The Christian Library
12.11.2005
Infant baptism is a spot at the feast of Covenant Theology
[This is part of a comment from here:
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2005/12/faith-alone-in-christ-alone.html ]
I do think, though, you are getting at a central issue that you don't intend to and one that a Bible-believing Calvinist like [a certain blogger], for instance, should make clear, which is this: either you consider infant baptism to be false doctrine or you don't. Because infant baptism by default gravitates into a belief in baptismal regeneration. It just does. Even if it doesn't it's doctrinally sloppy and an ever-present slippery slope waiting for people to slip on and fall down into false doctrine. It also stunts real Christian practice regarding such things as engaging the Word of God and evangelism.
The implications for Covenant Theology are nonexistent, though. Basically:
Is regeneration or ritual water baptism how one gets into the covenant? If you say both then you believe either in the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration or you don't believe in faith alone. If you believe the Bible and not tradition - and if you've experienced regeneration - then you know regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit, period. This is real baptism. It bothers people who want a paint-by-numbers approach to the the faith, and who would rather put their faith in something they can experience with the senses rather than in something that only God can do, but -- too bad. The Bible is clear that baptismal regeneration is false doctrine and faith alone is true, biblical doctrine.
Once regenerated by the Word and the Spirit you are in the covenant. Some people don't like hearing that? It makes them uneasy? It is their carnal nature and its demands that is feeling uneasy. They need to dedicate themselves to the Word of God and become God-centered and not man-centered, and realize that faith doesn't involve outer-directed sensual experience and assurance.
So, I'm saying: if you see the truth in this then take a stand. A person who understands regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit can float freely between different Reformed, Calvinist, camps, but admit that you can do that because you are above all those camps in your understanding, and that your understanding is what is biblical.
RBs (Reformed Baptists and similar 'early-Zwinglian' type Calvinists) who know regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit and not ritual and clerics and physical trappings and who also understand Covenant Theology - Calvinism, five solas, doctrines of grace - have the truth. That is the truth. Those who can't see it don't have the discernment to see it and that's not a crime, but those who can see it should state it boldly and let the others know just what the summit of biblical truth is. It exists. Man-centered arrogance will forever accuse those who have the truth of being arrogant and whatever, but they are the blind raging against what to them is a void, and they at the same time demand to lead their fellow blind aimlessly around within the void. They resent the fact that the truth exists. Don't fear them. It's like fearing ghosts. They are particularly mocking and disgusting ghosts with their mixture of ignorance and arrogance and sneering and accusing and shaming and lack of self-awareness, but they are flitting ghosts. Give them the truth boldly and let the chips, as they say, fall where they may.
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2005/12/faith-alone-in-christ-alone.html ]
I do think, though, you are getting at a central issue that you don't intend to and one that a Bible-believing Calvinist like [a certain blogger], for instance, should make clear, which is this: either you consider infant baptism to be false doctrine or you don't. Because infant baptism by default gravitates into a belief in baptismal regeneration. It just does. Even if it doesn't it's doctrinally sloppy and an ever-present slippery slope waiting for people to slip on and fall down into false doctrine. It also stunts real Christian practice regarding such things as engaging the Word of God and evangelism.
The implications for Covenant Theology are nonexistent, though. Basically:
Is regeneration or ritual water baptism how one gets into the covenant? If you say both then you believe either in the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration or you don't believe in faith alone. If you believe the Bible and not tradition - and if you've experienced regeneration - then you know regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit, period. This is real baptism. It bothers people who want a paint-by-numbers approach to the the faith, and who would rather put their faith in something they can experience with the senses rather than in something that only God can do, but -- too bad. The Bible is clear that baptismal regeneration is false doctrine and faith alone is true, biblical doctrine.
Once regenerated by the Word and the Spirit you are in the covenant. Some people don't like hearing that? It makes them uneasy? It is their carnal nature and its demands that is feeling uneasy. They need to dedicate themselves to the Word of God and become God-centered and not man-centered, and realize that faith doesn't involve outer-directed sensual experience and assurance.
So, I'm saying: if you see the truth in this then take a stand. A person who understands regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit can float freely between different Reformed, Calvinist, camps, but admit that you can do that because you are above all those camps in your understanding, and that your understanding is what is biblical.
RBs (Reformed Baptists and similar 'early-Zwinglian' type Calvinists) who know regeneration is by the Word and the Spirit and not ritual and clerics and physical trappings and who also understand Covenant Theology - Calvinism, five solas, doctrines of grace - have the truth. That is the truth. Those who can't see it don't have the discernment to see it and that's not a crime, but those who can see it should state it boldly and let the others know just what the summit of biblical truth is. It exists. Man-centered arrogance will forever accuse those who have the truth of being arrogant and whatever, but they are the blind raging against what to them is a void, and they at the same time demand to lead their fellow blind aimlessly around within the void. They resent the fact that the truth exists. Don't fear them. It's like fearing ghosts. They are particularly mocking and disgusting ghosts with their mixture of ignorance and arrogance and sneering and accusing and shaming and lack of self-awareness, but they are flitting ghosts. Give them the truth boldly and let the chips, as they say, fall where they may.
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