{"id":11699,"date":"2016-08-17T01:30:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-infant-baptism-question\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:30:28","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:30:28","slug":"the-infant-baptism-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-infant-baptism-question\/","title":{"rendered":"THE INFANT BAPTISM QUESTION"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>1 CORINTHIANS 1:10\u201317<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(1 Corinthians 1:16a)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed churches all practice infant baptism. Today we want to look at four lines of evidence that show the validity of this practice.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>First, just as baptism is the sign of entrance into the community of the new covenant, so circumcision was the sign of entrance into the core community of the old covenant (the people of Israel; God-fearing Gentiles did not have to be circumcised). Circumcision was a sign of faith and was performed on the infant sons of covenant members. It called them to hold onto the faith as they grew up as a sign that they, even as children, were a part of God\u2019s household. In the new covenant, all members of the church are part of the \u201ccore community.\u201d The analogies between circumcision and baptism validate baptizing infants (Colossians 2:11\u201312).<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Second, the new covenant is universally more inclusive than the old. If children had been suddenly excluded in the new covenant from the sign of the covenant, this would have been very controversial with the early Jewish believers. The silence of the New Testament indicates that there was no such controversy and points to the continuation of including children.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Third, the household baptisms of the New Testament (Acts 16:15, 33, etc.) indicate infant baptism. The term <i>oikos<\/i> (house, household) has been studied carefully in recent years. In classical Greek usage and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word often has a particular reference to infants. Thus, the use of <i>oikos<\/i> strongly suggests the baptism of infants.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Fourth, the writings of the \u201capostolic fathers\u201d of the second century reveal that infant baptism was being practiced in the church at that early date. Perhaps this shows that the new covenant church had lapsed into an erroneous \u201cold covenant\u201d practice. If this were true, however, we would expect some indication of controversy over infant baptism. The absence of controversy anywhere in the early church indicates that the church was comfortable with infant baptism, and was carrying on the apostolic tradition of the New Testament.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>1 Samuel 20\u201322<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Luke 15:11\u201332<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The issue of whether adults or children should be   baptized is at once significant and emotionally charged. Because it is so   emotionally charged we must speak gently. Because it is so significant we   must study the matter carefully and diligently. Recommit to following the   Word of God above the traditions of men.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: Joshua 24:1\u201319 \u2022 Acts 16:13\u201315, 29\u201334 \u2022 Col. 2:6\u201312<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>friday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>april<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 CORINTHIANS 1:10\u201317 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas (1 Corinthians 1:16a). The Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed churches all practice infant baptism. Today we want to look at four lines of evidence that show the validity of this practice. First, just as baptism is the sign of entrance into &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-infant-baptism-question\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;THE INFANT BAPTISM QUESTION&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}