The New Testament Testimony, Part 2

Introduction: The Question of Minor Church Membership

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on March 18, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now those of you who have been attending this class regularly will have some sense of where we are in our present consideration after Pastor Nichols completed a series of some 31 lessons on the subject of baptism with particular emphasis upon giving on the one hand a positive biblical teaching of the doctrine of baptism and on the other hand exposing what we regard to be the fundamental errors of those who practice the sprinkling or even the immersion of infants. He concluded that series with a positive study on how we who do not baptize our children regard our children and how we are to relate to them particularly with reference to them. Their spiritual condition and we felt that this formed a very natural basis for a consideration of a matter that has exercised the minds of your elders for really in a concentrated way for about a year, year and a half and some of us for many, many years and this concern led us to some very focused study and deliberation and prayerful consideration of the teaching of the word of God. And so it is that subject which I began to take up last week will pursue again today

1:37 and God willing for two more Lord's Days completing the studies on the first Sunday in April before I leave for a two-week ministry in Great Britain. And the subject that we are now taking in hand is one that can be couched in the question is it scriptural to receive minors into the ranks of Christ's visible church by the Holy Spirit? Yes, by baptism and formal commitment to church membership. And by the word minor we mean a child, someone who could not in any sense be called an adult, a young adult or standing on the threshold of adulthood, but a child.

2:18 And that contrast is made very clearly in scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, 11. When I was a child, I thought, spoke, reasoned as a child. When I became a man, I put away childishness. Now, because we have people with us today who were not with us last week, I want to underscore again that we are not entertaining the question, can God regenerate minors?

2:44 Does God save minors? We have no question that the answer to those questions is an emphatic yes. Furthermore, we are not dealing with the question, should we pray for the salvation of minor children? Should we plead?

3:01 Should we plead with minor children to come to Christ? Obviously, the answer to those questions is an unrestrained yes. Nor are we dealing with the question, ought we to encourage minors who believe God has saved them? Should we encourage them in avenues of obedience to the word of God?

3:23 Again, the answer of scripture and common sense is an unequivocal yes. But our question, our question is this, is there biblical warrant for admitting minors into the full status of church members? Is there 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? And we believe, that if there is warrant, we shall find that warrant in the word of God.

The New Covenant Community in John the Baptist's and Jesus' Ministries

4:05 And so what we have done in seeking to address ourselves to this question is to go to the scriptures and to examine the descriptions given of the new covenant community. Now, last week I simply mentioned that that community begins to be identified and defined, particularly in the ministry of John the Baptist. And if you study the passages where you have a concentration of the word of God, a concentration of John's ministry in Matthew chapter 3, Mark chapter 1, and in Luke chapter 3, you will find no indication that infants or minors were included in that community, which was being gathered around the ministry of John and identified by baptism. And then likewise, in the ministry of Jesus, and this is most significant, the scriptures do record our Lord's tremendous compassion, and love for little children. The fact that little children, and most likely minors, you have the lad who came forward with his loaves and fishes, felt very comfortable in the presence of our Lord. When he summoned a little child to come and sit on his knee, to use him as an illustration of certain qualities of the members of the kingdom, there is no indication that minors, children, young people, shied away from our Lord.

The Early Church in Acts 1-2: Composition and Pentecost

5:28 However, one would be hard pressed to find one example of anyone whom Jesus called a disciple, or regarded as part of the band of his followers, who is a minor. And so we then moved on into the book of Acts, in which we have Luke's description of the new covenant community, as it first appears in the upper room, and I failed to examine Acts 1 with you, and so I'm going to do a little, regression, and then we'll pick up in Acts 11, where we ended last week. But here in the book of Acts, we have Luke's description of this community, which began to be marked out and identified through the ministry of John, expands through the ministry of Jesus, and then we see it extending to the ends of the earth, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And my concern in this is to demonstrate from scripture, that Luke not only gives us, general descriptions of this community, as disciples and believers, but again and again, he gives very specific descriptions of who those disciples and believers were. In other parts of the narrative in Acts, as we shall see, when minors or children were present in certain gatherings, he did not exclude them. He mentions them, so that it's not as though we can argue, well, all the descriptions are simply general and not specific,

