Baptism: Three Views (Spectrum Multiview Books)
Overview
The Christian church confesses “one baptism.” But the church’s answers to how, whom and when to baptize, and even what it means or does, are famously varied. This book provides a forum for thoughtful proponents of three principal evangelical views to state their case, respond to the others, and then provide a summary response and statement. Sinclair Ferguson sets out the case for infant baptism, Bruce Ware presents the case for believers’ baptism, and Anthony Lane argues for a mixed practice. As with any good conversation on a controversial topic, this book raises critical issues, challenges preconceptions and discloses the soft points in each view. Evangelicals who wish to understand better their own church’s practice or that of their neighbor, or who perhaps are uncertain of their own views, will value this incisive book.
Top Highlights
“However, not only the subjects but also the very meaning of the sign is different. For the credobaptist, typically, baptism is a sign of what the believer has done in response to Christ; for the paedobaptist, baptism is first a sign of what Christ has done, and of all that is in him to be received in faith. If ‘any Baptist would relish’ Dr. Packer’s definition, I suspect he or she is out of step with the confessional statement of possibly the largest association of credobaptists in the world!” (Pages 54–55)
“The Matthean Great Commission text, likewise, commands followers of Christ to ‘make disciples’ (aorist imperative, mathēteusate) through the dual means of ‘baptizing’ them and ‘teaching’ them (both present participles) all that Christ has commanded them. This, likewise, seems to indicate that those baptized are also able to be taught—hence, they are at least young children or adults, but not infants.” (Page 24)
“If all of the New Testament evidence shows baptism as being connected with those who exercise faith, and no instance can be shown otherwise, it would seem that an extraordinary burden of proof would lie at the feet of those who would propose that infant baptism is, nonetheless, biblical and supportable.” (Page 29)
“No grounds exist for insisting on one to the exclusion of the other.” (Page 171)
“In actual fact one’s view of baptism is bound up with other theological and hermeneutical considerations. As David Wright pointed out in a 1994 essay,3 the fact of Christian disagreement over baptism raises unsettling questions about the perspicuity, or clarity, of Scripture. As you follow the arguments set out in this book, take note of what each of these advocates counts as persuasive evidence for his view. Is it strictly a matter of what the New Testament teaches? Or is there a larger context—biblical, theological, historical—that comes into play? And what theology of baptism informs the practice that each advocates?” (Page 14)
- Title: Baptism: Three Views
- Author: David F. Wright
- Series: Spectrum Multiview Books
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Baptism
- ISBNs: 9780830878192, 9780830838561, 083087819X, 0830838562
- Resource ID: LLS:BPTSMTHRVWS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:18:54Z