LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Believer’s Baptism:
The Covenant Sign of the New Age in Christ
Submitted to Dr. Keith Church
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Theo 530 –C01
Systematic Theology II
By
Tina C. Littlejohn
March 12, 2020
I. Introduction:
Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright are editors of the book Believer’s Baptism:
The Covenant Sign of the New Age in Christ. Dr. Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison
Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology, as well as, the
Associate Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr.
Wright is a Professor of Church History at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In
Believer’s Baptism Drs. Schreiner and Wright have compiled scholarly and theological essays
from various contributors who advocate that “credobaptism” should be reserved for believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ and the concept that “belief” or a person’s intellect and affections towards
Jesus Christ is a pre-requisite for those who seek to get baptized. Whereas, the “paedobaptists”
believe that infant baptism is necessary as a sacred act to cleanse the child from original sin or
“baptismal regeneration” also known as “ Paedobaptists believe that “ex opere operato”. baptism
is effective through the operation of the rite of baptism itself. It conveys God's grace to the
recipient unless he or she “places a spiritual impediment (obex) in the way of grace”1
The purpose of this book critique is show the strengths and weaknesses of the collection of
authors’ arguments for “credobaptism” and against “paedobaptists” and whether they
substantiate their point.
1 Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright, ed. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, Series
ed. by E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic Publishing Group, 2006), Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.com
II. Brief Summary:
Believer’s Baptism, is a compilation of theories in ten chapters. Chapters 1-4 argues for the
believer’s baptism according to the New Testaments. “Andreas Köstenberger prosecutes this
case in the Gospels, Robert Stein in Acts, and Thomas Schreiner in the epistles. Stephen
Wellum, then, considers the whole matter biblically and theologically in a crucial chapter. ”2
Chapters 5-9 presents the historical and theological chall enge to believer’s baptism.
Steve McKinion surveys the first centuries of the church, a period that has been much
considered in baptism debates. He demonstrates that the evidence shows that
paedobaptism arose late and for various practical and theological reasons. Jonathan
Rainbow demonstrates that the defense of infant baptism proposed by Ulrich Zwingli,
one of the founders of the Reformed tradition in the sixteenth century, was truly a
novelty. For the first time in history, baptism was severed from faith and regeneration.
The view that the Reformed take for granted as historic, represented in Zwingli's day a
break with previous tradition. Shawn Wright interacts carefully with some of the most
influential proponents of infant baptism John Calvin, John Murray, and Pierre Marcel— —
and shows their biblical and internal inconsistencies. A fascinating and creative defense
of infant baptism has been proposed by Meredith Kline. The fertile mind of Kline has
fascinated scholars and students, but Duane Garrett demonstrates that Kline's arguments
are more creative than biblical. The connections he draws to support infant baptism are
insupportable when carefully examined, and the substance of his argument, therefore,
collapses. Ardel Caneday unpacks the baptismal thinking of Alexander Campbell.
3
Lastly, chapter 10 Mark Dever presents the practical application of the believer’s baptism for
the local church today and the myriad of questions that pastor’s grapple with. Such as, who
should conduct the baptism to when a person should become a candidate for baptism, as well
as, the importance of baptism to the life of the church speaking to the “nature of the church
as the community of believers.”4
2 Ibid.,
3 Ibid.,
4 Ibid.,
Critical Interaction:
In chapter 1 utilizing a narrative analysis, Kostenberger examines what the four Gospels have
to say concerning baptism. He first acknowledges that it is not clear when the Jews began
using baptism as a form of initiation for Gentile converts to Judaism concluding that Gentiles
were considered unclean and in need of purification and proselyte baptism conveyed the
notion of a new life for the believer representing a commitment on the part of the new
convert, as well as, bestowing new benefits upon them. After his thorough analysis of the
four Gospels, Kostenberger concludes that there are few passages in either of the texts that
mention baptism except for the baptisms conducted by John the Baptist in the desert. The
baptism of Jesus by His cousin John the Baptist and baptism conducted by the disciples of
Jesus that were attributed to Him as seen in John 4:1-2. Kostenberger came to four
conclusions. First, baptism is for believers who have repented of their sins and “have put
their faith in God and in his Christ Furthermore, there is no evidence in the Gospels that .”5
support infant baptism. Second, baptism is a crucial part of Christian discipleship as seen in
Matthew 28:16-20. Third, Kostenberger, concluded that immersion was most likely the
mode of baptism that was used.
