The Church and Infant Baptism, Part 1

Introduction to the Study of the Church and Infant Baptism

0:00 This adult Sunday school class was held on January 15th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now this morning, as we press on with our considerations of the matter of baptism, let's pray for the Lord's blessing upon our study of this holy word.

0:30 Our Father, again, we come to your presence. We ask for assistance, for grace. We pray that you would draw near to us, Lord, and enlarge our minds, that we may understand your word, that we may be receptive to the truth of your holy word. O God, give us light, and then grant that that light may be written upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

0:55 We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now today we come to the fourth of the five. Five units of study, which I have marked out.

1:09 We begin our study of the relationship of infant baptism to the biblical teaching and doctrine concerning the church, specifically concerning the identity of the church. Now I will not treat this matter of the biblical doctrine of the identity of the church as comprehensively as I do in the academy. In the academy, we go through all of the 111 passages. In which the word ekklesia, from which we get our word ecclesiastical and ecclesiology and all the rest.

1:44 We go through all of those passages in which the word is found. If you don't believe me, you can ask the academy students. Or if you think it's tedious to go through 20 passages on baptism, try going through 111 passages on the church. So we won't do that in this class.

1:59 Rather, what I will seek to do is to collate and to summarize the biblical teaching. And before I do, I want to attempt to set this whole matter into some kind of perspective and address the question, why do we need even to discuss this issue at all? We've already considered the subjects of baptism as far as the biblical witness pertains to that matter. And we've considered the significance of baptism.

2:27 We've looked at the biblical doctrine of the sacraments. Why can't we stop? Why do we need to go any further? Why is there any need to say anything?

The Paedo-Baptist Argument from the Church (Hodge and Warfield)

2:35 What more need be said? Well, if we are really to address the issues which are raised by our Pato-Baptist brethren, more must be said. And I would like now to quote from two representative spokesmen, Hodge and Warfield, in order to show you the reason why it is necessary to say more and to address this issue. First of all, Hodge, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, page 547 and following.

3:06 And Dr. Hodge makes the following statement.

3:12 Under infant baptism, he says, the difficulty on this subject is that baptism, from its very nature, involves a profession of faith. It is the way in which, by the ordinance of Christ, he is to be confessed before men. But infants are incapable of making such confession. Therefore, they are not the proper subjects.

3:37 Or, to state the matter in another form, the sacraments belong to the members of the church. But the church is the company of believers. Infants cannot exercise faith. Therefore, they are not members of the church and consequently ought not to be baptized.

4:02 In order to justify the baptism of infants, we must attain and authenticate such an idea of the church as that it shall include the children of believing parents. And then he goes on to say, the word church is used in scripture and in common life in many different senses. And he mentions five different senses. And then he goes on for the next several pages with various prophecies.

4:37 He makes three propositions to seek to prove from his doctrine of the church the propriety of infant baptism. And he makes the following propositions. First of all, he says, the visible church is a divine institution. Secondly, the visible church does not consist exclusively of the regenerate.

4:57 Third proposition, the commonwealth of Israel was the church. Fourth proposition, the church...

5:08 The church under the new dispensation is identical with that under the old. And then he takes quite a while to seek to establish that. You see how he's arguing. Next, next proposition.

5:22 The terms of admission into the church before the advent were the same as that required for admission to the Christian church. Next, infants were members of the church under the old economy. And he takes a while to establish that. I'll have to open that up.

5:40 And then seventh, there is nothing in the New Testament which justifies the exclusion of the children of believers from membership in the church. Do you see how he develops the argument? And the whole thing rests upon his conception of the church and of the inclusion of infants in the church. Now, next, Warfield.

6:10 In his studies in theology, in his beginning of his article entitled The Polemics of Infant Baptism, makes the following statement on the very first page. He says this, The question of the subjects of baptism is one of that class of problems, the solution of which hangs upon a previous question. According as is our doctrine of the church, so will be our doctrine of the subjects of baptism. If we believe with the church of Rome that the church is in such a sense the institute of salvation that none are united to Christ except through the instrumentality of her ordinances, then we shall inevitably determine the proper subjects of her ordinances in one way. If, on the other hand, we believe with the Protestant bodies that only those already united to Christ have right within his house and to its privileges, we shall inevitably determine them in another way.

