Believer\'s Baptism - Book Critique-1 PDF

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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

Believer’s Baptism: The Covenant Sign of the New Age in Christ

Submitted to Dr. Keith Church In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

Theo 530 – C01 Systematic Theology II

By Tina C. Littlejohn March 12, 2020

I. Introduction: Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright are editors of the book Believer’s Baptism: The Covenant Sign of the New Age in Christ. Dr. Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology, as well as, the Associate Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Wright is a Professor of Church History at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In Believer’s Baptism Drs. Schreiner and Wright have compiled scholarly and theological essays from various contributors who advocate that “credobaptism” should be reserved for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and the concept that “belief” or a person’s intellect and affections towards Jesus Christ is a pre-requisite for those who seek to get baptized. Whereas, the “paedobaptists” believe that infant baptism is necessary as a sacred act to cleanse the child from original sin or “baptismal regeneration” also known as “ex opere operato”. Paedobaptists believe that “baptism is effective through the operation of the rite of baptism itself. It conveys God's grace to the recipient unless he or she “places a spiritual impediment (obex) in the way of grace”1 The purpose of this book critique is show the strengths and weaknesses of the collection of authors’ arguments for “credobaptism” and against “paedobaptists” and whether they substantiate their point.

1

Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright, ed. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, Series ed. by E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic Publishing Group, 2006), Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com

II. Brief Summary: Believer’s Baptism, is a compilation of theories in ten chapters. Chapters 1-4 argues for the believer’s baptism according to the New Testaments. “Andreas Köstenberger prosecutes this case in the Gospels, Robert Stein in Acts, and Thomas Schreiner in the epistles. Stephen Wellum, then, considers the whole matter biblically and theologically in a crucial chapter. ”2 Chapters 5-9 presents the historical and theological challenge to believer’s baptism. Steve McKinion surveys the first centuries of the church, a period that has been much considered in baptism debates. He demonstrates that the evidence shows that paedobaptism arose late and for various practical and theological reasons. Jonathan Rainbow demonstrates that the defense of infant baptism proposed by Ulrich Zwingli, one of the founders of the Reformed tradition in the sixteenth century, was truly a novelty. For the first time in history, baptism was severed from faith and regeneration. The view that the Reformed take for granted as historic, represented in Zwingli's day a break with previous tradition. Shawn Wright interacts carefully with some of the most influential proponents of infant baptism—John Calvin, John Murray, and Pierre Marcel— and shows their biblical and internal inconsistencies. A fascinating and creative defense of infant baptism has been proposed by Meredith Kline. The fertile mind of Kline has fascinated scholars and students, but Duane Garrett demonstrates that Kline's arguments are more creative than biblical. The connections he draws to support infant baptism are insupportable when carefully examined, and the substance of his argument, therefore, collapses. Ardel Caneday unpacks the baptismal thinking of Alexander Campbell.3

Lastly, chapter 10 Mark Dever presents the practical application of the believer’s baptism for the local church today and the myriad of questions that pastor’s grapple with. Such as, who should conduct the baptism to when a person should become a candidate for baptism, as well as, the importance of baptism to the life of the church speaking to the “nature of the church as the community of believers.”4

2

Ibid., Ibid., 4 Ibid., 3

Critical Interaction: In chapter 1 utilizing a narrative analysis, Kostenberger examines what the four Gospels have to say concerning baptism. He first acknowledges that it is not clear when the Jews began using baptism as a form of initiation for Gentile converts to Judaism concluding that Gentiles were considered unclean and in need of purification and proselyte baptism conveyed the notion of a new life for the believer representing a commitment on the part of the new convert, as well as, bestowing new benefits upon them. After his thorough analysis of the four Gospels, Kostenberger concludes that there are few passages in either of the texts that mention baptism except for the baptisms conducted by John the Baptist in the desert. The baptism of Jesus by His cousin John the Baptist and baptism conducted by the disciples of Jesus that were attributed to Him as seen in John 4:1-2. Kostenberger came to four conclusions. First, baptism is for believers who have repented of their sins and “have put their faith in God and in his Christ.”5 Furthermore, there is no evidence in the Gospels that support infant baptism. Second, baptism is a crucial part of Christian discipleship as seen in Matthew 28:16-20. Third, Kostenberger, concluded that immersion was most likely the mode of baptism that was used. This is suggested by the root meaning of the word bapt , “to dip” (e.g., Josh 3:15 LXX; Ruth 2:14 LXX), of which baptiz , “to baptize,” is an intensive or frequentative form. It is also indicated by the LXX usage of baptiz with reference to immersion (see 2 Kgs 5:14). Another piece of supporting evidence is the statement that Jesus “came up immediately from the water” subsequent to his baptism (Matt 3:16 par. Mark 1:10, euthus aneb /anabain apo/ek tou hudatos). While there are differences of view as to the way in which baptism by immersion ought to be stipulated in church polity, evidence from the Gospels suggests that this was in fact the NT and early church's mode of baptism.6

