Introductory Approach to the Subject

Opening Prayer and Introduction to the Subject

0:00 This adult Sunday school class was held on June 5, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Well, now let's begin by asking the Lord's blessing and his presence with us as we consider his holy word together. Let us pray. Our God, as we come into your presence this morning, we come to you thankful for your grace, which has been given to us as your people, that we should be called out of the world and united to one another through the blood and righteousness of Christ. We pray, Lord, that as we come to consider together the subject of infant baptism, that you would draw near to us, that you would open up our minds and hearts, that you would be pleased to grant to us that all that is said and done would be done for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would grant to us that our thinking would be honed in everything by the Scriptures, that our spirit and disposition would be regulated by the Scriptures, that Jesus Christ would receive honor and glory. And we pray these things in his most holy name. Amen.

1:36 Now, as I have already written on the board, the subject that will occupy our concern in at least the next several Lord's Days, the Lord willing, in our Sunday school class, will be the subject of infant baptism. Now, I have been asked by my fellow elders to consider this subject. As you remember, some weeks ago, we were contemplating the gift of the Holy Spirit, and, as I am wont to do in soteriology, I came and put a P.S. upon the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2:21 And growing out of that, there seemed to be a general interest in the subject of the covenant, the subject of infant inclusion in the covenant, and all of the ramifications of that whole doctrinal issue. And, therefore, I was asked by my fellow elders, I didn't really have any choice in the matter, but I was asked by my fellow elders, it was an authoritative asking, to deal with the subject of infant baptism, or infant inclusion in the Church, or infant inclusion in the covenant of grace. And so I have consented to do so, and I must say that I am approaching this subject with some deal of reluctance. I had rather not treat the subject at all, when, first of all, the mentioning of the matter, of the gift of the Spirit came up. This was the furthest thing from my mind. And there are various reasons for my reluctance to deal with the subject. First of all, as you all know, this is a controversial issue.

Reluctance and Dangers of Theological Controversy

3:31 And, of course, I have thought about it before, several years ago, had read the literature that was available to me and wrestled through it, and had to think through it again at the time when I prepared, and the material for the Doctrine of the Church class in the Academy, but still, having had two previous encounters with the subject, I still wish that I had more time to be able to read more, to be able to study more, and to be able to present something which would be better to you. Nevertheless, the time that I have, I have, and we must begin. And I suppose that I could always say I wish I had more time. That's not really any kind of an exception.

4:14 But I'm reluctant to enter into or say anything about a subject which is inherently controversial and which has been controversial in a fresh way since the time of the Reformation among the Reformed Churches. Why am I reluctant to enter into such a subject? Well, because it is fraught with many dangers. Whenever there's controversy, there is always danger.

4:38 There's danger of sin. There's danger of not glorifying God. And that danger comes to a specific place, to a special height, when we enter into a controversial subject. And for that reason, I had rather avoid it.

4:51 And why do I say there's dangers? Well, those of you who are married, I'm going to use an illustration that comes from marriage. What happens when you have an argument in your marriage? Now, I assume now that most of you who are married know what an argument is.

5:08 Let's call it a disagreement. When she says, you're wrong, and you say, you're wrong, not me, you. Now, you can't both be right, and you could both be wrong. But whenever there's an argument, and you have one position, and someone else has another position, well, there's always a danger.

5:36 And you know what that danger is. The danger is that you're going to be more concerned to win the argument than to get at the truth. And we're very good at that, because we are inherently self-justifying, inherently determined to prove ourselves right, and to prove that those who disagree with us are wrong. Now, that's the way we are.

6:04 If you're married, you know it's the truth. And even if you're not married, you may have an inkling that it's right, because you've probably been in an argument before. And there's an inherent tendency not really to listen to what the other person has to say. You really don't want to hear it.

