 |
So, is baptism based on PRESUMPTION or PROFESSION? Is it PROXY or PERSONAL? |
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/2162098007480
November
3, 2011
Baptism: Presumption or Profession, Proxy or Personal.
These
four Ps, consider them!
A
baby sprinkler inquires:
Kind
sir, Why shouldn't babies be baptized? They are capable of salvation just as
adult believers....yes?
I,
a believer-immersionist reply:
Brother
Chris, Thanks for your friendship.
Are
you related to... ? I have been reading its Theological Journal for many years.
Are
you asking me that question?
That's
the wrong question. The right question is this - can babies give the answer of
a good conscience toward God? Asking the wrong questions leads one down the wrong
path.
1Pet
3:21 ¶ The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I
will baptize anyone, BABIES included, who is CAPABLE of giving the answer of a
good conscience toward God.
He
replied:
Brother,
I am indeed related to Prof.....
As
for baptism, do you believe babies can be saved?
I
replied:
Yes,
I do. anyone can be saved. No one is beyond God's divine effectual call!
Babies and old [hardened] dying adults and all in between are in the same
spiritual condition- dead in trespasses and sins. God alone can effectually
call them out of that state of sin and death to that of grace and eternal life.
If
'can be saved' be the ground of baptism, then on that same ground all, without
distinction, ought to be baptized unless you can show beforehand that those
whom you refused to be baptized cannot be saved, is beyond God's irresistible
grace.
The
baby sprinklers are assuming that all the babies they sprinkled are saved...a
wee bit presumptuous, clearly going beyond Scriptures' mandate.
And
baptism is only for such who give evidence of such divine work. Submitting to
baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God - confessing to the truth
of God's divine work through water baptism.
A
year ago I met Brother .... at a public
meeting in Penang. It was a pleasant surprise.
He
replied:
Ok...thanks
for this. I really appreciate your willingness to discuss this with me, and I
like the spirit of this discussion. Here is one question I have for
you......baby sprinklers assume that the child is saved; adult baptizers assume
that the person they are baptizing is saved. What's the difference? Both are
presuming. Neither one knows the heart. They both base their baptism on a
presumption. yes?
I
replied:
Believers'
baptism and adult baptism are not the same.
Believers' baptizers DO NOT assume that the person they are baptizing is saved.
Believers' baptizers baptize those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and baptism is the
answer of a good conscience towards God.
I
will immerse anyone, even a baby, who profess faith in Jesus Christ and want to
be baptized as an answer of a good conscience towards God as a witness to the
gracious work of redemption by God's free grace in Jesus Christ.
So,
there is no PRESUMPTION involved in believers' baptism.
Infant
sprinklers PRESUME - that's their basis.
Believers
immersionists act of the PROFESSION of faith in Christ since baptism testifies
to the death and resurrection of Christ.
That's
the biblical model.
Thanks.
He
replied:
Well...this
is where we part ways. You claim to KNOW that a person who professes faith is sincere.
That is where you and I disagree. I would assert that NO one can know that a
person is sincere even if they do make a profession of true faith. All we can
do is accept their profession as it is and presume they are being sincere. The
same thing that a baby baptizer does when they presume the child is a believer
based on the fact that the parents are believers. The biblical model is to
baptize families, not individuals.
At
any rate, I appreciate you discussing this with me. God prosper your ministry
exceedingly.
If
you are ever interested in free lecture material from our seminary, please feel
free to register at this site. (web address given...)
I
replied:
Well...
if that be the case then it is a sincere PERSONAL profession versus a sincere
PROXY profession. Believers baptizers choose the former, baby sprinklers the
latter.
If a biblical model is to baptize families, then we would see thousands of families
baptized on the day of Pentecost and on many other occasions before we come to
Cornelius. And it is a PRESUMPTION that there are little children in Cornelius
household, I have four children but my youngest is already a young adult.
So,
PRESUMPTION or PROFESSION?
Is
it PROXY or PERSONAL?
The
Lord bless you richly Brother!