This is suggested by the root meaning of the word bapt , “to dip” (e.g., Josh 3:15 LXX;
Ruth 2:14 LXX), of which baptiz , “to baptize,” is an intensive or frequentative form. It
is also indicated by the LXX usage of with reference to immersion (see 2 Kgs baptiz
5:14). Another piece of supporting evidence is the statement that Jesus “came up
immediately from the water” subsequent to his baptism (Matt 3:16 par. Mark 1:10, euthus
aneb anabain / ). While there are differences of view as to the apo/ek tou hudatos
way in which baptism by immersion ought to be stipulated in church polity, evidence
from the Gospels suggests that this was in fact the NT and early church's mode of
baptism.6
5 Ibid.,
6 Ibid.,
In his article Everett Ferguson Baptism was the central act in the Baptism concluded that “
ceremony of initiation into the Christian church. It was normally administered by immersion to
penitents upon a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Christian usage preferred the Greek form
baptisma (“dipping” or “plunging”) over baptismos (used more often for non‐Christian rites),
which, however, gave the common Latin transliteration baptismus. Everett also indicates that ”7
there were various applications of baptism from sprinkling, pouring and dipping by the Jews as a
religious cleansing. Excavations at Qumran also revealed that there were several pools designed
to collect water for the purpose of daily ritual cleansing for purification ceremonies of Gentiles
into the Jewish community that also included circumcision and the offering up of a sacrifice.
8
In chapter 2, baptism is an initiation rite associated with conversion to Christianity following the
new converts “repentance” in response to John the Baptist’s cry of repentance. Faith and
baptism goes hand in hand in seen in 16:31-34, 18:8 and 19:4-5. Stein also identifies the
association between repentance, faith, baptism, and the gift of the Spirit as well as the association
between repentance, faith, baptism and the forgiveness of sins. Stein posits that “the
interconnectedness of repentance, faith, and baptism is witnessed to by the fact that they all lead
to the forgiveness of sins.”9
In chapter 3, Thomas R. Schreiner explores teachings of baptism in the Epistles emphasizing
what Paul taught in four areas: “(1) exegetical comments on the main baptismal texts in the
epistles; (2) comments on the mode of baptism and how baptism relates to washing and to
7 Everett Ferguson, , eds R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B.“Baptism”In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Champion, A. Erskine and S. R. Huebner, (2012), 1
8 Ibid.,
9 Robert H. Stein , , Believers Baptism
sealing; (3) the relationship of baptism to redemptive history; and (4) the question whether
baptism should be confined to believers. Schreiner focused on the centrality of baptism, the ”10
texts on baptism and the texts that warn against misjudging baptism focusing on nine passages of
scriptures ( 1 Peter 3:21; Eph 4:5; 1 Cor 12:13; 1 Cor 15:29; Gal 3:27, Rom 6:3-4; Col 2:11-12; 1
Cor 1:13-17; and 10:2). Schreiner greatly emphasized that baptism should only be for those who
have confessed their sins and have put their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.
In chapter 4, Stephen J. Wellum, addresses what he considers is at the heart of the “advocacy and
defense” of the infant baptism argument of the evangelical Reformed doctrine. According to
Wellum, it is an implication drawn from the comprehensive theological category of the
“covenant of grace,” a category which, it is claimed, unites the Scriptures and without which the
Bible cannot be understood correctly. In this chapter, Wellum outlines the covenantal ” 11
argument for infant baptism by both defenders such as Randy Booth, Louis Berkhof and B.B.
Warfield as well as proponent’s views. Although paedobaptists’ present compelling arguments
for infant baptism, Wellum identifies the main factor that is a problem with their argument. That
being it “fails to understand correctly the proper relationships between the biblical covenants and
the degree of continuity and discontinuity between them. Wellum goes on to say that ”12
paedobaptists fail to do justice to the progressive nature of God’s revelation and the covenant
sign which, he feels, leads to a misunderstanding of the discontinuity brought about by Christ’s
coming and the arrival of the new covenant age. For Wellum, baptism is a new covenant sign
10 Ibid.,
11 Stephen J. Wellum, Believers Baptism,
12 Ibid.,
that “has been ordained by our Triune God as a proper means of grace that we ignore, distort, or
downplay to the detriment of our spiritual life and mission. ”13
To address the historical and theological challenge to believer’s baptism Steven A. McKinion
addresses baptism in the patristic writings in chapter 5 by examining the writings of the early
Church Fathers, the ordinances of baptism, and the purposes for the administration of baptism.