6:24 But before the words are out of their mouth, you tend to already have an answer for what they've said. Now, that's the way we are, by nature. And the great end tends to become to win an argument and not to get at the truth. Now, that results in a lot of problems or little dangers or subsidiary dangers.

6:52 Identified with controversy, which are common. And the first is a misrepresentation of the position of others. One of the ways to win an argument is to misrepresent what your wife is saying. In other words, if she says, you did this, this, this, then you in your response say, no, that's wrong, and you exaggerate what she said.

7:14 Or you misrepresent what she said, so that you can set up this straw man and then destroy it. That's a lot easier than destroying what someone actually said. Well, believe it or not, the same thing happens in theological controversy. People misrepresent the positions of their opponents.

7:33 And do you know why they do that? They do that because it's a lot easier to defeat a misrepresentation than what the people really say. Of course. You know that from your marital spats.

7:45 But then another thing is this. People in theological controversy tend to impute uncharitable things. They impute uncharitable motives to their opponents. They impute uncharitable motives, like the person says to his wife, you're only saying that to get back at me for this and that and the other thing.

8:06 You're not saying this because you're concerned for truth. You're not saying this because you're concerned for my sanctification. You're only saying this because you're mad at me about that, or you're mad at me about this. And then you begin to find all the reasons why someone's really saying what they're saying.

8:20 Couldn't possibly be that they're saying it because they think it's true. No, couldn't possibly be. But in order to win an argument, we not only tend to misrepresent the position of others, we also tend to impute uncharitable motives to them for saying what they say and for saying what they say about us. And that's a real danger.

8:41 And then there's also the danger of undue sarcasm. If we're going to win an argument, we can begin to take the gloves off, show our fangs and our claws, and start going after somebody with a sarcastic, cut-down, ugly spirit that tends to berate them and drive them into the ground. And then there's a triumphalism. And that's intended, when you got them down, kick them.

9:08 I got you now! And all of these things are bad. And another thing that happens in controversy is people get sidetracked with regard to their priorities. They become so consumed with winning the argument and so clueless and so caught up in it that they forget what they're supposed to be doing and what their priorities are.

9:37 And the little issues which give rise to the argument tend to get blown all out of proportion. You say, well, I can see why you're reluctant to get into this subject. Good, I'm glad you can. Because I am.

Spirit of Approach: Indebtedness and Love

9:54 Because there's the danger of seeking to win an argument rather than get at the truth and getting sidetracked from what proper priorities should be, contributing uncharitable motives to our Christian friends, misrepresenting positions of others, getting involved with undue sarcasm, triumphalism, pride, which will end in making our friends our enemies and the unnecessary alienation of our brethren. Now, these are real dangers whenever someone opens his mouth to enter theological controversy with his brethren. And the closer we are to those brethren theologically, experimentally, the greater the danger. So I hope you can understand why I am reluctant to enter into this. And if necessity were not laid upon me, I assure you I would never take it upon myself to speak upon such a subject. And therefore, what I believe I need to do in this introductory approach to the subject is to underscore the spirit in which I will attempt to approach the subject of infant baptism. First of all, I intend to approach it by the grace of God with a sense, a deep sense of indebtedness

11:22 to the paedobaptist lights of the past. With a deep sense of indebtedness to the paedobaptist lights of the past. God has had many of his choice servants within the camp of those with whom we disagree about this subject. And I'll just begin with the time of the Reformation.

11:49 The vast majority of the reformers of any credibility were all within the paedobaptist camp. Calvin, Luther, Swingly, Knox, Yersinus, Olavianus, etc., etc. The great majority of the reformers, Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, were in that camp.