7:25 All Protestants should easily agree that only Christ's children have a right to the ordinance of baptism. The cleavage in their ranks enters in only when we inquire how the external church is to hold itself relatively to the recognition of the children of Christ. If we say that its attitude should be as exclusive as possible, and that it must receive as the children of Christ only those whom it is forced to recognize as such, then we shall inevitably narrow the scope of the subjects of baptism to the lowest limits. If, on the other hand, we say that its attitude should be as inclusive as possible, that it should receive as the children of Christ all whom in the judgment of charity it may fairly recognize as such, then we shall naturally widen the circle of the subjects of baptism to far more ample limits. And I must pause here to say that Warfield, very astutely with words, paints the Baptist position in bad emotional light. On the one hand, he speaks about, you're forced, oh, I have to recognize them,

8:51 almost as though we're reluctant to recognize the children of Christ, whereas, and the other way, he presents it about fairly recognizing it in ample limits. I think the right way to describe both of these things is to say that the church must recognize only those whom it has as biblical warrant to recognize as such and leave the matter there without trying to weigh the case one way or the other with emotionally charged language. But being that as it may, we'll go on to the next statement because he makes a, he makes here something, he says something here which is very insightful. He says the formal, the former representation, broadly speaking, the Puritan idea of the church and the latter represents the general Protestant doctrine. It is on the basis of the Puritan conception of the church that the Baptists are led to exclude infants from baptism. For if we are to demand anything like demonstrative evidence of actual participation in Christ before we baptize, no infant, who by reason of years, is incapable of affording signs of his union with Christ, can be thought a proper subject of the rite. Well, I'll stop there, although he goes on to make other statements

10:16 which are also interesting in that regard. But one thing I hope you can see comes across very clearly that there's no way that a Baptist can treat this subject adequately unless he deals with the matter of the doctrine of the church and its relationship to the question of the subjects of baptism. It is not sufficient simply to go through the Biblical passages which deal with baptism or even with the significance of baptism or with the sacraments, but you must recognize that all of these things go together and that it is vital that we deal with the Biblical doctrine of the church because as our Paedo-Baptist brethren are telling us, the question is already decided when you come to those passages which describe the subjects of baptism. The issue has already been settled as far as Warfield is concerned. It's not settled by those texts which describe baptism being practiced by the apostles or the Lord Jesus. It's settled long ago.

Summary of the Paedo-Baptist Argument

11:22 It was settled in the time of Abraham. It's settled based upon your conviction and conception concerning the identity of the church of Jesus Christ. So if I may summarize, the Paedo-Baptist perspective on the matter, the church and what they would speak about is the so-called visible church, but I don't want to get into all of that right now. But just to summarize their argument, first of all, the church existed from the time of Abraham.

11:53 Particularly helpful in this regard is the Scripture doctrine of the church by Douglas Bannerman, one of the books that we use in the Academy, page 43 and following. Abraham's family at first, and then later on, the Israelitish nation is the church. And the church existed and was set up visibly from the time of Abraham. Secondly, the New Testament church is the same and identical institution as the Old Testament church, Hodge, page 549, etc., etc.

12:27 Thirdly, infants were included in the Old Testament church. They were included in Abraham's family as the church was set up, included in the nation of Israel. And therefore, fourthly, there's no hint of their exclusion in the New Testament. And if they are to be excluded, then the burden of proof lies upon us to show from the word of God that they have explicitly been excluded from the church of God.

12:58 And since there is no hint of their exclusion in the New Testament, no proof of their exclusion, therefore they are still included in the New Testament church. And then fifthly and finally, since those in the church have the right to the initiatory ordinance, infants, since they are members of the church, have the right to baptism. Now that's the way the argument goes. The church was established at the time of Abraham.

13:27 The Old Testament church and the New Testament church are the same. Infants were included in the Old Testament church. There's no biblical grounds to justify their exclusion now. Therefore, they're still in the church.

13:40 And because they're still in the church, they have the right to the initiatory ordinance of baptism. That's the way the argument goes. So there's no way that you can simply go through the New Testament, read those passages about the subjects of baptism and conclude that infant baptism is unbiblical. How could anyone ever practice it?

