The New Testament Testimony, Part 1

Introduction to the Question of Minor Baptism and Church Membership

0:04 This adult Sunday school class was held on March 11, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, those of you who attend this class regularly are aware that Pastor Nichols recently completed a series of some 32 studies on the subject of baptism, with special concentration on demonstrating what we regard to be the errors of the practice of pedo, or pedo, or paido, or infant baptism. Now, if you wonder why so many pronounce that word pedo, or paido, or pedo differently, it's a transliteration of the Greek word for child, paideia, and some pronounce it as paido, or paido, or paido, or paido. Some pronounce the epsilon-yoda diphthong differently in Greek. Some pronounce it I, some pronounce it E, some A. And so in getting carried over, you'll hear of pedobaptist, paido-baptist, and pedobaptist, but it all is referring to one and the same thing, the practice of sprinkling infants on the basis, or in the case of the Greek Orthodox Church, immersing infants, at least up to their mouths, on the basis of their...

1:27 on their relationship to others who profess the Christian faith. And then last week, Pastor Nichols set before you some excellent material in the way of a positive statement of how we are to regard and deal with our children while not treating them as the legitimate subjects of baptism in their infancy, while not regarding them as so-called covenant children. How are we, who believe in...

1:57 in confessors or disciple baptism, to regard our children? How are we to relate to them in things spiritual? And how are we to treat them with respect to the instruction of the Word of God? Now, these issues recently considered, namely, the 32 studies in infant baptism or baptism with particular concern to expose the errors of infant baptism, and then the positive...

2:27 the positive statement last Lord's Day very naturally lead to the question which I propose to address today and, God willing, the next three Lord's Days prior to my leaving for the United Kingdom on the 3rd of April. And again, as Pastor Nichols brought in the previous series, at the direction of his fellow elders, so I am embarking upon this study with the direction and consent, and really, in a sense, being the mouthpiece of an issue with which your elders have wrestled off and on for several years and in a very concentrated way over the past few months. Now, having examined the overwhelming testimony of Scripture concerning the fact that infant children of believers are not to be regarded as proper subjects of baptism, we must go on and ask another very vital question. Namely, is it scriptural to receive minors into the ranks of Christ's visible disciples by baptism and church membership? Now, we've addressed the question, is it scriptural to receive infants into the ranks of Christ's church by baptism? Yes.

3:56 And to regard them as non-communicant members. But now we go on to ask another and equally vital question. Is it scriptural to receive minors, not infants, but pre-adults into the ranks of Christ's visible disciples by baptism and church membership? Now, in the use of the word minor, I mean a pre-adult, one who is pre-adult.

Defining 'Minor' and Clarifying the Question

4:26 One who is still properly considered a child. And without going into any details as to what constitutes the difference between a minor and an adult, suffice it to say that Scripture and our own experience makes it plain that there is a fundamental distinction. Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 13, 11, when I was a child, I thought as a child, I felt or reasoned, as a child, I spoke as a child, when I became a man, I put away childish things. So at one point he was a child, another point he became a man.

5:08 Now, I know immediately all kinds of questions rise. At what age does someone cease to be a child and become a man? At what stage? By what criteria?

5:19 Well, very, or at least suspend, all of those questions were now, suffice it to say, that the Scripture makes a distinction between the child in its mindset, in its emotional, intellectual, and even in its verbal expressions, and a man. I thought, I felt, I spoke as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. And this distinction, of course, is made throughout society.

5:50 Minors are given certain protection that are not given to adults. Adults are given certain protection. Adults are given certain protection. Adults are given certain privileges and assume certain responsibilities that are not laid upon minors.

6:03 So when I use the term minor, I am using it in this general sense. Now, please listen carefully as I state what the question is not. We are not asking or discussing the question, can God regenerate and save minor children? We are not discussing that question.

6:29 Yes, God can save minor children. John 3.8 says, So we are not questioning God's ability to regenerate and save minors. Nor are we discussing the question, does God actually save?

6:56 We believe there is witness in Scripture and certainly in Christian experience that God does indeed not only have the ability to save minor children, but he exercises that ability. Nor is our question, should we pray for God to save our minor children? That's not the question. Of course we ought to pray for God to save our minor children and to save them in their minority.