12:16 And again, the Westminster Assembly stands squarely within that camp and also the Puritans, Manton, Owen, Flavel, and then if you move up to some of those great Scottish divines, Boston, Fairburn, Cunningham, the Bannermans, Douglas, and James. The great commentator, Matthew Henry, from whom many of us have derived great benefit, Matthew Poole, and then of course, Jonathan Edwards, moving down then from him to the Princeton School and then on to Westminster, Hodge, Warfield, Machen, Professor Murray, and among the southern Presbyterians, Thornwell and Dabney. Tracing out the lines of the Anglicans, Ryle, George Whitfield, William Grimshaw, the great preacher. I remember reading about William Grimshaw being amazed at the things that Grimshaw did to see people saved. He was an incredible man, if you read about William Grimshaw. And again, through the Dutch Calvinist school, Vos, Kuyper, Bovink, Burckhoff, Hendrickson, and these are the men of the past from the various, what you could call, dimensions or lines of Reformed thought, to whom I confess, and all of us have, brethren, a deep indebtedness.

13:45 They have been great lights, at least as we understand God's using of his servants as instruments, great lights in the history of the Church since the time of the Reformation, men whose followers, learners we are. We sit at their feet and follow them. As far as they follow Christ. But the second thing is this, not only do I approach this in a spirit of indebtedness to the Paedo-Baptist lights of the past, but also, I hope, in a spirit of love to those brethren in that camp with whom we have special ties at the present. You know those men for whom we pray regularly in our public services. Dr. DeWitt, our dear brother Sinclair Ferguson, Donald McLeod, Ian Murray, David Cole, where I hope to be going next Lord's Day to preach, although I won't be preaching upon this subject.

14:55 David Jessely in the church down there in Mississippi where Pastor Martin has gone on several occasions, the work that started up on Long Island, Pastor Shishko, and of course, our dear brother Andrew Young from New Zealand. So, I have endeavored in my heart before God to determine that I would not say anything in this place on this subject that I would not say face to face to any of those brothers were they to be sitting here and in our presence. And you may think this is foolish, sentimental, saccharine, you can call it whatever you like, but Andy and Nola sent us this picture of themselves and their little baby. Now, if it had been a picture of them and the baby in the baptismal font, I would not have brought it here with me today. However, Andy and Nola sent us this picture. You may think I'm crazy, but I don't care.

16:02 I have attempted to do my preparation with this picture sitting on my desk. Furthermore, I intend to lecture with this picture sitting right here. You know why? Because I am determined that I would not say anything here that I would not say if that dear brother, one of my dearest friends, were sitting here listening to every word.

16:28 Because, brethren, there is danger, danger of misrepresentation, triumphalism, undue sarcasm, imputing uncharitable motives in some kind of a carnal effort to win an argument. And may God, by his grace, spare us from those sins. And then the other reason is this. We feel a deep sense of unity with these brethren with whom we differ on this important issue.

17:04 There is a closeness between us and we have been pressed together by our shared vision with regard to the doctrines of grace, with regard to our love, at least on the part of many, with regard to our love to experimental religion and the Reformed faith. And these things have pressed us together. They have, in a special way, as it were, fused us in this generation because of this shared vision and these shared concerns. And everything that I say, I say in an effort to maintain a consciousness of that unity.

17:49 We're getting hit, as it were, from the right hand and from the left in our generation. If you have us here, as you could call the Reformed, you have the Tato Baptist, you have the Baptist, we're getting hit from this side and we're getting hit from this side and what this is tending to do is to compress us and push us together. We're getting hit from that side by theonomy, we're getting hit from this side by, I don't know what to call it, but you could call it the new type of Baptist dispensationalism if you'd like, you could call it neonomianism if you want, you can call it whatever you want, but it's the, let's call it those that are out searching together for whatever they can find. We're getting hit from this side, we're getting hit from this side, and this is tending to push us together. And that's good. That's good.

18:54 It's tending to push a closeness between us and what it's doing is it's bringing us to recognize those experimental and theological issues which are important and which we hold in common. And everything that I say, I say in the consciousness of that. Well then, why in the world am I discussing this subject? Well, it's not totally without purpose.

