Infant Baptism and a Puzzling Text
Regarding I Corinthians 7:13-14: "The point here is not that this settles the issue of infant baptism. The point is to simply bring some clarity to a puzzling text, lest it seem too obviously to support infant baptism." John Piper
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Infant Baptism and a Puzzling Text
I would actually take Piper’s comments a little further. 1 Cor. 7 does not have anything to say about baptism. The issue there is regarding divorce and whether the Christian should put away their spouse in the event of a mixed marriage. Back in the O.T. times God actually commanded his people to put away their unbelieving/Gentile spouses during their return from captivity in the days of Ezra for the purpose of maintaining the Jewish line, so it is possible the issue of mixed marriage was still in their thinking. Paul instructs the believer on the contrary (and under the inspiration of God) to maintain the marriage, even in a mixed marriage, if the unbeliever is willing to stay. By that both unbeliever and the children are sanctified, meaning that there is a sanctifying effect that the believer brings to the family. To base infant baptism on that text is a huge stretch of the intent of the text and grasping for straws.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, the paedo baptist position suggests itself to be based on tradition, not truth. It is basically a relic from Catholicism established during a period when there was no separation between church and state, i.e. a sacral society, where by law infants had to be baptized to enter the Corpus Christendom, the body of christened believers. Had Luther and Calvin lived 50 years longer I wonder if they would have seen that more clearly, thus bringing reform to church practice as they had done in its doctrine of salvation. The Baptists were actually the ones who brought the reform a step further and into church practice. It does go to show, however, that regardless how we might boast in “sola scriptura”, there is always that pull to staying with the traditions of men and the paradynes we grew up with.
Mike
I haven't kept up to date. Are you still creedo-baptists?
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