7:26 That they might be spared many of the agonies of a life of sin and the scars that will go with them to their graves. Furthermore, our question is not, should we plead with our minor children to come to Christ? Of course we should plead with our minor children to come to Christ. As parents, as preachers, wherever we have the opportunity, we ought to urge upon our minor children to embrace the Lord.

7:56 Lord Jesus, that he is a savior of all, young and old, who trust in him. Nor is our question, ought we to encourage our minor children who believe God has saved them? And of course the answer is, surely we encourage every minor child who believes God has saved him. This is the one question.

8:21 And I want you to think clearly. I've stuck to my notes. I've violated all of my principles. I've violated all of my principles of communication taught to the men in the academy because I want to be as precise as possible.

8:33 I don't want a word to be out of place. Here's the question. Is there biblical warrant, that is, when we turn to our Bibles, do we find biblical warrant for admitting minors into formal church membership by means of baptism and that covenant of commitment to the Lord and to his people that involves church membership? Is there biblical warrant for encouraging minors to accept the privileges, assume the responsibilities, and expose themselves to the solemn liabilities of formal identification with Christ's new covenant community? That's...

9:27 That's our question. Is there warrant from the Bible to encourage minors to accept the privileges, assume the responsibilities and liabilities of formal identification with Christ's new covenant community by means of baptism and a covenant of commitment to Christ and to his people in this formal way? Now, as a matter of interest to me, I really toyed with the idea of taking a little survey and asking for a show of hands as to present inclination or conviction on this matter. But since it might be embarrassing, I decided against it. My original note said, I will take a little survey. I crossed out those words and now my notes say, I was tempted to take a little survey. And to ask, how many believe there is warrant for admitting minors to the visible community of Christ's people?

Plea for the Berean Spirit and Unity in Truth

10:36 How many believe there is no such warrant? How many have no sure conviction on the matter at all? Well, whatever our present position, inclination or perspective may be, there are two passages of scripture that I trust will regulate our approach to the subject. Acts 17 and verse 11.

11:02 No doubt some of the things that will be set before you will be fresh or new on your ears.

11:12 And all I plead for as the leader of this class and on behalf of your elders is what is recorded here of the Bereans. Acts 17 verse 10. The brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who, when they were come thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

11:53 Now no doubt, for some of these people, what Paul and his companions did, what his companions brought to them from the scriptures, was entirely new. For some, it no doubt cut across the grain of present perspectives. It may have stirred up present or past prejudices. For others, it may have confirmed long-standing inclinations and predispositions.

12:20 But whatever the state of mind was, the vast majority of those at Berea are called noble. They were noble in that they received the word with readiness of mind, even though the reception of that word had to jar previous patterns of thought, even though it may have jangled against present emotional or we might even call visceral inclinations, they received the word with readiness of mind, and furthermore, they examined the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. And it is for the spirit of the Bereans that I plead in this matter. It is that spirit which caused your elders over many months to wrestle with this, to come together one Saturday and to spend the better part of an entire day collating our examination of the scriptures and seeking to bring our past perspectives and practices and predispositions to the touchstone of the word of God. And that's all I plead for as I embark upon the study to the end that this second text may be true of us. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

13:44 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. And it is my prayer and the prayer of my fellow elders that as a result of these four Lord's Day mornings this morning and the subsequent three months, God will bring to pass on this issue the very thing described in 1 Corinthians 1.10, that we will all speak the same thing, that there be no division among us, but that we be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. In other words, Paul's concern was not for unity at the expense of truth, but unity in the truth. Not unity by saying this could be a volatile issue and produce many differences, therefore let's push it aside and agree to disagree

15:12 and never discuss it. But rather, he says, that the unity might be founded upon minds and judgments that are brought to oneness under the dynamics of God's Spirit working by and with His truth. So this is my plea that coming with the spirit of the Bereans, we as a congregation will be brought to oneness of mind on this burning question, is there biblical warrant, not have we had past practice of or predisposition to or have we seen examples of, good or bad, is there scriptural warrant for including minors in the visible community of God's people? Is there scriptural warrant for baptizing and receiving into church membership minors? Now, why is this question so vital? Why should your elders wrestle with it for many months?

Why This Question is Vital: God's Way, Congregation's Circumstances, and Scripture's Sufficiency

16:16 Why should they take a whole day to come together and seek to collate their perspectives? And why should I now give many hours seeking to collate the collation of the elder's study and to lay it out in a clear and simple manner before you as God's people? Well, there are two very, or three very fundamental reasons. Number one, the general principle that God's work must be done God's way to have God's maximum blessing now and to have His maximum reward in the day of judgment.