5 6

Ibid., Ibid.,

In his article Baptism Everett Ferguson concluded that “Baptism was the central act in the ceremony of initiation into the Christian church. It was normally administered by immersion to penitents upon a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Christian usage preferred the Greek form baptisma (“dipping” or “plunging”) over baptismos (used more often for non‐Christian rites), which, however, gave the common Latin transliteration baptismus.”7 Everett also indicates that there were various applications of baptism from sprinkling, pouring and dipping by the Jews as a religious cleansing. Excavations at Qumran also revealed that there were several pools designed to collect water for the purpose of daily ritual cleansing for purification ceremonies of Gentiles into the Jewish community that also included circumcision and the offering up of a sacrifice. 8

In chapter 2, baptism is an initiation rite associated with conversion to Christianity following the new converts “repentance” in response to John the Baptist’s cry of repentance. Faith and baptism goes hand in hand in seen in 16:31-34, 18:8 and 19:4-5. Stein also identifies the association between repentance, faith, baptism, and the gift of the Spirit as well as the association between repentance, faith, baptism and the forgiveness of sins. Stein posits that “the interconnectedness of repentance, faith, and baptism is witnessed to by the fact that they all lead to the forgiveness of sins.”9

In chapter 3, Thomas R. Schreiner explores teachings of baptism in the Epistles emphasizing what Paul taught in four areas: “(1) exegetical comments on the main baptismal texts in the epistles; (2) comments on the mode of baptism and how baptism relates to washing and to

7

Everett Ferguson, “Baptism” In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, eds R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine and S. R. Huebner, (2012), 1 8 Ibid., 9 Robert H. Stein, Believers Baptism,

sealing; (3) the relationship of baptism to redemptive history; and (4) the question whether baptism should be confined to believers.” 10 Schreiner focused on the centrality of baptism, the texts on baptism and the texts that warn against misjudging baptism focusing on nine passages of scriptures ( 1 Peter 3:21; Eph 4:5; 1 Cor 12:13; 1 Cor 15:29; Gal 3:27, Rom 6:3-4; Col 2:11-12; 1 Cor 1:13-17; and 10:2). Schreiner greatly emphasized that baptism should only be for those who have confessed their sins and have put their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

In chapter 4, Stephen J. Wellum, addresses what he considers is at the heart of the “advocacy and defense” of the infant baptism argument of the evangelical Reformed doctrine. According to Wellum, it is an implication drawn from the comprehensive theological category of the “covenant of grace,” a category which, it is claimed, unites the Scriptures and without which the Bible cannot be understood correctly.” 11 In this chapter, Wellum outlines the covenantal argument for infant baptism by both defenders such as Randy Booth, Louis Berkhof and B.B. Warfield as well as proponent’s views. Although paedobaptists’ present compelling arguments for infant baptism, Wellum identifies the main factor that is a problem with their argument. That being it “fails to understand correctly the proper relationships between the biblical covenants and the degree of continuity and discontinuity between them.”12 Wellum goes on to say that paedobaptists fail to do justice to the progressive nature of God’s revelation and the covenant sign which, he feels, leads to a misunderstanding of the discontinuity brought about by Christ’s coming and the arrival of the new covenant age. For Wellum, baptism is a new covenant sign

10

Ibid., Stephen J. Wellum, Believers Baptism, 12 Ibid., 11

that “has been ordained by our Triune God as a proper means of grace that we ignore, distort, or downplay to the detriment of our spiritual life and mission.”13

To address the historical and theological challenge to believer’s baptism Steven A. McKinion addresses baptism in the patristic writings in chapter 5 by examining the writings of the early Church Fathers, the ordinances of baptism, and the purposes for the administration of baptism. In the NT church baptism was an essential part of church life and practice as a celebration of a new convert’s confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. Baptism was also used as a means of initiation into the church.