6:56 so the whole argument falls out, so the whole argument falls to the ground. No, our thesis is, that the description is at many points, not only generic or general, believers were the more added to the Lord, but Luke describes in detail, who those believers were. And yet as we look through all of those descriptions, we have yet to find any clear example, where he describes a minor, as part of that new covenant community. So let's look at the, community as the Lord Jesus left it, and when the Spirit of God came upon it, on the day of Pentecost.

7:33 If you'll turn to Acts 1, so this is sort of an insertion, into last week's study, and then we'll pick up where we left off. Acts chapter 1. Remember John had given the promise, that the community, marked out by his activity, would receive the baptism of the Spirit from Jesus Christ, and the book of Acts begins, the former treatise I made O Theophilus, concerning all things that Jesus began, both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit, unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he showed himself alive after his passion, by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God, and being assembled, and together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which said he, you have heard from me, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit, not many days hence. And then we go on and read the record, of how our Lord promised the coming of the Spirit, and as a result of it, worldwide testimony flowing out from them. Now this section is obviously concentrating upon, the apostles,

9:00 and it's in this section, then beginning with verse 12, that we have a description of the group, who with the apostles constitute the community, to whom the Spirit came. Then returned they to Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is near to Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey off. And when they were come in, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were abiding, both Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one accord, continued steadfastly in prayer, with the women, and there you have the word for adult females, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. So you see how Luke is describing, with some degree of detail, who constituted, that upper room community, upon whom the Spirit would come. And now verse 15, and in those days Peter stood up, in the midst of the brethren. Here we have a congregational meeting.

10:11 And he says, we know from scripture, that one must be selected, to take the place of Judas. And then we have the record, of how Matthias was chosen, and he joined that group. Now chapter 2 verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost, was now come, they were all together in one place.

10:33 Now who is the they? It is the group described in chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. It is that group, who are gathered together, in this one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a sound as of a rushing, of a mighty wind.

10:52 It filled all the house, where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues, like of a fire, et cetera. And they begin, to speak forth the mighty works of God, in these various languages. And then the crowd that hears it, said the whole bunch of you are drunk.

11:06 And Peter stands up, to explain what has happened. And this is what he says, verse 15. These are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that, which has been spoken through the prophet Joel.

11:21 It shall be in the last days saith God, I will pour forth of my spirit upon all flesh, your sons, and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, on my servants and handmaidens in those days, I will pour forth of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. So Peter tells them, that Joel's word is fulfilled, that the spirit is being poured upon all flesh. And he gets very specific and says, that this will include males and females. And it will include, those of various stations in life.

12:00 And it will include various age brackets. But in doing that, saying that it was fulfilled, in the descent of the spirit of the day of Pentecost, there is no indication, that the spirit coming upon your sons and daughters, means minor children. That's the point that I want to make from the passage. If what Joel promised is fulfilled, in what happened to the 120, there is nothing to indicate, that there were minors in that group of 120, so the fulfillment of the promise, must find its realization, in the group that was constituted, by the activity of Christ, and the providence of God.

Church Expansion in Acts 2-11: General and Specific Descriptions

12:42 Then we began in Acts 2, and we noted, that right on through until Acts 5, every expansion of the church, is described in terms of just men. But then in Acts 5, we find women. And then we started to go right through the accession passages, noting that some of them are general, some of them are very specific. And the one that I would simply underscore, by way of reminder and review, that when Paul is persecuting the church, it is very specific, that he went into homes and dragged men and women.

