<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]First, it is almost impossible to build a case for paedobaptism on the Acts passeges. There's too much we don't know, too much Luke doesn't tell us. Were there infants in these households, or were they all adults? In Acts 16, after we are told the jailer's family was baptized (vs. 33) we are told they all believed (vs. 34). Did the events take place in this order? Could infants possibly be credited with "believing"? Or is it assumed they are "covered" by their parents in this matter?</font><hr></blockquote><p> A Case from Scripture:<br><br>As R. Scott Clark, from WTS, states, because the promise of the Covenant, God is a God not only to adult believers, but also to their children. That is why, in 1 Corinthians 7:14, Paul said that children of believers are holy! Paul deliberately used Old Covenant, ceremonial, language to teach the Corinthians that their children shouldn't be considered outside of the visible people of God. To use Old Covenant language, children of believers are clean, and therefore have a right to share in the blessings of being a part of the visible people of God, including baptism.<br><br>Jesus made a similar argument in Mark 10:14. In Acts 2:39, Peter specifically includes children in the fulfillment of the promise. In Ephesians 6:1, Paul addresses children as if they were in the covenant people of God.<br><br>From this perspective, Matthew 28:19 and Acts 2:38,39 are direct commands to baptize infants. It is true that there is no explicit command baptize infants. There is no such command because there is no need for such a command. Neither is there an explicit verse which states God is One in three persons, but God's Word teaches the existence of the Trinity throughout.<br><br>Nowhere in Scripture, however, is there a declaration that children are no longer to receive a covenant sign! Where are all the mad Jews hiding, for they definitely would have had something to say about this issue? If one needs an explicit command to baptize children then we should stop admitting women to the Lord's table, since there is no direct command to allow women to come to the table. [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/drop.gif" alt="drop" title="drop[/img]<br><br>In Philippi, Paul and his co-workers met Lydia, a Gentile. After hearing the Gospel, the Lord opened her heart and [/i]she and the members of her household were baptized.[/i] It cannot be argued "reasonably" that there were no children in this household. DO you really believe EVERY Christian household mentioned in Scripture had no children, or ONLY those households that were baptized?<br><br>Paul was jailed for his ministry to a demon possessed girl. The Lord delivers them from jail by sending an earthquake. Their jailer hears the Gospel and professes his faith. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized....he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God -he and his whole family (Acts 16: 33-34). As in the case of Lydia, Luke communicated the covenantal nature of baptism through the use of the oikos (household) formula.<br><br>After Paul had been rejected by the synagogue in Corinth he went next door to the house of Titius Justus, another God-fearing Gentile. There Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8).<br><br>These patterns were identical with what occurred in Israel for 2000 years: The adult Gentile converts were circumcised along with their male children in accordance with [color:red]Genesis 17:10-14</font color=red>:<br><br> <blockquote>Genesis 17: 10-14 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.</blockquote> As with most dispensationalists, you believe in two different churches: one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. Though there are differences in the way the Church may be viewed in both Testaments there is only ONE covenant that is unfolding and thus ONE church. Did Jesus say, upon this rock will I build my churches?”—NO, He said, ”My Church.” ONE!<br><br>The Lord Jesus has fulfilled the bloody signs and types of circumcision and has replaced them with bloodless signs. Christ's death was the reality to which the old signs and seals pointed. Now, Christ having died, there is no need for the old sacraments and feasts. The main difference between the Old and New Covenants is that what the Old Covenant promised through ceremonies and sacrifices, have been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus (read Hebrews). The New Covenant Scriptures refer constantly to the Old Covenant. Romans 3:21, 9:27, 11:13-32; Luke 24:27; Hebrews 9:15, and the whole of chapter 11, all teach that the Covenant of Grace instituted by God through Abraham continues into the New Covenant. God's Word clearly teaches that New Covenant believers are the New Covenant Israel. <br><br><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]As is patent, there are too many questions to build a solid doctrine either way. </font><hr></blockquote><p> By not building a doctrine you in turn have built one!<br><br><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]Thus we come to Colossians 2:11-12. The whole issue falls on these two verses. Without them, every word about covanental continuity, or the replacement of circumcision with baptism, is all based upon dubious implication, conjecture, and/or logical deduction of questionable Scriptural value. The entire paedobaptist position rests upon these two verses and their interpretation.</font><hr></blockquote><p> As seen above the WHOLE of the paedo-baptist position clearly does not lie on these two verses.<br><br>In Colossians 2:11 Paul says in him you were also circumcised with the circumcision done by Christ and in v.12 he says exactly how it is we were circumcised in and by Christ: [/i]having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith…[/i] For Paul, in the New covenant, our baptism is our circumcision. Baptism identified us with Christ's death and faith is the means by which we united to Christ for life.<br><br>One of the reasons that Paul so strongly opposed the imposition of circumcision by the Judaizers (see Galatians) is that, by faith, we have already been circumcised in Christ, of which baptism is the sign. We were already identified as belonging to God and we have undergone the curse in Christ. So actual physical circumcision is, in the New covenant, unnecessary. <br><br>Acts 2.38-39 equates circumcision and baptism. In Acts 2.38 the Apostle Peter calls for repentance, faith in Christ, and baptism by Jews who are hearing his preaching. In v.39 the reason he gives for this action is this: "the promise is to you and to your children, and all who are far off...." The Apostle Peter consciously uses the same formula in his preaching as the LORD himself used when he instituted the sign of circumcision in [color:red]Genesis 17</font color=red>, which the Jews listening understood precisely. <br><br><blockquote>Eph 4:4-6 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.</blockquote> For a better understanding of the Covenant, baptism, and the Church please read the Glorious Body of Christ by R.B. Kuiper.

Reformed and Always Reforming,