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 →

Turretin Answers Objections Against Infant Baptism (1)

R. Scott Clark

on November 22, 2016 | 15 Comments

IV. Nor ought it to be objected that Christ puts instruction before baptism and so speaks of adults, who can be instructed, and not of infants (“teach [μαθητεύσατε],” he says). Although Christ placed teaching before baptism, this must be referred to the . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections Against Infant Baptism (2)

R. Scott Clark

on November 23, 2016 | 2 Comments

VI. To no purpose is the reply: (1) “Hence it would follow that the Lord’s Supper should also be administered to infants because the thing signified belongs to them.” Although the same thing is signified in both, still there is a difference . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections Against Infant Baptism (3)

R. Scott Clark

on November 27, 2016 | 2 Comments

VII. (3) By parity, the necessity of baptism is the same as that of circumcision. Now circumcision was to be administered to infants according to the command of God. Therefore also infant baptism. The truth of the major is proved (a) because . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections To Infant Baptism (4)

R. Scott Clark

on November 28, 2016 | 5 Comments

IX. (5) Because the children of believers are holy; therefore they ought to be baptized. For since they have the thing signified, they cannot and ought not to be deprived of the sign (Acts 10:47). “The unbelieving wife,” says the apostle, “is . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections To Infant Baptism (5)

R. Scott Clark

on November 30, 2016 | 12 Comments

XI. (7) Because the fathers acknowledged the necessity of infant baptism and approved its propriety by their practice. Justin Martyr mentions it (“Quaestiones et Responsiones ad Orthodoxos,” Q. 56 in Opera quae feruntur omnia [ed. J.C.T. de Otto, 1881], v. 3, Pt. . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections To Infant Baptism (6)

R. Scott Clark

on December 3, 2016

XII. There was no need that a particular precept concerning the baptism of infants should be given because it was known to the disciples that infants were circumcised. It therefore sufficed that there was a general command to baptize all nations, under . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections To Infant Baptism (7)

R. Scott Clark

on December 10, 2016

XVIII. The cause of infant baptism is not the actual faith of infants, of which they are no more capable than of that instruction by which the disciples of Christ are taught (Mt. 28:19). But it is both the universal command to . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Answers Objections To Infant Baptism (8)

R. Scott Clark

on December 14, 2016 | 8 Comments

XXI. Baptism (with respect to true believers) seals saving grace because it is connected with the internal baptism of the Spirit. But with respect to hypocrites, it does not have the accompanying grace of the Spirit, but is only a badge of . . . Continue reading →

Between The Anabaptists And The Romanists: Calvin Defended Infant Baptism Sola Scriptura

R. Scott Clark

on March 20, 2017 | 9 Comments

I do not, however, concede to [Rome] that Paedobaptism had its origin in the Tradition of the Church. It certainly appears to be founded on the institution of God, and to have derived its origin from circumcision. It would have little foundation . . . Continue reading →

The Reformed Churches Confess Infant Baptism

R. Scott Clark

on July 15, 2017 | 98 Comments

Some years back I published a book review in the pages of Modern Reformation magazine. Some responded with a letter to the editor complaining that I had distinguished between the Reformed churches and the Baptist churches. My revised response is below. § . . . Continue reading →

Calvin Addressed The Same Objections To Infant Baptism That We Hear Today

R. Scott Clark

on April 19, 2018 | 23 Comments

[responding to Art. 1 of the Schleitheim Confession]…But I reply, first of all, that infant baptism is not a recent introduction, nor are its origins traceable to the papal church. For I say that it has always been a holy ordinance observed . . . Continue reading →

Not Just Infant Baptism: Household Baptism

Heidelblog

on July 2, 2018 | 17 Comments

The other reason why I prefer the term Household Baptist to Infant Baptist is that it keeps the evangelistic focus of the church in view. I sometimes fear that the most ardent supporters of infant baptism become too inward focused. They have . . . Continue reading →

May The Paedobaptist Fairly Appeal To Matthew 19:13–15?

R. Scott Clark

on July 9, 2018 | 9 Comments

It was a wonderful day yesterday at Escondido URC. In the morning we had two baptisms, one of an adult convert who had never been baptized. So, like the adult baptisms we see in Acts, he received the sacrament, sign, and seal of baptism as a sign of his admission to the Christ-confessing covenant community. My Baptist friends rejoice with us. We also, however, baptized the infant of professing believers. We did so because we are convinced from God’s Word that is what God commands. The pattern begins in Genesis 17 and continues to the book of Acts (2:38–39; ch. 16 [all]). In his sermon our pastor, Chris Gordon, argued for the propriety of infant baptism on the basis of Matthew 19:13–15. Was he right to do so? Continue reading →

Augustine: Infant Baptism Is The Apostolic And Universal Practice Of The Church

R. Scott Clark

on July 13, 2018 | 17 Comments

And this is the firm tradition of the universal Church, in respect of the baptism of infants, who certainly are as yet unable “with the heart to believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth to make confession unto salvation,” as the thief . . . Continue reading →

Hippolytus (c. 215 AD): Baptize Infants

R. Scott Clark

on July 20, 2018 | 22 Comments

3. And they shall put off their clothes. 4. And they shall baptize the little children first. And if they can answer for themselves, let them answer. But if they cannot, let their parents or someone from their family answer for them. . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast Series: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children

Heidelcast

on August 25, 2018 | 7 Comments

The question of baptism, who should be baptized and why, is not just a question about the sacraments. It is a question that is integrally connected to the way we read the Scriptures (hermeneutics), the way we understand redemptive history, the way . . . Continue reading →

Talking Baptism And Defining “Reformed” With Theololgy Gals

R. Scott Clark

on October 21, 2018 | 49 Comments

For your listening pleasure: an hour-long conversation with the Theology Gals podcast (Coleen and Angela) on how to define the adjective Reformed and answering questions about baptism. Here is the episode. RESOURCES On Being Reformed: Debates over a Theological Identity by Matthew . . . Continue reading →

Another Baptist Pastor Becomes Confessionally Reformed

R. Scott Clark

on January 10, 2020 | 11 Comments

Benjamin Lee, Director of Youth Ministry at Oakwood Presbyterian Church (PCA), announced (via Twitter) that he had accepted this new position. He also indicated that he had left his Baptist convictions to adopt the Reformed confession (including the Reformed view of the . . . Continue reading →

Another Particular Baptist Wrinkle: The Early Church Baptized Infants But For The Wrong Reasons

R. Scott Clark

on April 14, 2020

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 →