13:20 And the technical words for adult males and females, are the words chosen, by the Holy Spirit. Now then, we got through chapter, up to chapter 11, in one of these general descriptions last week. The household of Cornelius, unless we're prepared to give the case to the paedobaptist, and say that the Holy Spirit fell upon little infants, and that little infants were baptized, and that little infants had their hearts cleansed by faith, as we read in Acts 11, in the account of this, then, just as we do not give the case over to the paedobaptist, there is nothing to indicate that minors were present. Now then, we come to Acts chapter 12. And this is a very significant passage, because again it shows Luke is concerned about historical detail. And in Acts chapter 12, we have the account of Peter's imprisonment, and the imprisonment of James. James is killed, Peter is yet alive, and on the eve of his execution, God wonderfully delivers him.

Luke's Historical Detail: Rhoda and the Philippian Maid (Acts 12, 16)

14:29 And he comes to the house, or the door of the house, where the people of God are praying. And we read in Acts 12, 13, these words, or back to verse 12. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, now notice, he doesn't simply say, a woman, he says, a maid, came to answer, named Rhoda.

14:59 And this word, for a maid, is the word that means, a servant girl, or a female slave. And it's the same word used in the Gospel records, in Matthew, and I think again in Luke, where it speaks of the servant girl, who saw Peter on the eve of our Lord's crucifixion, and she spoke to him. Same word used there. It's the word used in Acts 16.

15:25 Of that woman, who was that young woman, who was the possession of these people, who made a living by her divination. Acts chapter 16, verses 16 and 19. It came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer, that a certain maid, having a spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters much gain by her soothsaying. And then again, in verse 19 of the same chapter.

15:58 Now, what's the point of this? Well, the point is again, that there is nothing to indicate, whether she was simply a maid who served that household, or whether she was part of the church. But Luke is careful to describe her as a servant girl, or a female slave. That's the point of importance.

16:18 But it's also important to note, there is no indication whether or not she was a member of the community of believers. She came and answered the door, and she brought the message. But the indication seems to be, that if the believers are praying, and the church is praying, the servant girl, not being a part of them, is prepared to answer the door in this case. But it's not conclusive.

16:41 But you see, the point is, that Luke is concerned about historical detail. And likewise, with that demon-possessed girl in Acts 16, there is nothing that says, that she came to faith in Jesus Christ, or that she became a part of the church at Philippi. She may have, but there's nothing to say that she does. The text is very explicit, that the Philippian jailer and his household came to faith, and were baptized, and became the nucleus of the church at Philippi.

Church Business and Specificity in Acts 13-17

17:18 But there is silence about her position. Alright, then we come to chapter 13, and we have just general description, and I'll not weary you with going to all of those passages, but in 1316b, 1343 and 1348, you have Paul addressing the men of Israel in his sermon. And then you have a general description in Acts 14, 1. Notice, there's nothing very specific, just what we call a generic description.

17:52 It came to pass in Iconium, they entered into the synagogue of the Jews, so spake, that a great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed. Jews and Greeks gives us no indication of age. Verses 21 to 23, similar emphasis. When they had preached the gospel in that city, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, 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.

18:25 There is another general description, however, when we come to Acts 15, we find that the entire church is engaged in this matter of church business, focusing on a doctrinal dispute. The representatives from the churches of the Galatian area have come on up to Jerusalem to discuss this whole matter of whether or not Gentile believers needed to be circumcised and submit themselves to the entire monarchy, the entire Mosaic ritual and framework, if they were to be truly saved. And who discusses and enters in to this concern? Well, the scripture is clear, that it was the entire church with the apostles and the elders. Acts 15 and verse 4. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church. Now notice it does not say of the adult voting members of the church, but of the church, and the apostles and the elders, and they rehearsed all things that God had done with them.

19:35 Now then, when their business is finished, and they send out in writing the fruit of their business, notice how the writing is put. Verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and elders with the whole church to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas chief men among the brethren. And they wrote thus by them, the apostles and elders brethren unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles.