It was “central to the formation and discipline of the body

of believers.”14 McKinion limited his discussion to only focus on the practice of baptism on only those who professed their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation after repenting of their sins, which defined it as an act following salvation. This stance subsequently eliminated the idea of infant baptism because of its idea of profession of “future faith”. McKinion then attempts to answer the question of whether there is an agreement in the patristic writings that assents believer’s baptism as the “ancient and normative” practice. McKinion concluded that Baptism had little to do with the person’s age at the time of baptism than with their repentance, and profession of faith. McKinion begins to present his argument by first identifying the debate regarding padobaptism and its origin in early Christianity between Joachim Jeremias and Kurt Aland. For Jeremias, since Jewish proselyte baptism was the precursor of Christian baptism and that from the onset, infant baptism was a normal practice of the Christian church. McKinion goes on to point out that while infant baptism cannot be found in the 1st and 2nd century Church, it became widespread in the 3rd century becoming the standard practice in church and in the 4th

13 14

Ibid., Steven A. McKinion, Believers Baptism

century infant baptism was allowed only in emergency situations by Gregory the Bishop of Nazianzus who felt that since baptism was related to repentance infants should not be baptized since they had no sins to confess and were not in need of repentance. Furthermore, Gregory felt that “Only children who were old enough to understand the ‘basic outlines’ of the faith should be baptized. Children were responsible for their lives when their reason had matured to the point that they recognized a need for forgiveness. Until that time, Gregory said, they had no account to give for sins of ignorance.”15 In his argument On Baptism against the Donatists, Augustine argued that infant baptism was a custom handed down from the apostles and that they instructed that infants be baptized because it was “a parallel of circumcision.” There was also the issue, for Augustine, of the need of all to be cleansed from original sin brought on by Adam in the Garden of Eden.

In chapter 6, Jonathan H. Rainbow addresses the doctrine of baptism of the early Anabaptists beginning with the discussion between Ulrich Zwingli and Balthasar Hubmaier, pastors who had broken from the Roman Catholic Church, who championed the Bible as the singular foundation for Christian truth and practice. Both Zwingli & Hubmaier agreed at the time that infant baptism should not be continued in as a practice in the church. They soon disagreed in their opinions about paedobaptism with Zwingli becoming a fierce opponent of those who did not agree with infant baptism and while Hubmaier continued to question the practice initiating “rebaptism” which became the first systematic defender of “believer baptism” during the Reformation. Rainbow goes on to outline the Roman Catholic Church’s opinion regarding baptism and proposing a way for modern Baptist to have a better understanding of the history of baptism, its

15

Ibid.,

evolvement in the Roman Catholic Church and the similarities that both institutions have. He concludes that baptism is not magic and it is more than just an outward sign, as the Baptist suppose.

Discussing the position of the Reformed paedobaptist in chapter 7, Shawn D. Wright contributes to this anthology by trying to examine the logic of their position. Wright clearly states that the doctrine is challenging to understand and it is inconsistent by looking at the Reformed paedobaptists positions on sacraments, the definition of baptism and the practice of baptizing infants, their belief regarding a mixed body of believers and unbelievers, “covenant grace”, the use of NT to justify the practice of infant baptism, and does their practice of paedobaptism fit with their belief that salvation is by faith alone. Wright focuses his chapter on the writings of John Calvin, Pierre Marcel, and John Murray, concluding that their theories are misguided.

Duane A. Garrett continues the argument against infant baptism in chapter 8 opposing Covenant theologian Meredith Kline’s theology of suzerain-vassal. In chapter 9, A.B. Caneday looks at the restoration of the prominence of baptism in the Second Great Awakening and its most prominent founder Alexander Campbell. Caneday utilizes the letters of the Apostle Paul to the churches in Galatia and Corinth to make his point regarding the act of baptism as ritual act that marks the new convert as clothed with Christ.

Finally, in chapter 10, Mark E. Dever discusses baptism in the context of the local congregation as the “discarded jewel” of churches today. Even in the Baptist church. He attributed this lack of reverence for the role of baptism to confusion, ignorance, prejudice and a misplaced, distorted

cultural conservatism that has taken over the modern church. Dever then focuses on the following questions: Who should baptize and how should it be done? Who should be baptized and when should baptism be done? Should those who have not been baptized be allowed partake in the Lord’s Supper and have membership in the church? and Should the church accept baptism from another church?

Conclusion: Believer’s Baptism is a great anthology of arguments advocating for believer’s baptism. The book provides both biblical and historical perspectives that show a strong support for credobaptism over paedobaptism. The history provided also helps to give the reader a greater understanding of the traditions of baptism in the church today.

Bibliography

Ferguson, Everett “Baptism” In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, eds R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B.Champion, A. Erskine and S. R. Huebner, 2012 Schreiner, Thomas R.and Shawn D. Wright, ed. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, Series ed. by E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic Publishing Group, 2006...