children. Last time we looked at circumcision, about which we saw that, just as with the bloodshed of the sacrifice of pigeons, bulls, goats, and . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 114: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (10)
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 115: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (11)
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 →