20:13 So you see, here was church business conducted in sympathy and in concert by the entire church under the guidance of elders and of apostles, or I should say of the apostles, and of the elders. And here again, one of the points we made in the questions that you raised, one of the problems as we wrestle with this issue, does the New Testament recognize two levels of membership? A membership prepared to accept the privileges of identification with the new covenant community, but not mature enough to accept the responsibilities of that community. And we've yet to see anything to indicate that there were these two levels of membership, in the apostolic church. Then we come to Acts chapter 16, and here again Luke is very specific. Acts chapter 16 and verse 13. And on the Sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spake unto the women that were come together.

21:28 And here you have, the technical term for adult females. So there was a group of women. It doesn't say women and girls, it says women. And then we know the conversion of Lydia, and of her household.

21:43 And again, unless we're prepared to give the case to the paedobaptist, and say there must have been infants, we have no right to say there must have been minors. We have no right to put in what is not explicit, when explicit descriptions are given. When general descriptions are given, we assume, they take the flavor of the specific. Then, of course, you have the whole incident of the conversion of the Philippian jailer, and his household.

22:08 And again, we can say that's a neutral passage. Now, Acts chapter 17. Here we have a record of Paul coming into Thessalonica and preaching. Verse 4.

22:20 And some of them were persuaded and consorted with Paul and Silas. Now notice how specific Luke becomes. And of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. Now you see how Luke gets specific again.

22:39 He's not content simply to say that there was a good response. He descends to particulars. And he says that of these who were persuaded and consorted with Paul, there were devout Greeks, a great multitude, and chief women, not a few. And the whole issue could be settled if only we went on to read, and several children.

23:05 And then if it said, and they were baptized. But there's no indication of that. The consorting here seems to imply that they attach themselves with a view to becoming disciples, and were subsequently baptized. For we know that a church was founded as the fruit of Paul's labors for a short time in Thessalonica.

23:26 Now then, later on in the chapter, we find he comes to Berea. And you remember, they're more noble. They're not as pig-headed and prejudiced as the people at Thessalonica. And what happens?

23:37 Verse 12. Many of them therefore believed, also of the Greek women of honorable estate, and of men, not a few. And we have the technical words again. Bune, adult females, and on air, adult males.

23:58 Luke is very careful to use this formula again, in describing the constitution of the church there at Berea. And then in chapter 17, verses 32 to 34. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, Paul is at Athens, some mocked, others said, we'll hear you again concerning this. Thus Paul went out from among them, but certain men, oh there's that word again, on air, certain adult males clave unto him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a Gunei, a woman, an adult female, named Damaris, and, general description, others with them. So you see again, whenever he descends to the specific, there is eloquent silence, concerning minors. Eloquent silence. Alright, then we turn on to Acts chapter 18, and we might call this, again, a neutral passage.

Eutychus and the Explicit Mention of Children in Acts 20-21

25:03 I keep wanting to show you, there are general descriptions, along with specific. Verse 8, and Crispus, Acts 18. Paul is now at Corinth. And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house.

25:21 Now there again, unless we're prepared to give the case to the paedobaptist, we cannot give it to the toddler baptist. If we say that the general must be regulated by the specific, and in the specific descriptions, there is never a record of the baptizing of an infant, or toddler, of a child, then we cannot give away the case by the general description, and then fit in any class we desire to fit in to the general description. So there is this general description of the increase of the church. Then in Acts 20 and verse 9, Paul is gathering with the people of God, on the Lord's day, Acts 20 and verse 7. On the first day of the week, we were gathered together to break bread. Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow, and prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper chamber, where we were gathered together.

26:23 And there sat in the window, a certain young man named Eutychus. There's our word, neomios, technically describing a man between the ages of 24 and 40. Now, again, Luke is very careful. He describes him as a young man, but he was a man.

26:43 A young man, but a man. Now, another term is used of him that is more general, that is a more flexible term with respect to describing someone. It's the word pice that is used later on, and I believe translated as lad. Let's see.

27:05 Pardon? Yes, verse 12. And they brought the lad, the lad alive, and were not a little comforted. Now, the word lad is the more general term.