Purposes for Discussing Infant Baptism

19:31 There are several purposes. First of all, the subject is being discussed in an effort to confirm and establish you as the people of God in what you believe. To confirm and establish you in what you believe. Now, controversy throughout the history of the Church has been fraught with dangers, that's true.

19:59 But it's also been used of God for the good of his people. It is in the midst of controversy that the cardinal, fundamental doctrines of the faith have been hammered out throughout the centuries by the Christian Church. It is when the things that they hold dear are challenged, it is when their doctrines are attacked, it is then that the Church of Christ is driven to the Scriptures, seeking fresh light and understanding, seeking confirmation in those things which they already believe. Then they say, why do I believe this?

20:44 How can I state exactly what I believe precisely and in accordance with the Word of God? When people attack what we believe, then we have to say, how do I support it from the Scriptures? And we come to a heightened understanding. We come to a clearer grasp of our own faith as that faith is related to the Word of God.

21:09 And so it is our hope that through the consideration of this subject from the Scriptures that you will be confirmed and established in what you already believe. And of course, if you didn't believe it, then there's little thought that you would be here ascribing to the 1689 London Confession and members of the Church. So I'm assuming that you believe it already. I believe that's a good assumption.

21:38 Now, therefore, I'm attempting then to confirm and establish you in what you believe. But secondly, to immunize you from the inculcation of error which you probably, or to which you probably, sooner or later will be exposed. To immunize you with respect to error. Infant baptism is error.

22:11 And it is our desire to immunize you with respect to that error. One of the things, you see, when we maintain these close ties of love and prayer with brethren in these camps is that you become exposed to these brethren and to their influence. Now, we do that deliberately. We know that you're being exposed to them.

22:35 We know that you're being exposed to their influence. And in many ways, that's good. We desire it. If we didn't desire it, Andrew Young would never come and preach in the pulpit, neither would Dr. Ferguson.

22:48 But that exposure brings with it danger. And the danger is that as you learn from these men the good and wholesome things which they have to contribute, so also you will be susceptible to imbibing from these men the errors which also they believe. And therefore, it is the desire of our hearts that you should be immunized with respect to those things to which you will be subject in the very nature of the case. The very theological pressures of the climate of our day is pushing us together more closely to these brethren. If, therefore, you will be immunized from the errors which they propound, then you must understand the biblical basis for our doctrine of believers' baptism and why it is that we are convinced that infant baptism is unscriptural and utterly unwarranted by the word of God. But then also, we desire to prevent we desire to prevent the overreaction

24:14 to extreme positions in an effort to refute the paedobaptist position. We desire to prevent the overreaction to extreme positions in an effort to refute their position. You see, the so-called effort to refute paedobaptism has given rise to all kinds of excesses and extremes already in our generation. And what we wish to do is to show you from the scriptures what we believe is the biblical answer and approach to this so that we can keep you from being what have been called nasty Baptists.

24:58 And there are nasty Baptists around. Now, these nasty Baptists don't have very much nice to say about our Presbyterian brethren at all. As a matter of fact, they deny that their bodies are even churches. And you see, once you've come to the position where you would deny that a paedobaptist church is even a church, then you know what you're on the road to?

25:26 You're on the road to landmarkism. And if you're totally, you know what, maybe I better tell you what that is. That's the idea, you see, that if no church that has ever practiced infant baptism is a true church, then we must search back to find the true church throughout the annals of church history. And when we do that, then we are liable to all kinds of excesses and strange views.