Points of Agreement and Disagreement with Paedo-Baptists

13:58 Because you must recognize that the concepts and the categories of thought upon which the doctrine is based are much broader than those. Now, I just then would like to go over these things as we come to the matter of the doctrine of the church to tell you how I am going to approach the matter. First of all, I'm not prepared to make a big deal about words. I don't want to get involved in a battle of words.

14:32 I would have difficulty myself using the word the church to describe the nation of Israel, but I don't want to make a battle about words because there is a definite unity with respect to the people of God. And if I may restate these things perhaps a little more precisely to my own mind, there's an awful lot of truth in what our paedo-baptist brethren are saying and a lot of it that I think we might as well just admit so we can be clear about the areas where the real differences lie. First of all, we admit gladly and confess the unity of the people of God. That it is true that a community of God's people was established based upon the covenant made with Abraham at the time of Abraham. Secondly, there is only one people of God and between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant people of God, there is an organic, fundamental and essential unity. There are not two peoples of God, there's one people of God. And in that sense, it's proper to say that the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament people of God are one and the same people of God and that they came to their visible, corporate organization in conjunction with Abraham and the covenant made with Abraham and the blessing given to Abraham.

15:57 Thirdly, that infants were included in the people of God in the Old Covenant is so obvious, self-evident and patent that there's little point to debate it. Fourthly, on the other hand, the statement of Hodge on page 556 of Systematic Theology that there's nothing which would justify their exclusion now is a matter which I am prepared to disagree with. There is, in my understanding of the biblical data, much which comes out compels not including in the New Covenant Israel that is in the Church, the infants who were included in the Old Covenant Israel. And it's at that very point in the argument where I believe we need to make a very solid stand without arguing about words that are used in other places. Then fifth and finally, I should say too that it seems to me that this argument from the Church proves too much because the members of the Church have title to all of the ordinances of the Church unless they're under the discipline of the Church. And with regard to the Old Testament Church, children not only had the right to be circumcised but they also partook of the Passover.

17:20 And the children then should still partake of all the ordinances of the Church if we are setting up an absolute parallel between the Old and the New Covenant administration. And so I think that it proves too much but on the other hand, I'm not prepared again to make a big fight about that because we already went through that and when we attempted to show that all of the arguments from the Covenant and from the unity of the Covenants which are used to support infant baptism could really be turned upon themselves and also support toddler communion. But that we've dealt with at another time. I think the same thing is true of this.

Three Incompatibilities of Infant Inclusion in the Church

17:58 Now, my answer in the light of the biblical data is this. If the real issue is whether or not infants are to be included in New Covenant Israel in the Church of Jesus Christ and I submit to you that infant inclusion in New Covenant Israel in the Church of Jesus Christ is incompatible with three things which are patent in the biblical witness. First of all, it's incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church of Christ. Secondly, it's incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the membership of the Church of Christ.

18:36 And thirdly, it's incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the spiritual experience of the Church of Christ. It's incompatible first of all with the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church. Secondly, with the biblical descriptions of the membership of the Church. And thirdly, with the biblical descriptions of the spiritual experience of the Church.

19:00 And we're going to look at these things things in order, one at a time, and we're going to hopefully do the first one this morning.

Church Growth: Evangelism and Regeneration vs. Procreation

19:09 First of all, infant inclusion in the Church of Jesus Christ is incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church. Now, there are some 26 Greek words which are used in the New Testament that I'm aware of to describe this phenomenon of Church growth. You have the words translated to grow, to multiply, to add, to increase, and the words for number. Are there certain passages starting to come to your mind? The whole matter, first of all, of the growth of the Church. We're going to look at that. How does the Church grow? The words for grow, grow, multiply, add, increase. What was the other one? Increase, number.

20:06 The biblical descriptions, and those are the words that I'm aware of. I may have missed some and left some out, but I've tried to find all the passages I can which are relevant to the subject and which deal with the matter of the Church growing and multiplying. I say that the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church are incompatible with the idea that the Church grows by marriage and procreation. Rather, the Church grows by evangelism and by spiritual regeneration. Now, in this respect, the Church is different than Israel was. And it is precisely in this respect that infant membership in the Church is incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the growth of the Church. So let's look through, then, the biblical passages. The first passage, Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, verses 41 and 47. And to get the context,

Acts 2:41-47: Growth by Conversion and Baptism

21:25 Peter has preached Christ on the day of Pentecost. Then in verse 37 we read, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off. And to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off.