16:54 God's work must be done God's way to have maximum blessing from God now and maximum reward in the day of judgment. If you turn over to 1 Corinthians 3, there is a very, very searching word directed to Christian workers, to preachers, to leaders in God's church. Paul says in verse 10, According to the grace of God given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another builds thereon. But let each man take heed how he builds thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man builds on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it because it is revealed in fire and the fire shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. Now in the context, you see, each man's work is the Christian worker who builds upon the foundation already laid by the Apostle Paul who has a part in the increase and expansion of the church at Corinth.

18:19 It's not speaking about each Christian man in general, but it's talking about each man in particular as a workman in the building of the spiritual temple of God. If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. In other words, this brings us immediately to the whole question of how we build the church of Jesus Christ.

18:52 Do the scriptures work with a warrant placing upon the foundation of Christ and his truth in Trinity Baptist Church the materials of minors? Do we have scriptural warrant to incorporate them into the visible community of Christ's church? Or do we not? That's a very serious issue.

19:15 For the day shall declare every man's work of what sort it is. Did he bring in those materials which God gave him warrant to bring in? Or did he include materials for which he had no biblical warrant? And so it is a very serious question for those of us in a place of leadership that God's work must be done God's way for maximum blessing now and for maximum reward in the day of judgment.

19:50 But then secondly, the peculiar circumstances of this particular congregation demand that we think this issue through. At last count, we have approximately 100 children six years old and under. And that number is growing all the time. If you don't believe me, I could call out the names of a few women who evidently have not gone on an eating binge but are in the wonderfully changed and wonderfully chaste old terminology and I love it much better than simply saying pregnant.

20:30 They are with child. I like that term much better. Because I never heard anyone say of a cow it was with child. But you say the cow's pregnant but I like the term with child.

20:44 That just may be my old-fashioned way but I have a right to be old-fashioned here and there I'm sure. But anyway, back to our subject. The peculiar circumstances of this congregation demand that we think this issue through biblically. With approximately 100 children six years old and under, the majority of whom have the benefit of good instruction in the home, good instruction in the Sunday school, the word of God is brought to bear upon their consciences in the regular preaching of the word.

21:18 They have good role models in their mothers and fathers and follow me closely, almost all of the men and women whom they admire are decided, outspoken, consistent Christians. It is very, very likely that many of these children before they enter the threshold of adulthood while still minors will believe they are saved. I trust that many of them actually will be saved.

21:55 And therefore we cannot avoid this question when a host of these who are now six and under, five years from now begin to come to you as a mom and a dad and to us as elders and say, Mommy, Daddy, Pastor Martin, Pastor Clark, I believe the Lord Jesus has saved me. I believe he's given me a new heart. What are we to do? Do we have biblical warrants on the basis of that testimony to baptize them and receive them into the membership of the church with all of its privileges, responsibilities and liabilities?

22:38 Excommunication? Delivering them unto Satan? If they do not walk in the way of truth a year or two down the road, do we have warrants from the word of God to do this? Yes or no?

22:51 Well, you see, if we're not of the same mind and of the same judgment, you see what's going to happen? If you have a parent who's convinced that the child should be and a body of elders who are convinced from the word of God they should not be, tremendous tension will be set up between members and their leaders or vice versa. If you have elders who are convinced that every child that professes to be saved who's passed out of infancy can no longer call it infant baptism or toddler baptism, yet they are still minors, they are not adults, young adults, or full-fledged adults, or what we would call pre-adults, they're still kids. If the elders are convinced that the Bible teaches all such should be baptized and received into membership, but parents are not, then you're going to have elders who feel that parents are not doing their duty. And when elders are convinced that their sheep are not doing their duty, they have a responsibility to admonish them, and if they don't heed the admonition, to bring them under discipline. So you see the problem? Can you feel it?

23:58 Just don't look at me like I'm the only one who sees it. Do you see it? Do you see how vital this is? We're not talking about something out there.

