baptism
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The role of the children of believing families in Paul’s letters: the presumption of inclusion (pt. 2)
This is the second of three posts exploring the inclusion of children within the New Covenant people of God. You can find the first post here. Here are two more points that suggest Paul presumes the inclusion of children in the covenant community. 3. Children are to live in way that pleases the Lord When Continue reading
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Acts is whack, man.
whack \ˈhwak, ˈwak\ – adjective: appalling in nature, unconventional. According to the folks at urbandictionary.com, that’s one way to define the word “whack”. It can be used to describe something that’s strange and out of the ordinary. Though it’s not a theological term, in some ways it describes the book of Acts. Since Acts contains information that is Continue reading
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Augustine said infant baptism is Apostolic
“What the universal church holds, not as instituted by councils but as something always held, is most correctly believed to have been handed down by apostolic authority. Since others respond for children, so that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete for them, it is certainly availing to them for their consecration, because they Continue reading
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Jesus blessed infants. That’s kind of a big deal.
The New Testament ascribes many different titles and descriptions to Jesus. He is the King of Kings, the Great High Priest, the Prince of Peace, and the list goes on (waaaay on). Since these descriptions are true, it’s interesting to bear them in mind as we watch Jesus in the gospel accounts. We see people Continue reading
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Bromiley on Infant Baptism
“The children of confessing Christians awaken to self-conscious life with the promise of the gospel in their ears and may thus have the mark of the covenant on their bodies. [ . . .] The call to them is not to enter into a totally new covenant relationship proclaimed for the first time from outside”. Continue reading
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in totidem verbis – considering a problematic hermeneutic (part 2)
In my previous post I mentioned a well-used hermeneutical principle which I called in totidem verbis, meaning “in just so many words”. This principle says that we often understand what the Bible is teaching by seeing it laid out for us explicitly and plainly in the words before us. And it makes obvious sense. In Continue reading
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in totidem verbis – considering a problematic hermeneutic (part 1)
Reading and correctly interpreting the Bible isn’t always easy. There are complex historical, social, and theological ideas which are presented to us across an array of literary genres, from multiple authors writing in different contexts. However, there are things the Bible says which are easy to identify without much effort. For example, the Bible claims Continue reading
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Water Rites – a poem
Can sin be drowned in water,E’en with a flood of tears?Or is it rather SpiritThat grafts the sinner in? Does parting of the watersMake Exodus come true?Or is it rather death to sin That makes one born anew? Between the two creationsTwo baptisms confessThe one depicts the story,The other makes one blest. Immersion in Christ’s storyDeath, Continue reading
spes clara 