21:56 Even as many as the Lord our God shall call to him. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Then those that received his word were baptized, and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles, and all that believed were together and had all things common. And verse 46, And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And all that was The Lord added to them, day by day, those that were being saved.

23:07 Now, there are two texts in this paragraph which describe the growth of the church of Christ. Verse 41 and also verse 47. And notice the pattern of verse 41. Those that received the word were baptized and there were added.

23:26 There was the reception of the word of God, first of all. The proclamation of the gospel and of the demands of the gospel, repentance and faith. What shall we do? Repent and be baptized.

23:39 Those that received the word were those that embraced the gospel. They were those that repented, those that were baptized. And in conjunction with repenting and being baptized, there was adding. There was the growth of the church.

23:54 Three thousand souls. Those who were baptized, those who repented, were added. Now, obviously, the church did not grow by birth. It was not that three thousand were born to those hundred and twenty who believed in that day.

24:09 That's obviously not the meaning of the text. The text obviously means that there were three thousand who were converted. And that addition to the church did not take place by physical procreation. It took place by conversion.

24:23 Three thousand people were converted. Converted and added to the church.

24:30 And then, in verse 47, a crucial text, because here it describes the distinguishing trait of those who were added to the church. It says, It says, It says, And some manuscripts read, added to the church. The issue is not whether the word ecclesia is in the text. It's clear in any event.

24:57 And the Lord added to them, day by day, those that were being, literally, those that were being saved. Now, that's a crucial statement. It doesn't say the Lord added to them, day by day, those that were being born.

25:15 There's a world of difference. The distinguishing trait of those added and the principle of addition. The distinguishing trait is not that they were born. The principle of addition is not physical procreation.

25:33 But the distinguishing trait of those added is that they were being saved. And the principle is spiritual regeneration, not physical procreation.

25:47 It was not those born to the disciples, but those reborn through their witness. Who were added to the church. And so the text, the text which is at the outset. The outset of the biblical witness concerning addition to the church indicates this.

26:05 First of all, that there's an intimate connection between preaching the gospel, evangelism, receiving the gospel, baptism, and addition to the church. And secondly, that the distinguishing trait of those added is that it is those who are being saved, those who are having redemption applied to them.

Acts 4:4 and 5:14: Growth by Believers, Men and Women

26:26 They're experiencing the application of redemption. The distinguishing trait. The distinguishing trait is not who their parents are, but that they have received the gospel of Christ. Also, Acts chapter 4 and verse 4, the second passage.

26:42 Acts 4 and verse 4.

26:48 But, we read, many of them that heard the word believed. Many of them that heard the word believed. And the number of the men came to be about 5,000. Again, the word was preached by the apostles.

27:05 When they heard the word preached, many of those who heard it believed the word, and as the result of the word being preached and people believing the word, the number of men increased to be about 5,000. There were 3,000 added in that day, and now the number of men comes to be 5,000 men. So when people hear and believe the number of the church, the size of the church gets larger. Again, it's through evangelism and conversion, and not by procreation, that the church increases in size.

27:45 Acts chapter 5 and verse 14.

27:56 And here's a crucial text. In the context of Ananias and Sapphira, being unfaithful and seeking to lie to the Holy Spirit, God exposing them and judging them. Acts 5, beginning in verse 12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders.

28:14 Wonders wrought among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. But of the rest, durst no man join himself to them. Howbeit the people magnified them, and believers were the more added to the Lord. Multitudes both of men.

28:45 Men and women.

28:48 In so much that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might overshadow some one of them. Now here you have explicitly delineated the characteristics of those who are added to the Lord. It says, believers were the more added. Multitudes of men and women.

29:18 Fear came upon the people of Israel. People were afraid to join themselves to that group of people. No man dared, we read, to join himself to them because they knew God is in that place. God is among those people.

29:34 But that did not cause the church to shrink in size. Rather, in the very context of the fear of God being propounded powerfully among men, the church increased. Increased in size and in number. And who were added?

29:49 Believers were added to the Lord. Very interesting, the terminology that's used. Being added to the church is identified as being added to the Lord. The Lord is brought into intimate connection with his church.

30:04 No man dared to join himself to them, but believers were added to the Lord. To be joined to them is to be added to the Lord. The Lord brings himself into intimacy. Intimate identity with his church.