24:11 We're talking about something right here in Trinity Church. And then surely, along with this general principle and the peculiar circumstances, the third reason why it's so vital to come to grips with this is our conviction based on 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 that all Scripture is indeed given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work, and convinced that the Scriptures give us all we need to do the work of God, His way, then we must address this question from the Word of God in the conviction that surely a question so vital to our life and ongoing unity as a church will be a question concerning which the Bible will not be silent but will give us the tools we need to come to an accurate answer. Now, before we begin actually to take up the subject, can you see some of the problems and questions that are going to arise? Are they already coming up in your own minds? What are they?

Anticipating Difficult Questions

25:31 Let's just take a few of them. What kind of questions come to your minds immediately, no matter where your present thinking is? All right. Mr. White?

25:40 If church membership is a means of grace, should we deny them? All right. If church membership is a means of grace, should we deny them the means of grace in baptism and church membership and coming to the Lord's table? Excellent question.

25:56 Obvious that it's so vitally tied up. All right. Other questions that come? Yes.

26:05 Howard? In what age do we determine someone is mature and what are the standards of maturity? All right. If we come to the conclusion that minors should not be admitted, at what point does one cease to come out of his minority into his majority, out of infancy or childhood into adulthood?

26:29 Very good. Very vital question. All right. Other questions that are going to obviously have to be addressed.

26:35 Yes. Mr. Worthing? Should baptism be separated from church membership?

26:39 All right. Is it possible that maybe we're tying together two things that ought not to be tied together? Is it possible that the Bible teaches in some cases it's proper for someone to be baptized in obedience to the command, repent and be baptized, but be held off from formal identification with the New Covenant community with all of its responsibilities and liabilities? That's right.

27:06 All right. Some other questions. Yes. Johnny?

27:10 This is similar to that, but isn't there a pattern in the question of Scripture where they're immediately baptized? All right. Do we not have a pattern that in the Scriptures when someone professes faith, they are immediately baptized? All right.

27:23 Other issues? Mr. Davis? If God decided to save a child, his circumstances would be the same as the circumstances of a child.

27:34 All right. What precisely is the difference between God saving a child and God saving an adult that would warrant any difference in the way we treat them with respect to identification with the visible community of God's people? All right. Other problems and questions you can see are going to have to be taken up.

27:56 Yes, Ralph? The level of understanding, the level of authority in a congregational meeting, instruction, of the church and the church as a whole, it is the same as the level of authority in the church as in the church and in the church as in the church, so to speak. But as a whole, we are not going to be able to do that. So we need to be able to make a difference in the way we treat the church and the church as a whole.

28:34 What does that mean? Well, we are going to have to make a difference membership? Is it proper to expose everyone across the board to those liabilities? Or do we set up categories within the membership? All right. Some other problems. Yes.

28:52 What is discipline? Is discipline to administer to the young member as opposed to the older member? And if, in fact, you would have to discipline, how would it affect the parents of that child who are adults? Yeah. All right. So the whole question, knowing that we treat children differently from adults in terms of their culpability. In other words, if one of your kids after this meeting goes out and falls down, goes running around the cars and falls down the mud and gets mud on his britches, you regard that child's action a little bit differently than you would from a 30-year-old man who went out and played in the mud. That's what she's saying. And if we do that in natural things, should we not in the church?

29:45 And then that poses the question, does the Bible know anything about differing levels of discipline for differing ages? Well, now I'm sure you could raise many more other questions, but there isn't a one that you've raised that your elders have not raised and wrestled with. I don't think there's a one. And there's a lot more. So this is a very tacky, sensitive issue.

30:09 And I think that's a very important issue. And I think that's a very important issue. And if I had a feel-o-meter right now that could measure the depth or the height or the breadth, the intensity, the amount of wattage with which some of you have very strong feelings one way or another, sitting there now, you're saying, well, I'm not sure where Pastor goes. But if he goes that direction, I'm going to find it hard. And others saying, well, I wish I could go around and lay the feel-o-meter and take a register. I think it would be very, very interesting. But all I plead for is the spirit of the Bereans, believing that this book is sufficient for faith and practice. That's the basis on which Trinity Church is operated. From the first Lord's Day,

30:56 we began meeting in the Women's Club of Caldwell back in January of 1967. There was one passionate concern, and it was this. Here were a group of some 50 people, determined that in every facet of church life, they would go wherever the hand of Scripture led them. If they had to kick practice of years in the teeth, if they had to trample over feelings, and from the human side, if there's anything that God has been pleased to use as the framework of pouring out his blessing upon us, it has been the maintenance of that spirit. And that is what we plead for as we begin to address the Bible. Question. Well, it hardly seems possible. We've only got 19 minutes less, but let's begin. All

Starting Point: Is There a Recorded Instance of Minor Discipleship or Baptism?

