Joel Peter Anderson wrote:
>
> On Thu, 27 Jan 2000, Massie wrote:
>
> > Perhaps you could elighten us with a list of babies baptized in the new
> > testament. Bert M
>
> This is a weak argument - I don't think we have anything approaching a
> census. We don't know the ages any more than the names of all the New
> Testament believers.
>
> I think this historic point of division among true, faithful, and
> devout Chritians will not soon be resolved here.
No doubt, but some persistent confusions can be removed.
Certainly the explicit evidence we have from the NT speaks of baptisms of
adults, which is not surpsiing in a missionary situation. For adults the call for
repentance is appropriate. The NT neither explicitly requires nor explicitly forbids
baptism of infants. The statement that a whole family could be baptized (Acts 16:33)
suggests the possibility of baptism of small children but only a possibility.
That being the case, decisions about the appropriateness of infant baptism
require further reflection on the significance of baptism. If baptism is God's action
then it need not require any particular level of understanding on the part of the one
baptized. And if baptism is the normal way in which one becomes a member of the
church and becomes "clothed" with Christ (Gal.3:27) then Jesus' rebuke of his disciples
for keeping children from coming to him is germane.
Often there is confusion of two different questions: 1st, is baptism of
infants valid baptism? & 2d, _should_ infants be baptized? A case can be made that
while infant baptism is valid, for one reason or another baptism should normally be
delayed until a person reaches an age of accountability. It is quite another matter to
deny that infant baptism is valid and to try to re-baptize those who have already been
baptized as infants. This turns baptism into a meritorious human work and is
destructive of the unity of the church.
I did not bring this topic up and will drop it if not further provoked.
In statu confessionis,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jan 27 2000 - 22:16:22 EST