30:19 That's why he says to Paul, when Paul is persecuting his church, he says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

30:30 He brings himself into intimate identity with his church. We read the explanation of that in Ephesians 5. That the church is his body. The church is his bride.

30:41 The church is one with Jesus.

30:46 And so to be added to the church. The church is to be added to the Lord. That's the emphasis of the text. Now, who were added to the Lord?

30:55 Believers were added to the Lord. This is their distinguishing trait. It is that they believed. It is that they believed.

31:04 It doesn't say children were the more added to the Lord. But it says believers were the more added to the Lord. Multitudes of men and women. And here you find.

31:18 A further description of the identity of those who were called believers. Multitudes of men and women and silence.

31:33 Men, women and silence.

31:40 That's all. Multitudes of men and women. And the words that are used here are words which are deliberately and intentionally. Calculated to exclude boys and girls, infants and minors.

31:56 Multitudes of men and women were added. Words could not be more clear. Children, boys and girls were not added. Infants were not added.

32:09 Men and women were added. Multitudes of them were added. Now, we might believe that if a few men and women had been added, that perhaps. These few men and women didn't have any children.

32:25 But can we seriously believe that multitudes of men and women did not have any children? Well, if these multitudes of men and women had any children, why were not the children added? Why weren't they added? You see, in Matthew, chapter 14, verse 21, this very same terminology is used.

32:56 Men and women. It has to do with the eating of the loaves that Jesus made to multiply. And as Matthew describes those who ate, he uses the same terminology. And he says this in verse 21.

33:11 And those that did eat were about 5,000 men. That's the same word used there. Besides women, that's the same word used there. And children.

33:22 And children. You see the difference? Men and women. Women, those are grown-up boys or men, grown-up girls or women, and children are boys and girls that haven't grown up.

33:33 And the Bible has words that distinguish between boys and girls and men and women. And Luke is careful in this instance to indicate that it was grown-up men, grown-up boys who are men, and grown-up women who were added to the Lord. But over here, in Matthew, chapter 14, verse 21, when children were included as those who did eat, Matthew, It's not too fastidious to say that those who ate were not only grown-ups but children. Now, if children were added to the Lord, why is it not recorded?

34:06 It can't be. It's unrealistic to think that multitudes of men and women had children. Why doesn't Luke end it all? All the controversy, all the debate, and simply say, Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of men and women and their children.

34:27 Why doesn't he say that? Because it didn't happen. And he uses words calculated to tell us that it did not happen. He could not use language more explicit.

34:44 He could not use language more clear. Multitudes of men were added. Multitudes of women were added. Their infants, their little boys and girls were not added.

35:03 It's clear. It's clear. The distinguishing trait of those added is that they are believers. The quantity of those added is that they are multitudes.

35:14 The age and sex of those added is that they are mature adult men and women.

Acts 6:1-7 and 14:21: Growth by Disciples

35:22 Next text. Acts chapter 6 and verse 17.

35:31 Verse 1. Acts chapter 6 and verse 1 I meant. Not verse 17. Verse 1 and 7.

35:38 There is no verse 17. Now, in these days when the number of the disciples was multiplying there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Now notice here you find the church described in its activity and function and notice how it's described. The number of the disciples was multiplying.

36:08 The number of the disciples was multiplying. And verse 2. The twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said it is not fit that we should forsake the word of God and serve tables. Verse 3.

36:27 Look out therefore brethren from among you. And verse 5. And the saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose. And now verse 7.

36:39 And the word of God increased. And the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Here you have a description of church growth again. Church growth involves the multiplication of the number of the disciples.

37:07 It involves people becoming obedient to the faith. Verse 8. The disciples were multiplied. That is more and more people became obedient to the faith.

37:23 The church here in its activity in the recognition of those who were serving as perhaps deacons in seed form. They're described as the multitude of disciples. They're called brethren. They chose and they are all involved in this vital activity of the life of the church.

37:45 Now how do you make a disciple? How does someone become a disciple? Does someone become a disciple of Christ by being born physically as an infant to someone who already is a disciple of Christ? Is that how the disciples multiply?

38:07 Is that how a disciple is made? No. That's not right. A disciple is made.