31:44 right. And here's how we're going to start the study this morning. We're going to start with a question. Question number one. And it is this. Is there any recorded instance of a minor ever being called a disciple, being baptized, or being received into the number of the visible church?

32:18 All right. There's the question. Is there any recorded instance, when we go to the Word of God, and of course to the New Testament, where we see the formation of the New Covenant community, is there any recorded instance of a minor ever being called a disciple, being baptized, or being received into the number? Of the visible church. Now, why do we start with that question? Because of our conviction concerning the perspicuity, that is the clarity, and the sufficiency of Scripture pertaining to all matters of faith and practice. The confession of faith by which our life and understanding of the Word of God is guided. This is not our Bible. But an expression of what we believe the Bible to teach states, in paragraph 6, chapter 1, on the Scriptures, I quote, The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life,

33:35 is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture, unto us. In other words, God may not give an explicit statement, but He gives enough material which, when put together, and properly considered, forces us to a given conclusion, though this conclusion may not be stated in so many words here in the Bible. That's what they mean by the language, or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture. Now, because of our conviction about the perspicuity and sufficiency of Scripture, this question is the first question we must address. It's the way we approach the whole subject of infant baptism.

34:45 We approached it with the question, Was there any recorded instance of an infant, a babe in arms, a toddler, being called a disciple, being baptized or received into the number of the visible church? And what was our answer when we examined every relevant passage? We said there is no example found in Scripture. Now we're asking the question, Is there any recorded instance of a minor, not an infant, a minor, ever being called a disciple, being baptized or being received into the number of the visible church?

35:28 Now, in coming to seek to answer this question from the Scripture, we have as a key passage Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20. And for the next few minutes, we'll be back. And for the next few minutes, we'll be back. And for the next few minutes, we'll be back.

35:47 And for the next few weeks, you'll have to put up with my terrible, terrible writing on the board. There are many gifts God didn't give me, and this is one that's evident to the whole world that I never got. The ability to write on a board. I covet Pastor Nichols' gift in this area, as in some other areas as well, but I hope your eyeballs will stand the strain.

36:12 Our Lord has completed His redemptive work as far as His once-for-all life of obedience, upon the earth, His once-for-all death on behalf of sinners. He has risen from the dead. He's about to go back to the right hand of the Father, and He speaks these familiar words. And Jesus came to them and spoke unto them, saying, All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth.

36:38 Going, therefore, make disciples of all the nations,

36:46 baptizing them into the... In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

37:02 So here, the apostles in particular, and now, of course, that apostolic task has merged into the standing task of the church. They are commissioned to make disciples of all the nations. All who are made disciples are to be baptized. They are to be visibly identified as disciples, and in that identity, the assumed relationship is that they become communities of disciples, who in turn can be instructed, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.

37:44 Now, here they have a commission. They are to make...

37:48 All who are made disciples are to be baptized. All who are baptized are to be taught. Now, the book of Acts and the epistles give us the record of their obedience to that mandate. All agreed?

38:04 Now, then, you see why it's proper to ask the question, Is there any recorded instance of a minor ever being called one of these, a disciple, and being baptized? And being received into the number of the visible church? You see the legitimacy of asking that question, and expecting that we shall find an answer in the apostolic practice. Now, as you've been told in the past, and I don't want to go over a lot of that ground since you've studied many of these passages, and I believe it would be tedious to you, the New Covenant community begins to be marked out and identified under the ministry of God.

38:48 The ministry of John the Baptist. In a sense, he excommunicates all of Israel. And now he says, you want to be part of this new Israel, bring forth fruits, meat for repentance, and don't bring me your birth certificate and your pedigree. Don't think to say within yourselves, we've got Abraham through our father.

39:06 This new community is based on something other than proper bloodlines. So the New Covenant community begins to be marked out and identified with the baptism and ministry of John the Baptist. And as you trace through the recorded instances of his ministry in the four Gospels, you'll note, and it doesn't take much time to do this, but I'm not going to weary you by doing it, there is no recorded instance of a minor being baptized by John, being given directions by John, when they said, what shall we do? That is, to bring forth fruits, meat for repentance.

