I’m working my way through the 3 main sections of Baptism: Three Views. In my previous post, I worked through the essay by Dr. Bruce Ware on Believers’ Baptism (aka credobaptism) and the responses by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson and Dr. Anthony Lane. This time through I’ll be working through the essay by Ferguson on infant baptism (paedobaptism) and the responses.
Previously I talked about the power (for good or ill) of presuppositions. If Ferguson’s presentation in Systematic Theology II (Ecclessiology and Sacraments) was anything near as compelling as this essay, my presuppositions were working for ill that day in 1993.
Presuppositions become far clearer in the responses of Ware and Lane. But I found Ferguson’s essay an incredible example of how great theologizing is to be done. Instead of expecting explicit statements as if we are all 6 years old, Ferguson thinks through biblical data to see connections and “good and necessary consequences.” Not all things are clear (as we might like) in Scripture, but they are addressed in just this way.
Ferguson starts with a caution based on 1 Corinthians 1:17 in which Paul “prioritized gospel preaching over baptismal administration without thereby minimizing the important role of the latter.” A different approach from Ware who warned of disobedience in the matter of baptism (though that is true).
Cavman Considers 