Basic HTML Version
614
with respect to adult baptism. In view of the fact that according to our Reformed conception,
this baptism presupposes regeneration, faith, conversion, and justification, these surely are not
to be conceived as wrought by it. In this respect we differ from the Church of Rome. Even the
Lutherans, who ascribe greater power to baptism as a means of grace than the Reformed do,
agree with the latter on this point. Neither does baptism work a special sacramental grace,
consisting in this that the recipient is implanted into the body of Jesus Christ. The believer’s
incorporation into mystical union with Christ is also presupposed. Word and sacrament work
exactly the same kind of grace, except that the Word, in distinction from the sacrament, is also
instrumental in the origination of faith. The sacrament of baptism strengthens faith, and
because faith plays an important part in all the other operations of divine grace, these are also
greatly benefited by it. Baptism represents primarily an act of the grace of God, but because the
professing Christian must voluntarily submit to it, it can also be considered from the side of
man. There is in it an offer and gift of God, but also an acceptance on the part of man.
Consequently, baptism also signifies that man accepts the covenant and assumes its
obligations. It is a seal, not merely of an offered, but of an offered and accepted, that is, of a
concluded covenant.
2. INFANT BAPTISM.
It is on the point of infant baptism that the most important difference is
found between us and the Baptists. The latter hold, as Dr. Hovey, a Baptist author, expresses it,
“that only believers in Christ are entitled to baptism, and that only those who give credible
evidence of faith in Him should be baptized.” This means that children are excluded from the
sacrament. In all other denominations, however, they receive it. Several points call for
consideration in connection with this subject.
a. The Scriptural basis for infant baptism.
It may be said at the outset that there is no explicit
command in the Bible to baptize children, and that there is not a single instance in which we
are plainly told that children were baptized. But this does not necessarily make infant baptism
un-Biblical. The Scriptural ground for it is found in the following data:
(1) The covenant made with Abraham was primarily a spiritual covenant, though it also had a
national aspect, and of this spiritual covenant circumcision was a sign and seal. It is an
unwarranted procedure of the Baptists to split this covenant up into two of three different
covenants. The Bible refers to the covenant with Abraham several times, but always in the
singular, Ex. 2:24; Lev. 26:42, II Kings 13:23; I Chron. 16:16; Ps. 105:9. There is not a single
exception to this rule. The spiritual nature of this covenant is proved by the manner in which its
promises are interpreted in the New Testament, Rom. 4:16-18; II Cor. 6:16-18; Gal. 3:8,9,14,16;
Heb. 8:10; 11:9,10,13. It also follows from the fact that circumcision was clearly a rite that had