27:14 The neomios is the more specific and definitive term. So, as with all usage of human language, if someone uses two terms to describe a person, thing, or event, we take the more specific as the one that gives us the more accurate description. So, he is called a neomios, a young man. The flexible word is pice, the more definitive technical word, neomios.

27:41 And this is not just a conclusion made by Albert N., but it's one set forth very clearly in Arndt and Gingrich's recognized authoritative lexicon of the Greek language, page 609. For any who are listening on the tape who'd like to check it. Now, we come to Acts 21, and this is a very strategic passage, because we do have Luke mentioning children.

28:09 Very interesting. He saw some kids in a group. And when he did, his eye didn't miss it. Now, let's turn to Acts 21 and notice what we find.

28:17 See, let's pick up the reading at the beginning of the chapter. And it came to pass, when we were parted from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course unto Kos, and the next day unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara. And having found a ship crossing over unto Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. And when we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, you see how Luke is the careful historian, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unlaid her burden.

28:52 And having found the disciples, the community of the people of God, the new covenant community, we tarried there seven days. And these said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not set foot in Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when we had accomplished the days, we departed and went on our journey, and they all...

29:16 Now, what's the antecedent of the pronoun they? To whom does the they refer? Hmm? You sure?

29:30 All right, then say it like you're sure. What's the antecedent of the they? All right, the disciples. And they all, now notice, with wives and children, brought us...

29:45 on our way till we were out of the city, and kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and bade each other farewell, and we went on board the ship, but they returned home again. When Luke saw kids, he didn't ignore them. He didn't have the attitude out of just kids, why even put them in the description? Here's this touching scene of Paul's departure, and in this social gathering on the shore, where the whole family was involved, he describes the whole family.

30:15 Now, that's vital for us in coming to the conviction that indeed the biblical data is adequate to answer the question, is there any biblical warrant for the baptism and inclusion of the new public community of minors, of children, of toddlers, and upwards? And Luke's description here includes children, but he never uses that term when he says believers were the more...

30:46 added, men, women, and... you'll never find it.

30:52 Certain kind of men, rulers of synagogues, certain kind of women, women of honorable estate, women of noble reputation, men of this, men of that, women of this, women of that, but never does he add children. And if we say scripture is the sufficient, as well as the clear revelation of the mind and will of God, we then must reckon with the biblical data. And then, for just a confirming passage in Acts 22, where Paul is giving his testimony, you'll notice how he says precisely what is recorded of him by Luke, historically, in Acts chapter 8. He now, in the same language, says personally, verse 3, I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God even as you are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prison both on air men and gune, women. So the people of the way were comprised of men and of women, precisely as we found in Acts chapter 8, where we have the first description

32:18 of the persecuting activity of the Apostle Paul. There arose on that day a great persecution against the church that was in Jerusalem. Verse 3, Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house, dragging men and women, committed them to prison. And then we have a description, the only other passage, as far as I can see, could possibly lend any light on the matter, is Paul's nephew in Acts 23, 17, and he also is a neomios, he's a young man.

Conclusion from Acts: No Warrant for Minor Membership

32:52 Acts 23 and verse 17, and Paul called unto him one of the centurions and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he has something to tell him. Now, whether he was even a professing Christian, we don't know, but I'm just trying to cover all of the passages where anything that even approximates a minor is mentioned in the book of Acts. Now, we've gone through all of the relevant data. To my knowledge, if I've overlooked a passage, it's not been deliberately.

33:20 I've sought to go through carefully and glean all of the passages that have any reference to the expansion of the church and also any references to children or young people. Now then, what do we find with the New Covenant community then, as it began to be constituted under John and our Lord, the coming of the Spirit, its expansion to the ends of the earth, in answer to the original question, is there any biblical warrant for admitting minors into church membership? Is there 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? We have to say from the book of Acts, there is no such warrant. Well then, what about the epistles? Those inspired letters given, by the Holy Spirit through Paul and Peter, primarily, and John, is there any indication in the epistles that minors are considered an integral part of and formally identified with that New Covenant community?

