Infant Baptism (John Reisinger)

Acts 16 Baptism

Pastor Martin addresses the controversial subject of infant baptism, arguing against its biblical basis by systematically dismantling common paedo-baptist arguments. He begins by asserting the lack of explicit command or example for infant baptism in the New Testament, then refutes the inference from household baptisms. The core of his sermon focuses on challenging the covenant theology argument that baptism replaces Old Testament circumcision, meticulously examining confessions of faith and catechisms to expose what he perceives as logical inconsistencies and unbiblical assumptions regarding the salvation and covenant status of baptized infants.

2 illustrations in this sermon

The Lack of New Testament Evidence for Infant Baptism

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Infant Baptism and Evolution

Driving home: I say, without any hesitation, and it may sound dogmatic, I say there is not one iota spread of evidence for instant baptism in the whole Bible.

Martin compares the search for evidence of infant baptism to the search for missing links in evolution, arguing that both theories lack direct, establishing evidence and rely on inferences.

To me, instant baptism is identical to evolution. If you believe the theory of evolution, you look at everybody else and say, man, you're crazy, look at all the evidence, it's on every hand. If you believe the theory. You do not believe the theory, and you say to the man, produce the evidence which establishes the basic theory.

8:04 - 8:25 Read in full sermon

The Paedo-Baptist Covenant Argument: Circumcision and Baptism

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H.M. Carson's Farewell to Anglicanism

Driving home: If I can establish that circumcision in the Old Testament was the covenant of grace, and that baptism in the New Testament takes the place of circumcision in the Old Testament, then you show me we're prohibited.

Martin quotes Carson's book to illustrate the paedo-baptist argument that no command for infant baptism is needed, but rather a prohibition, due to the assumed continuity from circumcision.

A man named H. M. Carson recently wrote a book about six or seven months ago called Farewell to Anglicanism, in which he left the Anglican church after a struggle of conscience for some five years. He was thoroughly reformed in his theology, and one of the chapters in the book is on baptism.

17:30 - 17:49 Read in full sermon

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