The Church and Infant Baptism, Part 2

Matthew 18:15-20 Baptism

In "The Church and Infant Baptism, Part 2," Pastor Albert N. Martin continues his systematic refutation of infant baptism by examining the biblical descriptions of church membership. He argues that the New Testament consistently defines church members as those who have experienced spiritual regeneration and conversion, using terms like 'disciples,' 'believers,' 'saints,' and 'those being saved.' Martin asserts that there is no biblical basis for including individuals whose only distinguishing trait is physical descent from believers, directly challenging the Paedo-Baptist argument for continuity between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church. He applies this by urging professing Christians to embrace definite church membership as a mark of genuine faith and submission to Christ's instituted discipline and oversight.

2 illustrations in this sermon

Review: Church Growth by Evangelism and Conversion

compare analogy

Two Ways to Make a Jew vs. One Way to Make a Disciple

In this part of the sermon: He briefly revisits the previous week's point that the Church grows not by marriage and procreation (like Old Testament Israel), but exclusively by evangelism and conversion…

Martin uses the analogy of 'two ways to make a Jew' (birth/procreation and proselytism) to contrast with 'only one way to make a disciple' (evangelism and conversion), illustrating the fundamental difference in how Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church grow and are constituted.

Something I thought of that really needed to be said, and last week I hadn't made provision to say it. Well, we come this morning, and then probably also next week, to consider the second of these. We looked last week at the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church, and we saw that the Church grew when the disciples multiplied, when believers were added to the Lord, the number of the disciples was growing, believers were growing, and we saw that the Church grew, not by marriage and procreation, according to the scriptural witness, but that the Church grows by evangelism and conversion...

5:04 - 5:47 Read in full sermon

Pastoral Application: The Sin of Avoiding Church Membership

lightbulb example

Fear of Joining the Church (Ananias and Sapphira)

The point: Do not justify your unwillingness to be identified with the church of Christ by thinking the church has no definite membership.

He references the fear that kept people from joining the early church after the Ananias and Sapphira incident (Acts 5) to explain why some today avoid definite church membership – a fear of accountability, discipline, and oversight.

are known by their commitment to one another. And I suspect that what lies behind much of this current notion is an unwillingness to be committed, an unwillingness to be responsible, and unwillingness to be liable to church discipline, to be accountable to biblical oversight. That's the point. Why did it say in Acts chapter 5 that no one dared to join?

11:33 - 12:11 Read in full sermon

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