The Epistles and Revelation: Metaphorical Use of 'Children'

34:40 Well, the answer is twofold. On the one hand, positively speaking, the assumption of all of the teachers, the teaching, and the directives of the epistles is that these are directives and responsibilities laid upon those capable of understanding them and fulfilling them. And on the other hand, the two references to children, as Pastor Nichols brought out, and I believe it's the most reasonable and sensible explanation, where they are addressed explicitly in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3, they are addressed in precisely the same way any pastor addresses the children present in the stated gathered meetings of the people of God. And he lays upon them the fundamental duties prescribed by the law of God, namely, obedience to their parents. All of the other references in the epistles to little children, to my little ones, children of God, babes and infants, are used to describe various spiritual states of growth and development. In other words, the terms are used metaphorically. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong.

35:55 I write unto you, little children. I write unto you, old men, for you are yet babes. For whereas there is among you envy and strife, are ye not carnal and walk as men? All the other references to infants, to minors, chapter 4 of the book of Galatians, have to do with spiritual realities, and the terms are used not of literal age brackets, but they are used metaphorically to represent categories of spiritual experience and reality.

36:31 And this again is true of the book of the Revelation as well. There is no indication in the letters to the seven churches that the risen Lord envisioned minors present to receive either his scathing denunciations or his encouragements, but that they are new covenant communities constituted of men and women, young men and women, capable of receiving the consolations and the rebukes of the risen Lord. All right? Let me stop at this point to ask if there is any question concerning the data that we very quickly have looked over and passed before you in our study thus far.

Addressing Questions and Homework Assignment

37:11 Yes, Mark? In Acts 20, verse 12, one of the translators used the word lad and the Greek word is used. I said there a different word is used. There the Greek word pice is used, and that is a more expandable term.

37:31 All right? But pice for us means...

37:35 Yeah, I know it does for us. That's why I said it could be misleading, and that's why I pointed to it, but he is called a nianios, that is, someone between the ages of 24 and 40 in the initial reference to it. So sometimes, again, the problem of English translation comes in, but because there is that difference, and it is used, I wanted to point it out and let someone think I was...

37:55 Well, here's something that's, you know, being glossed over. Pastor Clark, were you going to say something? Old men call each other boys sometimes. Sure.

38:01 Yeah. He's a good old boy. Huh? Sure.

38:06 Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yes.

38:09 Pastor Clark was going to say something else. Then we'll come back. Yes. Just one more reference.

38:13 It's not in the Acts, but it's worth looking at, I think. Another case of possible baptism in, for Olympians, chapter 1, verse 18, and I baptize also the Apostles of Stephanas. In one other case of possible baptism is 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, and verse 16. Yes.

38:38 But then you turn over to chapter 16 and verse 15. Now, I beseech you, brethren, will the house of Stephanas, and it is the first house of Chia, that they have set themselves to minister unto the saints, so that if the household of Stephanas included infants, then we find infants ministering to the saints. That's right. That's right.

39:04 So you see the point Pastor Clark is making. Here you have a record of a household baptism, but the baptized household had addicted themselves to ministering, deaconing, serving the saints of God. So we cannot read into that that there were infants or toddlers or a host of minors or even one minor. That's the point that he's making.

39:23 Yes. Now, Pastor Nichols, were you going to? Make a point. Yes.

39:32 Yes. Lad. All right. Acts 4, 27.

39:47 Yes. Thy holy servant, or thy holy child, Jesus. Yeah. Yes.

39:55 Thy holy lad, Jesus. And obviously, it's referring to the adult Christ in the days of his flesh. For who were they gathered against? Not the baby Jesus, but Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles were gathered together against a male adult, age 33.

40:11 Yes. All right. Good. Thank you for making that point.

40:15 Yes. Paul. All right. Acts chapter 9, verses 1 and 2.

40:24 All right. Read it for us and then tell us the point that you think is significant in the passage, Paul. All right. There's the third passage.