39:45 The directives given in Luke chapter 3 are obviously directives not to minors, but to responsible adults. Now, as that New Covenant community expands under the ministry of Jesus, you have that key passage in John 4, verses 1 and following, that, well, let's look at it, because this ties things together and leads us to where we'll be going for the rest of our time this morning, and God willing, next week. John chapter 4, When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees, had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee. So here there is this confluence, this coming together of the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus, so that John and Jesus are making and baptizing disciples. Then when we go through all of the recorded instances where Jesus actually identifies people as his disciples, we ask the question, does he ever identify a minor as a disciple? When he gives the terms for discipleship, if any man come after me,

41:11 and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, whoever comes after me and does not relinquish, forsake all that he has, cannot be my disciple. All of the terms that he gives of discipleship, is there any recorded instance that those terms are couched in the language that would be suitable to children in their minority? Or are the terms of discipleship couched in language that assume sufficient development of the soul to count the cost and to comply with the radical terms of irrevocable attachment to Jesus Christ in the language of Mark 8, 34 to 36, Luke 14, 25 to 33, and a host of other passages. So you can go to the Gospels asking yourself the question, is there any recorded instance of a minor ever being called a disciple, being baptized, or being received into the number of the visible church? And I think you'll come to the very decided conviction that the answer is no. Yes, Jesus took little children in his arms and blessed them, but he didn't call them disciples, he didn't baptize them.

42:33 So he shows his interest and concern for children. Little children were found in the multitudes whom he taught. A little boy came with his loaves and fishes, but that little boy is not called a disciple, that little boy is not described as being among the number of his disciples. In fact, in those very passages, there's very careful wording, the number of them was 5,000 men plus women and children.

Apostolic Practice in Acts: Pentecost and Early Church Growth

42:59 So that there is a setting apart and the making of a distinction. So you can look through the materials on your own. What I want to do today is taking the Great Commission, I want to begin with the apostolic practice starting at Pentecost, and we'll look at some key passages to see as Luke, under the guidance of the Spirit, describes not only in general terms, believers were the more added to the Lord, that's a generic term, but when he gets specific, does he ever in his specificity say that a minor was called a disciple, was baptized and was received into the number of the visible church. So turn to the book of Acts, and very quickly now we'll look at some of the key passages. On the day of Pentecost, Peter's addressing men. And in the Greek, you have the general word for mankind, anthropos, that can mean mankind in general, or it can mean a male, one of the male gender of any age. Then you have the more technical words, aner, which means an adult male.

44:11 And then you have the technical word for a woman, gune, which means an adult male. Now, there in the book of Acts, chapter 2, Peter is addressing men. He's addressing, not men generically, but the males who were to appear before the Lord three times yearly, and it's this crowd that is present on the day of Pentecost, and we read in verse 14 of Acts 2, You men of Judea and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear to my words. And then you have verse 22, Ye men of Israel, hear these words. And as he is preaching to these men, we read verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? Peter gives them the direction to repent and to be baptized, and then he says, For you, to you, is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. With many other words he testified and exhorted, saying, Save yourself from this crooked generation.

45:31 Then they that received his word were baptized, and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. Now from the context, the three thousand souls were the men, the on air of Israel, who were gathered there for that particular feast. And of those three thousand, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and of prayers. So in that initial Pentecostal identification of this community, there is no recorded instance of a minor being baptized or received into the number of the visible church.

46:14 Now it's very interesting that as the increase of the church is described, we come over to chapter 4 and verse 4, and we read this, But many of them that heard the word believed, and the number of the on air, the number of the men, came to be about five thousand. Now Luke is very specific. Up till this time, the church is being counted in terms of male disciples only. Verse 32 of the same chapter, And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, and had all things common. Now here the inference is that they were property holders. They were not people in their minority. They were people in their majority who had the right to dispose of their property according to the impulse of their sanctified desires.

47:22 Now chapter 5 and verse 6 says that among those men there were some younger men. Verse 6, And the young or younger men arose and wrapped him round, and carried him out, and buried him. And this word is a more technical word used to describe a man between the ages of twenty-four and forty. So there were younger men, but they were men.