38:15 First of all by the proclamation. of the master, the proclamation of the gospel, and secondly, by compliance with the demands of the master. Luke 14, verses 25 to 35. If anyone come after me and does not forsake all that he has, he can't be my disciple. If anyone come after me, he says, and does not hate his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever comes after me and does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. The proclamation of the master, the proclamation of the gospel is essential to the making of a disciple, and not only that, but compliance with the demands of the master, obedience to the faith, repenting and believing, attachment to Jesus is essential to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And church growth involves the increasing of the number of the disciples. The church

39:20 grows through the preaching of the gospel and through people being obedient to the faith. Acts chapter 14, verse 21. The same thing is shown. How are disciples made? Notice.

39:38 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they were made disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had been. Now, there's a clear statement and compendium form of the intimate connection between preaching the gospel, making disciples. Disciples are those who believed in the Lord, that these constitute the church, and elders were appointed for them in every place. Their souls were confirmed. They were exhorted to continue in the faith. They were already in the faith,

40:42 already believed, commended them to the Lord on whom they had. Disciples are those who believe, who are obedient to the faith, and church growth involves the multiplying of the number of the disciples. There's only one way to make a disciple, and that's by preaching the gospel and having that disciple, having that person become obedient to the gospel. And if you're not a disciple, you're not a Christian, because it says in Acts 11.26, And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. There's only one way to make a disciple, by evangelism and conversion, not by marriage and procreation. There may be two ways to make a Jew, but there's only one way to make a disciple. You don't make a disciple by marriage and procreation. You make a disciple by evangelism

41:49 and conversion. There may be two ways to make a Jew, but there's only one way to make a disciple of Jesus Christ. And if you're not a disciple, you're not a Christian. There may be two ways for the Old Testament Israel to grow, because there's two ways to make a Jew. And the common way of making Jews was by marriage and procreation, although some were made by evangelism and conversion, like Ruth. But there's only one way to make a disciple. And because there's only one way to make a disciple, there's only one way for the church to grow. It grows when disciples are made, when disciples multiply. It grows by evangelism

Acts 7:17: Old Covenant vs. New Covenant Growth

42:34 and by conversion. The church is the company or the group of the disciples of Christ, and it grows when the number of the disciples grow. Now I submit to you that the church, as we've seen it described through the first six chapters of the book of Acts in its growth, without exception, it grows when the number of disciples grows. It only grows through evangelism. It only grows through conversion. It doesn't grow through marriage and procreation. There's nothing in here that indicates that it grows through marriage and procreation as Israel did. Now in Acts 7, 17 it becomes patently clear that there's a real difference between Israel of the Old Covenant and the New Israel in this regard. Acts Chapter 7 and verse 17.

43:26 Now Stephen is� Now Stephen is� Now Stephen is," Now Stephen is," Now Stephen is," Now Stephen is," Now Stephen is," Now Stephen is," He's describing the history of the people of God in the Old Testament, and he says the following thing. But as the time of the promise drew near, which God vouchsafed to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. Now, how did they grow and multiply? Well, if you're familiar with your Old Testament, they grew and multiplied by marriage and great fecundity.

43:51 They grew and multiplied by marriage and procreation. They had an amazing number of children, and those children had an amazing number of children. The people grew and multiplied through marriage and procreation. Now, this is a crucial distinction between the Israel of the Old Covenant and the Church of Jesus Christ, which is the Israel of the New Covenant.

44:17 The Israel of the Old Covenant grows and multiplied and grew and multiplied fundamentally and primarily. Primarily through marriage and procreation. But the New Covenant Israel grows and multiplies exclusively through evangelism and recreation. Not through marriage and procreation, but evangelism and recreation.

44:43 It is by this method exclusively, regeneration and conversion, that the New Testament Israel grows and multiplies. And here, precisely, is the Pato-Baptist era. They've tried to hold back the clock of redemptive history, and they failed to see the biblical distinction between the way that Old Covenant Israel grew and between the way that New Covenant Israel grows. Natural Israel, which was a physical nation, grows by marriage and procreation.

45:20 Spiritual Israel, which is a spiritual nation, a group of disciples, grows by marriage and procreation. The New Testament Israel grows exclusively by evangelism and recreation or regeneration. Its principle of multiplication is determined by the nature of the beast. A physical nation grows by marriage and procreation.

