Baptism

A Healthy Church: A Family that Eats Together...

Stephen Unthank
Oct 3, 2017
One of the more visible repercussions of the Protestant Reformation was a reconfiguration of the furniture found within local churches. Throughout the Medieval period it was the Table of the Eucharist that sat center-stage, the literal and liturgical focal point of the Roman Catholic Mass. It was...

Luther's Theology: The Sacraments

Steven McCarthy
Jun 27, 2017
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs of union (Rom 6:3-5) and communion (1Cor. 10:16) with Christ. As a result, they signify union (1Cor. 12:13) and communion among believers as members of Christ’s spiritual body (1Cor. 10:17). Yet these symbols of unity have often become points of deep division...

Evangelism, Baptism and Evaluating Church Health

Brian Tallman
Feb 27, 2017
If I've heard it once I have heard it a thousand times: Christians who are members in Reformed Churches tripping over themselves to apologize about how poorly the Reformed Church does evangelism. Related to this is the tried and true self-deprecation: "We need to see more adult baptisms." What...

Calvin on the Sacraments

Sinclair Ferguson
Dec 30, 2016
For some, John Calvin seems to be at his most feisty when he writes on the sacraments. Against those who complain that infant baptism is a travesty of the Gospel, in the Institutes he stoutly insists, "these darts are aimed more at God than at us!" But a little reflection reveals he is also at his...

A God Thing

David Garner
Nov 15, 2016
Exuberant over an experience, an oh-so-sweet manifestation of divine providence, you delightedly seek to give God praise in telling your story. “It was such a ‘God thing’,” you proclaim. As you see it, God wove together an otherwise inexplicable combination of events to deliver a wonderful—even...

Calvin and Baptism: Baptismal Regeneration or the Duplex Loquendi Modus?

Jim Cassidy
Aug 22, 2016
I. Introduction "What is the relation between baptism and salvation in the thought of John Calvin?" This is a timely question, given that there has been much discussion over this very subject of late. On the one hand, there are those who claim that Calvin taught "baptismal regeneration" - at least...

Calvin and Baptism: Baptismal Regeneration or the Duplex Loquendi Modus?

Jim Cassidy
Aug 22, 2016
I. Introduction "What is the relation between baptism and salvation in the thought of John Calvin?" This is a timely question, given that there has been much discussion over this very subject of late. On the one hand, there are those who claim that Calvin taught "baptismal regeneration" - at least...

Old Princeton: Charles Hodge—Don’t Throw Out the Roman Catholic’s Baptism with its Baptism Water

Grant Van Leuven
Mar 4, 2016
In the context of conforming more consistently to the Westminster Confession of Faith , our Session revisited re-baptism while studying sections 27:3 and 28:6-7, especially pondering these closing words: “The sacrament of baptism is but once to be administered unto any person.” This led us to...

Infant Baptism and the Promise of Grace

Alastair Roberts
Jan 20, 2016
In considering the differences between those who support and those who oppose the baptism of infants, focusing too narrowly upon the need for faith in the recipients of the rite can be misleading, for among Reformed Christians this necessity is granted on both sides of the debate. No less than for...

Infant Baptism and the Promise of Grace

Alastair Roberts
Jan 20, 2016
In considering the differences between those who support and those who oppose the baptism of infants, focusing too narrowly upon the need for faith in the recipients of the rite can be misleading, for among Reformed Christians this necessity is granted on both sides of the debate. No less than for...