In the NT church baptism was an essential part of church life and practice as a celebration of a
new convert’s confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. Baptism was also used as a
means of initiation into the church. It was “central to the formation and discipline of the body
of believers.”14 McKinion limited his discussion to only focus on the practice of baptism on only
those who professed their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation after repenting of their sins,
which defined it as an act following salvation. This stance subsequently eliminated the idea of
infant baptism because of its idea of profession of “future faith”. McKinion then attempts to
answer the question of whether there is an agreement in the patristic writings that assents
believer’s baptism as the “ancient and normative” practice. McKinion concluded that Baptism
had little to do with the age at the time of baptism than with their repentance, and person’s
profession of faith. McKinion begins to present his argument by first identifying the debate
regarding padobaptism and its origin in early Christianity between Joachim Jeremias and Kurt
Aland. For Jeremias, since Jewish proselyte baptism was the precursor of Christian baptism and
that from the onset, infant baptism was a normal practice of the Christian church. McKinion
goes on to point out that while infant baptism cannot be found in the 1 and 2 century Church,
st nd
it became widespread in the 3 century becoming the standard practice in church and in the 4
rd th
13 Ibid.,
14 Steven A. McKinion, Believers Baptism
century infant baptism was allowed only in emergency situations by Gregory the Bishop of
Nazianzus who felt that since baptism was related to repentance infants should not be baptized
since they had no sins to confess and were not in need of repentance. Furthermore, Gregory felt
that “Only children who were old enough to understand the ‘basic outlines’ of the faith should be
baptized. Children were responsible for their lives when their reason had matured to the point
that they recognized a need for forgiveness. Until that time, Gregory said, they had no account to
give for sins of ignorance.”15 In his argument Augustine On Baptism against the Donatists,
argued that infant baptism was a custom handed down from the apostles and that they instructed
that infants be baptized because it was “a parallel of circumcision.” There was also the issue, for
Augustine, of the need of all to be cleansed from original sin brought on by Adam in the Garden
of Eden.
In chapter 6, Jonathan H. Rainbow addresses the doctrine of baptism of the early Anabaptists
beginning with the discussion between Ulrich Zwingli and Balthasar Hubmaier, pastors who had
broken from the Roman Catholic Church, who championed the Bible as the singular foundation
for Christian truth and practice. Both Zwingli & Hubmaier agreed at the time that infant baptism
should not be continued in as a practice in the church. They soon disagreed in their opinions
about paedobaptism with Zwingli becoming a fierce opponent of those who did not agree with
infant baptism and while Hubmaier continued to question the practice initiating “rebaptism”
which became the first systematic defender of “believer baptism” during the Reformation.
Rainbow goes on to outline the Roman Catholic Church’s opinion regarding baptism and
proposing a way for modern Baptist to have a better understanding of the history of baptism, its
15 Ibid.,
evolvement in the Roman Catholic Church and the similarities that both institutions have. He
concludes that baptism is not magic and it is more than just an outward sign, as the Baptist
suppose.
Discussing the position of the Reformed paedobaptist in chapter 7, Shawn D. Wright contributes
to this anthology by trying to examine the logic of their position. Wright clearly states that the
doctrine is challenging to understand and it is inconsistent by looking at the Reformed
paedobaptists positions on sacraments, the definition of baptism and the practice of baptizing
infants, their belief regarding a mixed body of believers and unbelievers, “covenant grace”, the
use of NT to justify the practice of infant baptism, and does their practice of paedobaptism fit
with their belief that salvation is by faith alone. Wright focuses his chapter on the writings of
John Calvin, Pierre Marcel, and John Murray, concluding that their theories are misguided.
Duane A. Garrett continues the argument against infant baptism in chapter 8 opposing Covenant
theologian Meredith Kline’s theology of suzerain-vassal. In chapter 9, A.B. Caneday looks at
the restoration of the prominence of baptism in the Second Great Awakening and its most
prominent founder Alexander Campbell. Caneday utilizes the letters of the Apostle Paul to the
churches in Galatia and Corinth to make his point regarding the act of baptism as ritual act that
marks the new convert as clothed with Christ.
Finally, in chapter 10, Mark E. Dever discusses baptism in the context of the local congregation
as the “discarded jewel” of churches today. Even in the Baptist church. He attributed this lack
of reverence for the role of baptism to confusion, ignorance, prejudice and a misplaced, distorted
cultural conservatism that has taken over the modern church. Dever then focuses on the
following questions: Who should baptize and how should it be done? Who should be baptized
and when should baptism be done? Should those who have not been baptized be allowed partake
in the Lord’s Supper and have membership in the church? and Should the church accept baptism
from another church?
Conclusion:
Believer’s Baptism is a great anthology of arguments advocating for believer’s baptism. The
book provides both biblical and historical perspectives that show a strong support for
credobaptism over paedobaptism. The history provided also helps to give the reader a greater
understanding of the traditions of baptism in the church today.
Bibliography
Ferguson, Everett “Baptism” , eds R. S. Bagnall, K.In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Brodersen, Champion, A. Erskine and S. R. Huebner, 2012 C. B.
Schreiner, Thomas R.and Shawn D. Wright, ed. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant
in Christ, Series ed. by E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic Publishing
Group, 2006