25:57 Now, we don't want anybody going into that idea. And it is the desire of our hearts that you would learn from the scriptures the biblical rationale for believers' baptism and the theological inconsistencies and the unscripturalness of infant baptism so that you will not be susceptible to strange views with respect to the subject. Again, dispensationalism claims to be the only potential alternative to covenant theology. In the idea, in the minds of some, and this is not necessarily simply in the minds of paedobaptists, but in the minds of some, the minute you begin to see the significance of the concept of covenant for redemptive history and for the history of the people of God, you automatically must become a paedobaptist. So that the idea of covenant is a frightening word. And there's this, among many Baptists, there's this fear of the thing

27:24 so that it's almost like if you walk up to a vampire and you hold a cross at him, the vampire doesn't understand, just fear. So that people think that all a paedobaptist has to do is come up to a Baptist and say, Covenant! And immediately, like the vampire, there's this cringing image, there's this cringing in fear. Well, it mustn't leave you susceptible to that type of mentality that the only alternative that there is to paedobaptist covenant theology is dispensationalism in one of its many forms.

28:07 A denial of the unity of the plan of God, a denial of the unity of the people of God and of the purpose of God for his one people. And that's not the only option that's open to you. And I wish to make that, I hope, very clear. And then, this may sound, well, I'm not sure how it'll sound, but it's the truth.

28:34 I hope that the day may come when some of the things that are said here may convince some paedobaptists that they're wrong. I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you that. I don't know who's going to be listening to this eventually. I don't know what the elders intend to do with the tape.

28:52 I suppose it depends on the content. But in any event, it is my hope that eventually some may be convinced that they're wrong and may give up that practice which we believe to be in error. So those are our purposes. To confirm and establish you in what you believe, to immunize you from an erroneous influence to which many or most of you will someday probably be exposed, to prevent the rising of excesses in response to this paedobaptist argument on your part, and also if the Lord is willing to hopefully convince some of our paedobaptist brethren and friends that they are wrong in their current practices and beliefs. Now then, by the grace of God, I will attempt to be fair in the representing of their position. I will attempt to be brotherly and charitable in not attacking the men themselves or their motives for holding their position. But on the other hand, I'm not going to pretend to be neutral because I'm not neutral.

Commitment to Frankness and Dogmatism

30:12 I'm far from neutral. And on the other hand, I'm not going to put the gloves on either.

30:24 And there's a reason for that. And the reason is, if something is important enough to enter into controversy about it, then it better be important enough to be frank and to be straightforward, to be blunt, to call a spade a spade, to say what is, to say what ain't, not to be reluctant because of personal friendship because of esteem, because of indebtedness, because of unity, to say that that is wrong and to say it frankly, bluntly, dogmatically, assertively, and to prove it from Scripture. And that's what I intend to do. I don't intend to be iffy about it because that would be dishonest. I'm not iffy about it.

31:26 And frankly, I don't believe there's any good or convincing scriptural reason to be iffy about it. And I intend to attempt to prove that from the Word of God. Now it's hard to be dogmatic without being triumphalistic. It's hard to be blunt without being sarcastic.

31:49 It's hard to represent a position fairly and not misrepresent it without being prejudiced. That's hard to do. But by the grace of God, I'm going to try to do it. And I hope that you'll pray with me over these next several weeks that the Lord will enable me to succeed in doing it.

Terminology and Avoiding Semantical Arguments

32:09 Now then, with respect to the terminology that I intend to use, as you can see, I'm going to speak about infant baptism or, in the other word, paedobaptism or paedobaptist. Now, the reason that I use that terminology is because I don't want to end up in a battle about words, a battle of semantics, a battle of semantics. Now, there are some paedobaptists who will not refer to us as Baptists. You know the reason that they won't do that?

32:50 They won't call us Baptists because they say we're Baptists. And what you are is not Baptist, but you're anti-paedobaptists. All right. There are some Baptists who won't refer to paedobaptists as paedobaptists.

33:10 What they'll call them is non-Baptists because they say that sprinkling water on a child's head, on an infant's head, is not baptism at all. And so because that's not baptism at all, I'm not going to call them even paedobaptists because the word means child baptizer. It comes from the Greek, means child baptizer or infant baptizer, but they're not child baptizers. They're child sprinklers and they're not really baptizing those children.

33:45 So we're not going to call them paedobaptists. They're not Baptists at all. They don't baptize anybody. And therefore, they're not a true church because they don't baptize.