40:48 Three times Paul's persecuting activity described as against the church or the people of the way specifies them as gunei and oner. Adult males and females. That's the third passage. Those are the three times.

41:02 Acts 8, Acts 9, and Acts 22. I mentioned that there were three times, but I didn't cite the passage, Paul, so thank you for filling it in so our bibliography is a little more complete. Yes, Mr. Davies.

41:18 All right. 2 Timothy 3, 15. Here we have Paul's description of Timothy's spiritual experience. Now, notice what he says.

41:32 Having warned him that there will be, those who will turn away from truth will apostatize from the Christian faith. He's now exhorting Timothy with this whole tide of unbelief and apostasy, as it were, battering at the doors of his soul. He now exhorts Timothy not to be carried away. Evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but continue you in the things you've learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned them, and that from a babe you have been a member of the church and thereby learned the Scriptures.

42:13 No, he doesn't say that at all. What he says is that from a babe you've known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. And then he goes on to say, and those very Scriptures are competent to make you all you need to be as a man of God in the ministry. So, Timothy, as an adult male in the ministry, don't relinquish truth no matter how much apostasy and evil is all around you.

42:41 Why? Because from your infancy, truth has been the instrument of your own salvation and sanctification. And all he is doing is saying what, thank God, many of us can say of ourselves. From a babe we've known the holy Scriptures which have in God's time made us wise unto salvation.

43:02 And some of us were made wise, and wise unto salvation in very early years. But the passage would say nothing about whether or not such a person who has reason to believe of himself that he's been made wise to salvation at age ten should be brought into the visible community of God's people. This is one of the passages which lays before us the duty and privilege of instructing our children in the Scriptures from infancy. All right?

43:31 Good. Any other question now on the...

43:34 passages we've covered? Yes, Jim? Yeah, well, Pastor Nichols went over that very clearly. I'll simply try to condense.

43:54 Acts 2.39, Peter has said, repent and be baptized, because they cried out, what shall we do? Repent and be baptized, you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now this promise, the gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe and manifest that repentance and faith in baptism shall receive the Spirit, is to you, is to your children, all that are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him.

44:19 Now with many other words, He testified and exhorted them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. Then they that received His word were baptized, and we know from the context, it was three thousand men. So they did not understand it to mean that their children with them should be brought into the new covenant community. If that's what the passage teaches, then it gives the case to the paedobaptists.

44:45 But as Pastor Nichols brought up, this is not a promise of covenant blessings to believers and their seed, this is a gospel invitation to unconverted Christ-killing Jews, whose hands are red with the blood of the Son of God. Peter's accused them being murderers of the Prince of Light. So the passage really says nothing about the matter that we're discussing as far as I'm concerned. All it says is that the promise of saving grace and mercy is to us, to our children, to our neighbors, people to the ends of the earth.

45:16 It's a general gospel promise that is found everywhere. But gospel promises do not form the basis of inclusion in the new covenant community. No, does it? It says the promise is to your children.

45:34 What promise? Given to whom? All right, if they repent and believe. That's right.

45:50 And so the question comes then, did the apostles, did our Lord, did the new covenant community in the book of Acts assume that a valid judgment could be made on the professed faith of infants and toddlers? If they did, Luke was totally silent about it. See, that's the point that comes through with tremendous grit to my conscience. If that means then that a solid judgment can be made that toddlers who profess to be saved and people in pre-puberty or just barely post-puberty, then surely the apostles, with their greater gifts of discernment and all the rest, would have made that judgment and there'd be some record that somewhere along the line, an infant, a child, was included in the new covenant community because it was these very apostles that carried out the mandate to make disciples and baptize them. But there is absolute silence in the midst of all the specific descriptions, never once is it said, and then there are about six words other than mianios that can be used to describe children. The words we find all through the epistles, little children, my little ones and babes, those words are never used. They are eloquently absent from all the descriptions of the specific members of the new covenant community.

47:13 So if we introduce someone who can be described as a paideia or as a brephos or the other things, we're introducing something for which we have no Biblical warrant. That's the issue. Okay? Apparently I don't see the look of light in your eyes yet.

