Rom
Puritan Board Junior
Been studying Infant Baptism again since I've been covering WSC 95 in Sabbath School. Ran into this quote by Fesko in Word, Water and Spirit (a very helpful book btw).
He takes pains to show that we need to have both adults and infants baptized to illustrate two great truths in Salvation (pages 360 & 361)
He then states that "Adult and infant baptism" are both required in order to maintain this necessary balance. Good thoughts.
He then goes on to state something great about the Red Sea Baptism that Paul alludes to (Baptized into Moses, 1 Cor 10:2). He stated that it was the baptized adults who didn't enter the promised land, but it was the baptized infants whom God brought into the land of Cannan. Never really thought about it in those terms, even when using this passage as a defense of infant baptism. I will from now on!
(in addition to considering who was immersed in the Red Sea
)
He takes pains to show that we need to have both adults and infants baptized to illustrate two great truths in Salvation (pages 360 & 361)
- Adults must be baptized to show the importance of faith. There is a temptation in focusing solely on infant baptism to devalue the importance of faith and thereby destroy the evangelistic message of the news of God's saving action.
- The very helplessness of infants highlights the truth that God saves His People. Man cannot initiate, achieve, supplement, complement or complete His own redemption. To attempt to do so is to marginalize the supreme place of Christ in man's redemption. Focusing solely on adult baptism is to overemphasize an individual's faith in Jesus as what saves them, rather than the act of God.
He then states that "Adult and infant baptism" are both required in order to maintain this necessary balance. Good thoughts.
He then goes on to state something great about the Red Sea Baptism that Paul alludes to (Baptized into Moses, 1 Cor 10:2). He stated that it was the baptized adults who didn't enter the promised land, but it was the baptized infants whom God brought into the land of Cannan. Never really thought about it in those terms, even when using this passage as a defense of infant baptism. I will from now on!
(in addition to considering who was immersed in the Red Sea
)
