BAPTISM – CATEGORIZED SCRIPTURE LISTIntroduction

Throughout Church history, but more notably and rancorously within the past several hundred years,debates over Christian baptism – what the rite itself actually signifies and does, by what mode it oughtto be administered, and who may qualify as its proper subjects – have continued without abatement.One notable characteristic of the question, which has doubtless served to keep an easy and obviouslyirrefutable answer out of reach, is that the entire biblical witness to the nature of baptism is notexhausted by the relatively few passages directly addressing, by precept or historical example, theactual administration of the New Covenant sign, but on the contrary, many broad and far-reaching biblical themes and motifs have a necessary and compelling impact on virtually every point of thedebate. We will not understand what is intended by the sign of baptism until we know what it is to be incovenant with God in Christ Jesus; and we will not understand his Covenant until we go back to the beginning of his dealings with his people, and take careful note of how God has inaugurated, clarified,and expanded his covenant, to whom he has always made it firm, how he advanced it to its final state of immutable certainty in the atoning work of Christ, and what that means for us today who are heirs of the Covenants of Promise. Nor will we understand the manifold significance of the rite until we haveadequately accounted for God's saving of Noah and the children of Israel through the waters by whichhe destroyed the world, the washing rituals of the Old Testament priests, and many other such things.But although the question is multi-faceted and complex, and although many well-meaning persons havetherefore failed to take into account certain vital and necessary pieces of information pertinent to thesubject, and have thus become inadvisedly dogmatic in an opinion which cannot adequately account for great and inextricably related truths which are the most ardently and emphatically proclaimedthroughout the scriptures, it is my firm belief that the scriptures alone, when laid out in due order, maycast such a brilliant and inextinguishable light upon the whole topic as to render a few much-debatedconclusions firm beyond cavil. God grant that his holy scriptures may here dispel much fruitless andmisdirected groping after answers through the wrong means and reconcile all true and pious Christian brothers (of whom there are doubtless many on every side of the question) in a singleminded opinion!

The Nature and Progression of God's Covenants with Mankind

1.God's relationship with mankind has always been in covenant

A)Before the Fall, God dealt with Adam on a covenantal basis

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Creation itself is in a covenant relationship with God; so how much more the climacticcreature, for whom the world was made and who rules over it and represents it to God?Jer 33:20-26; Gen 1:26-28; Psa 8:4-9; Psa 115:16; Jer 27:5-6

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All of the elements of a biblical covenant are clearly displayed in the original creation of man: first, a preamble emphasizing the greatness of God as seen in his prior works; second, particular stipulations placed upon those with whom God is entering into relationship; third,the negative sanction of death, in the case of disobedience; which gives warrant for understanding, fourth, an implied positive sanction of eternal life for obedience , asrepresented by the “tree of life”.

Preamble

: Gen 1:1-5/Gen 2:5-9

Stipulations

: Gen 1:28/Gen 2:15-17

Negative Sanction

: Gen 2:17

Implied Positive Sanction

: Gen 3:22-24

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According to the likeliest interpretation, Adam is explicitly said to have broken covenantwhen he fell.Hos 6:7

B)After the Fall, God dealt with Adam on a covenantal basis

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God established the first Covenant of Promise immediately after the FallGen 3:15/Gen 6:18

[Here, in the first mention of the covenant in scriptures, God says he“established” (“confirmed”) his covenant with Noah, which implies that it existed previously.]

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God gave a new sign: the covering of shameful nakedness with a slain victim, and ongoing blood sacrifice.Gen 3:21; Gen 4:3-5; Heb 11:4

C)Thereafter, God always dealt with his people in covenant, and marked every advance in his plan of redemption by the confirmation of a greater, clearer, or more expansive covenant.

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NoahGen 9:1-11

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AbrahamGen 15:1-21

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SinaiDeu 5:1-33

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David2Sa 7:12-16

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NewJer 31:31-34; Eze 36:25-36; Mat 26:26-29; Heb 8:7-13

2.God's covenantal dealings with man have always been signified and sealed with visible signs

A)The Covenant with Adam had the visible sign of the Tree of Life

Gen 3:22

B)The Covenant with Noah had the visible sign of the rainbow

Gen 9:12-17

C)The Covenant with Abraham had the visible sign of circumcision

Gen 17:9-14

[After this inaugural sign of covenant inclusion was given to Abraham, it remained in force after the Sinaitic and Davidic Covenants were brought in to supplement it,neither of which was provided with a similar sign of inclusion, God thereby making manifest that there remained for his people a participation in the first Covenant of Promise made with Abraham and his Seed, which the later covenants, coming afterwards, could not nullify; what isof utmost significance, therefore, is the eventual replacement of this sign by the sign of a newer and greater Covenant which did indeed fulfill the Abrahamic Promise as the Covenant of Moses had not been able to do.] D)The New Covenant has the visible sign of Baptism

Mat 28:19

3.The New Covenant Replaces the Sinaitic Covenant as the perfect fulfillment of theAbrahamic Promise

A)The New Covenant is the Perfect Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Promise

Gal 3:13-18

B)The New Covenant Replaces the Sinaitic Covenant, which was shown to be impotent to fulfill the Abrahamic Promise

Gal 4:21-31; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:6-13

C)And so, we who are in the New Covenant are heirs of the Abrahamic Promise

Rom 4:9-16; Gal 3:5-9; Gal 3:26-29; Eph 2:11-22; Eph 3:6

4.Hence, Circumcision and Baptism are said to signify the same thing, and seem to beadministered according to the same canons of inclusion, insofar as we have explicit testimony.

A)Baptism and circumcision both signify true faith and regenerate hearts

Deu 10:16; Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4; Jer 9:26; Rom 4:11

[Circumcision is here explicitly said to be sign of true faith, and yet it was commanded to be given to infants still too young to give acredible profession of faith; it therefore necessarily nullifies any argument that, if baptism