33:55 Well, I don't want to get involved in that kind of semantical argument. I would agree with our Baptist friends that it is true that sprinkling a child is not baptism. That is true. Nevertheless, I don't want to make a big fuss about words.

34:12 I'm going to use the word paedobaptist because there seems to be very little point in agitating something like that. And while we're in the midst of discussing the issue, while we're in the midst of laying it out, I'm going to use that term. The fact that I use that term means that I'm making an effort not to be unnecessarily inflammatory. It doesn't mean that I believe their position.

34:36 It doesn't mean that I'm conceding to them that sprinkling an infant is indeed the Biblical ordinance of baptism. They believe it is, but I don't. But nevertheless, I'm going to use that term in order to avoid being unnecessarily inflammatory. Now, how are we going to approach this subject?

Methodology: Theological Framework Approach

34:56 And what I hope to do this morning, then in the last few minutes that remain, is to tell you how we're going to approach the subject. Now, first of all, I need to say that there's a lot more theologically speaking to the subject than what I am going to give you and tell you in this class, the Lord willing, in the next seven weeks. In the first class, I have listed down as introductory matters, and that's what we're doing today. So what I'm going to attempt to do today is just to set the stage to say something about the spirit in which we're approaching it and then the methodology by which I'm going to attempt to lay it out. Then we have five other classes scheduled in which five issues will be addressed, and then the seventh is going to be some concluding observations and an opportunity for whatever interaction you wish to have. Right now, as this subject is approached theologically, first of all, you would need, if you were going to deal thoroughly with it, to deal with the history or with the dogmatic considerations about the subject. But that would take quite a bit of time, and it really,

36:25 at this point, I don't believe it would be profitable to deal with all of the dogmatic considerations or all of the considerations relative to historical theology. I'm going to stick pretty much to the scriptures themselves and what the scriptures say rather than study in detail what men have said, although you must recognize that we are not the first people who have ever opened up a Bible and began to consider the subject of baptism or the subject of infant baptism. Volumes have been written on the subject. I could never claim to have read them all.

37:00 I have read, I hope, what I believe are some of the best materials from both perspectives, and so I will be speaking out of that knowledge, but it is not appropriate at this point to go into all of the details about what everybody believes about the subject. I think that in a Sunday school class it's appropriate that we should consider the scriptures but recognize that we must be guided in our approach to the scriptures by the light that God has given to men in the past, although we cannot take the time now to go through all of that in detail. So then, the first issue that needs to be addressed is the subjects of baptism. Second, the significance of baptism. Third, the sacraments. Fourth, the church. And fifth, the covenant.

38:09 Now, the question then is this. We're going to look at infant baptism and the subjects of baptism. Infant baptism and the significance of baptism. Infant baptism and the unity and coherence of the sacraments.

38:25 Infant baptism and the identity of the members of the church. Infant baptism and the identity of the members of the new covenant. That's where we're going to look. The subjects of baptism, the significance of baptism, the sacraments, the church and the covenant.

38:43 Now, why are we going to take this kind of approach? Well, because every subject must be approached within its God-given theological framework. Every subject to which the scriptures address themselves must be studied and understood within their God-given theological framework. Now, the matter of baptism is part of the whole biblical doctrine of salvation.

39:08 And so, when you begin to lay out the sacraments of baptism, the sacraments of baptism are part of the whole biblical doctrine of salvation, as I do when I teach systematic theology in the academy. First, you need to deal with the plan of salvation. Then, you must deal with the framework of salvation, which is the covenant of God and other actions of God. Then, you need to deal with the central figure in salvation, the One, Jesus Christ and His accomplishment of salvation or Christology.

39:48 Then, you move to the doctrine of the many. You move to the doctrine of the blessings of salvation which the many have received. And then, that's called soteriology proper. Then, from there, you move to the community which the many form.