45:44 A spiritual nation, which consists of a group of disciples, grows by evangelism and regeneration. And there is the difference right there. And it's for that very reason that infant inclusion in the New Covenant is incompatible with the biblical descriptions of the way in which the church of the New Covenant grows. Now, next text.

Acts 9:31, 11:21-24, 16:5: Consistent Pattern of Growth

46:11 Acts chapter 9, verse 31. We only have a couple more texts, and then we'll be done.

46:25 Acts 9, 31. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit was multiplied. Now, if you look at the context of this statement,

46:46 although all you have here is the statement that the church had peace, they were edified, they were walking in the fear of the Lord, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and that they multiplied. That is, they increased in number. But the context sheds light upon the identity of the church and thus upon how...

47:04 Look first of all at verse 26. Because the whole context is the conversion of Saul. And Saul was breathing out slaughters against the church. All right?

47:17 Verse 26. And when he was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples, and they were afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Now, what was he doing to the disciples? Chapter 9, verse 1.

47:33 But Saul... Yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

47:43 See that? And then also chapter 8 and verse 3. But Saul laid waste the church, and entering into every house and dragging men and women, committed them to prison. So what did he do?

48:00 He laid waste the church. That is, men and women who were disciples of the Lord, he persecuted, he persecuted them. It's in this context, after Saul is converted, that we read about the church, the disciples to whom he sought to join himself, that they had peace because Saul had been converted. And in that context, the disciples multiplied.

48:25 So you have nothing here in this context to indicate anything other than what has already been seen, that the church is the company of the disciples and that it multiplies exclusively. Inclusively by evangelism and conversion. And then the next text, Acts chapter 11, verse 21 and 24.

48:55 And again, you find the same thing. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed...

49:01 This probably refers to God-fearing Gentiles already identified with the synagogue. A great number that believed turned to the Lord. And verse 24, for he was a good man, full of faith, and much people was added to the Lord. So there's nothing explicitly told us except their previous status and number.

49:25 And their previous status was they were those that had already had some identification with the synagogue. All right, the final text, Acts chapter 16.

49:38 And again, in that text in Acts 11, there's nothing to indicate any difference from what we've seen. Acts chapter 16, and verse 5, the final statement concerning the growth of the church. Now speaking about the Gentile churches, it says, So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. The churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.

50:06 Now again, the identity of the church, if you look at Acts 16 in its context, you have to go all the way back to Acts 13 and 14 and 15, and if you go back through those passages, you'll see that the churches referred to here are the churches which were established during Barnabas and Paul's first missionary visit. And chapter 15 and verse 36 underscores this great reality. It says, And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, Let us now return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord, and see how they fare. And it's in that context that the statement is made.

50:49 And then of course the crucial statement of Acts 14, 21 to 23 goes through. And this is what, these are the identity of the churches who were strengthened. I'll read this text in closing. And when they had preached the gospel in that city, and this is what they did everywhere they went, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, confirming the souls, of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

51:24 And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. It's in that state context that we read this. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in the faith. They were strengthened in number daily.

51:46 There's nothing in the book of Acts that indicates that the church grows by marriage and procreation, having infants added to it. But there's everything in the book of Acts without exception, every instance that describes the growth, increase, number, multiplication of the church of Jesus Christ describes it as taking place through evangelism, conversion, and regeneration. And this is biblical data which to my mind cannot be lightly dismissed, but which must be taken into account because I assert that these biblical descriptions of the growth of the church are incompatible with infant inclusion in the church. Now let us pray and commend our time to the Lord.

Prayer for Church Growth by Conversion

52:39 Lord, we give you thanks for the church of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the wonderful accounts that we've read today of the manner in which your church grows and multiplies. This is what we long to see, O Lord, our God. We rejoice when little children are born to our number and we thank you for your goodness to your people in giving them little children.

53:01 But, O God, our hearts are delighted when we see people added to the Lord and people converted and turned away from their sins. And we pray that we may see, as we've read about today, great multiplication among the disciples of Christ, that we may see, that we may see the gospel conquering men, that we may see the gospel going forth with power, and that we may live, O God, to see a pouring out of the Holy Spirit and multitudes of people turning to the Lord and being added to the church of Jesus Christ. Hear our prayers, Father, and be pleased to write your word and the witness of your word upon our hearts. We ask it in Jesus' name.

53:40 Amen.