47:34 So maybe we can discuss it privately. Apparently I'm not...

47:39 All right. Yes, John? Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah.

48:07 Oh, that's right. Oh, there's so many secondary things, and I've just tried to, as it were, catch the mountain peaks. But there are many, many, many secondary and supportive indications in the data of the New Testament. Yes, John?

48:41 This group was described as precisely as who had brought with them their wives and their children. Mm-hmm. I was just wondering, if there was a separation of the children from the disciples, why also a separation of the wives? Yes, I've wondered that too.

49:00 It's a good question. I would say probably, probably, the answer is that you had the case, which is clearly described in 1 Corinthians 7, where the gospel does not always come and convert whole households. So when it says disciples, that would be men and women who were both disciples, and some where you had only men who were disciples, and they would be with their wives, came with them because it was a social affair, and their children. So that's the way I've understood the passage.

49:28 Now, that may be a simplistic answer, but I asked that question when I first encountered that passage when we originally did this study. But whatever it says, it obviously makes a distinction between they, the disciples, and the children. And it'd be very difficult, linguistically, to say that they are one and the same. Okay?

49:52 All right, any other questions on the data? Or further data? All right, now then, in the two or three minutes that remain, let me give you a little homework assignment. All right?

50:07 So that, God willing, when we come to our question for next week, your mind will at least have been thinking along these directions. Why would there be no minor inclusion since God's heart is large, since the gospel is to be preached to all men indiscriminately, since children, minors, even infants, as we were instructed last Sunday night, when the moment guilt is produced in the conscience of a child, you ought to point into the one place where guilt can be relieved, namely the blood and righteousness of Christ in the way of repentance and faith. Why, in such a context of a free gospel suited to all, impressed upon all, preached to all, taught to all, why is there no clear record of pre-adult or minor inclusion in the New Covenant community? And as you wrestle with the answer, let me give you sort of a sub-question under that. What is there in the very nature of a child which precludes making anything you could call like an accurate judgment on its professed faith? What is there in the very nature of the child?

51:28 Is there anything in the Bible that describes specific characteristics of childhood which, in the whole psychology of childhood, make it impossible, well nigh to impossible, to make a responsible judgment about their professed faith and repentance? Let that go through your mind. Think about it. Come prepared to present some passages.

51:53 Come prepared to discuss that. And then come prepared to discuss the other question, is this an act of cruelty or is it in the best interest of the child that he should not be included in the New Covenant community with its privileges, responsibilities, and liabilities? And liabilities. Is it cruel or is it kind?

52:24 Those are some of the issues we hope to take up next week. God willing. All right? Our time is gone.

52:31 Let's pray together and ask the Lord to continue to teach us out of His Word. Our Father, as we have read this morning of the mighty triumphs of the Gospel in the first century, going out into the Roman Empire and conquering the minds and subduing the prejudices of men and bowing their wills to King Jesus, oh, how our hearts long to see such mighty conquest of the Gospel in our day. We thank You for the record given to us by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Luke, describing so many from differing backgrounds and differing stations in life brought to faith and repentance, constituting communities of Your disciples in all of these cities. And our Father, we pray that as we profess submission to Your Word, so we may have all of our thinking regulated by the things we have read and studied together and where we yet need more light, oh, God, give us light, for we know that it is in Your light that we will see light. Continue, then, to direct our thoughts. Give us, we pray, heavenly wisdom in dealing with our children, for, Lord, You know the longing of our hearts that they should

53:59 come to gears of discretion and that it would be evident that what they have is something more than the impress of our nurture and our instruction, but that they indeed, in the full consciousness of their own independent identity, have said, I have taken my cross, I have taken Jesus to be my Savior, I am determined to follow Him. Oh, Lord, give us the desire of our hearts that when some of us are in our graves, should the Lord delay His coming, our very children will be those who in this congregation are a monument of Your mighty transforming grace. Hear our prayer and answer us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.