47:50 Doesn't say older children. You see the difference? There's such a thing as young men, middle-aged men, and old men. But men are men.

47:57 And no man is in a state of minority. A man is a man. When I became a man, I put away childish things. When I became a young man, I put away childish things.

48:07 And the older I get, hopefully the more I put away any of the remnants of my childishness. So the passage indicates that there were various ages amongst the men, younger men, and older men. Then when we come to verses 13 and 14, we have another group included. Well, let's start with verse 12 of chapter 5.

48:30 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. They were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Of the rest dared no man join himself to them, howbeit the people magnified them. Notice carefully.

48:44 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of aner and gune, men and women. He doesn't say just multitudes of both sexes, generically, but he uses the more technical words of non-minor males and non-minor females. Now, do we believe in plenary verbal inspiration? The Holy Ghost guided Luke to describe the increase of the church in terms that cannot be misunderstood.

49:21 Men and women are now included in the explicit number of the membership of Christ's church. So when our Pico-Baptist friends say to us, well, when we argue from their paralleling of circumcision and baptism, they say, well, how come you can include women in the Lord's Supper when there's no explicit warrant for that parallel? Well, we say, yes, the Bible does explicitly say that women were members of the church and the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance. So we're not arguing from silence.

49:59 We're arguing from the explicit testimony of the Word of God. And then in Acts 6 and verse 1, we find the church coming together to conduct business and there's no indication that there is any separating of the church into those competent to do the business and those that are incompetent to do the business. The whole assumption is that when they mention this problem of the murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews and that they need to look out seven competent men, they gather together the whole multitude and it says, verse 5, the same pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen. And so you have this description of the whole church involved in a church meeting and in this corporate decision. Then verse 7, the Word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. Now a new group is mentioned. And a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Apostolic Practice in Acts: Corporate Decisions and Persecution

51:05 Now you see the progression from men to men and women and now to men, women and... You see, Luke was not just giving broad general strokes.

51:18 He descends to very particular descriptions in showing the increase and expansion of the church in the book of Acts. Now, chapter 8, verses 1 and 3. Very vital passage. Saul was consenting unto his death, that is the death of Stephen, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church that was in Jerusalem.

51:48 And they were all scattered abroad through the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen, made lamentation over him. But now notice, Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house and dragging on there and doing it. Men and women.

52:10 Who comprised the church? Men and women. And when persecution arose against the church, it was men and women who were committed to prison. And you find that same emphasis coming through in further descriptions of Paul's persecution.

Conclusion and Call to Continued Study

52:34 I believe there are three times in the book of Acts when that construction is set before us. Well, our time is gone. What I would urge you to do, and it doesn't take that much time, you just start where we left off in Acts 8 and just read through the rest of the book of Acts. Every time Luke describes a specific increase and accession to the church, and ask yourself this question, is there any recorded instance of a minor being baptized and included into the number of those who are described as the community of believers?

53:16 And then, God willing, next week we'll go through the remainder of the passages in the book of Acts, and then we're going to go into several passages in the epistles and then begin to try to pull some of these things together. Now let me urge you, as you carry on the study with the spirit of the Bereans, don't withhold submission of your mind to the overwhelming data of Scripture, because you see so many possible problems with the conclusion to which you feel you may be drawn. You see, we never, never allow our minds to determine truth on the basis of what we think may be some of the implications of truth. Truth is determined on the basis of whether or not a responsible handling of this book demonstrates that it's truth. All right? And then discuss it amongst yourselves and will not it all be upset?

54:16 It'll be wholesome for us to enter a period of intense inquiry on this subject as we pray that God will bring us to oneness of mind in his truth with reference to this very burning and very practical question relative to our life together. Well, let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that you've given to us a record of your mind and of your will in the Scriptures. We are so thankful that we are not left to our own whims, to the traditions of men, or even to the impulses of our own renewed hearts. But we thank you that you've given us a word which is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. O God, be pleased to guide us as a congregation as we seek with all our hearts to do your will in this matter that is so vital to your glory and to the ongoing blessing of this assembly. We thank you for our time together.

55:27 Continue to lead us. Give us of your Holy Spirit, we pray. Receive our thanks for your presence with us, for the privilege of another Lord's Day to be spent in your courts and in the company of your people. Hear and receive our thanks and our petitions through Jesus Christ our Lord.

55:50 Amen.