40:08 That's the doctrine of the Church. Now, part of the doctrine of the Church is the doctrine of the sacraments of the Church, which are two, baptism and the Lord's baptism. And part of the doctrine of baptism is the doctrine of the significance of baptism, that is, what does baptism symbolize. And part of the doctrine of baptism is the subjects of baptism, that is, who ought to be baptized.

40:37 So you see what we need to do? If we're going to consider the subjects who ought to be baptized, we need to view that issue in the light of the doctrine of the sacraments of the community which have the sacraments, the Church, and what does it say about the framework of salvation, which is the covenant. So we need to see the doctrine in the light of its biblical framework. And so we need to see the doctrine in the light of its biblical framework.

41:17 And so I hope to take a week then and deal with the subjects, a week and the significance, the sacraments, the Church, and the covenant. Now, the reason why this must be done is that, first of all, no Presbyterian will ever be convinced if you simply pick up your Bible, look up all the references to baptism in the Bible, and tell him that there is no command to baptize infants, there is no example anywhere in the Bible of anyone ever baptizing an infant, and there is no precept, that is, there is no passage which so presents baptism and its subjects that we must necessarily infer from that passage that infants ought to be baptized. Now, they will admit that there is no command in the Bible to baptize infants, that there is no example of the Apostles ever baptizing an infant, and that there is nothing in the New Testament or in the Bible from which

42:46 we must necessarily infer that infants ought to be baptized. And I hope that I will see Warfield, the Lord willing, next week when we come to this, and also Charles Hodge, the great systematic theologian, admits the same thing and others as well. And Warfield says that even though baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament Church, that the doctrine of infant baptism cannot be supported in the Old Testament. And you see right away that ought to raise some problems in our minds. Should we get our doctrine of baptism and the Lord's Supper from the Old Testament? How can that be? How can it be that someone would credibly attempt to argue about baptism explicitly and clearly, but that the subjects of baptism, as far as infants are concerned, must be determined from the Old Testament where the sacrament is not

44:14 even explicitly mentioned? You can read from Genesis to Malachi, you will not find one example of a baptism of the Lord Jesus and the apostles and the Christian Church. Nevertheless, you see, by simply saying, the apostles and Christ never commanded to baptize an infant, they never did it, as far as is recorded, and there is nothing which would drive us to conclude that it is right, and there is an element of truth in what they are saying. There is an element of truth in what they are saying, and the element of truth is that we cannot approach any biblical issue apart from its God-given theological framework and context. And so, what we do biblically is to consider it in its God-given biblical setting. Now, I also assert that when

45:42 we do that, you will not find anything which explicitly addresses the subjects of baptism which disagrees with what the Bible says about the significance of baptism, nor will you find anything inconsistent. And so, what I must do and what we must do if we are to present a thorough and, I hope, convincing polemic is to deal with the issue in terms of its God-given theological framework from beginning to end. Now, of necessity, I have left out some of the dimensions of the framework, but these are the major ones which must be dealt with in systematic theology. And so, therefore, it is necessary that we take the time to delve into the matter thoroughly so that at least we'll be able to understand where they're coming from and why they're coming from. And so, I hope that you have a good time with me

Concluding Prayer for Grace and Truth

47:11 and I hope that you have a good time with me and I hope that you have a good time with me and I hope that you come into your holy presence. We plead with you, O Lord, that by your grace you would help us, help us that we may enter into this issue on which there is controversy among those whom you have loved and those whom you have united to Christ. Grant us grace, O God, that we may be pleased with our spirit, not to be displeased with our attitude, not to be displeased with our method, but that we might hear in that day, well done, thou

48:40 good and gracious Jesus Christ. Keep us from sin, O God, keep us from error. May we do that which is right and pleasing in your eyes. Give us humble, teachable, malleable minds that will in everything be willing to be subject to your holy word.

49:08 And, O God, grant us that we may speak out of your holy word. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.