Skip to main content

John Calvin on Infant/Covenant Baptism from Acts 2:39

 

Calvin on infant/covenant baptism from Acts 2:39:
"Let us now come to what Peter says: 'Unto you, and to your children.' In the first place, he addresses those who are of age. That is why he says to them, 'Repent.' From the outset he confronts them with repentance with the view to speaking about baptism. Those who are at the age of discretion cannot be baptized (I mean those who are not the people of God), unless they have repented of their sins and confessed to being Christian. But Peter repeatedly adds that the promise is to the children of the Jews, as indeed we see that it is our Lord's promise to Abraham, when he says to him, 'I shall be your God and the God of your seed for a thousand generations' (cf. Gen. 17:7). That is how our Lord wishes to declare himself the Savior of those who are in his church at the present time as well as the Savior of those who come afterward and their children, because he recognizes and accepts them as his own. And that is what Peter is saying here: 'The promise is unto you, and to your children.'
In that statement we have a singular consolation inasmuch as we understand God is not content to be our Savior at the time we call upon him and he answers our prayer, but he extends his mercy to our children and wishes them to be participants in the same grace which he bestows upon us liberally. That means the children are in their mother's womb like animals in respect of awareness. Yet God acknowledges them as his own and promises them eternal life. That is to show his great goodness toward us, that great goodness which he wishes so much to impress upon us and to extend to our posterity and lineage.
And yet, let us look more closely at this passage: 'The promise is unto you, and to your children.' Now when baptism is added later, it is to ratify that promise. That is why we baptize our small children today. Baptism is not a creation of men, but of God. For just as he spoke to Abraham in the time of the law and commanded circumcision, so he now does for us with the institution of baptism. So then, when our Lord receives our children as his own, they must be marked with his sign, and that promise must be confirmed by baptism."
Quoted from Banner of Truth's edition of Calvin's Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles, pages 44-45

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Pastors Shouldn't Preach In Jeans (Especially Skinny Jeans)

By: Thomas F. Booher I can't think of a better way to get labeled a legalist than to title a post like this. Hopefully by the end you will not see this as legalism and will see this as what it is- my attempt at describing what I believe is proper ecclesiology as defined by God in Scripture. So then, what is church? What does Scripture say we should be doing and not doing on Sunday mornings? That's what I want to explore. The Bible says to gather together in Christ's name; to teach, encourage, and admonish one another; to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God (Heb. 10:24-25; Mat. 18:20; Col. 3:16). There are to be deacons (Acts 6:1-6) and elders (Ti. 1:5) in the church who act as overseers, and in the case of elders, are the shepherds of the flock who teach the word and rebuke with authority (Ti. 1:9).  God must call one to be a pastor/elder (Eph. 4:11). As such those who are called by God to preach the word are held to a ...
11 comments
Read more

The Stone Choir/Corey Mahler Invert God's Revelation

https://coreyjmahler.com/the-european-peoples-and-christianity/  *****EDIT: Some have said that they, or at least Corey Mahler perhaps believes, that the European religions were deviations from Christianity, believed by Noah and his sons. Over time, sinful man and demons twisted these European religions, which I think their argument is that it was originally Christian/derived from Noah and his offspring. Nordic paganism had the most in common with Christianity, even with Odin sacrificing himself on a tree, and therefore the Europeans were the most ripe and ready to embrace Christianity and continue to advance the cause of Christ more than other peoples/races/nations over the last 2,000 years since Christ.  To that I simply say, I appreciate the context given, but even if all that were true (maybe it is, maybe it is not), it doesn't change the fundamental points of my post below. Syncretism, Odinism, etc., even if it was somehow a distorted derivation flowing from the true...
1 comment
Read more

Some Problems in the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America)

By: Thomas F. Booher NOTE: I posted what's below to Facebook on this day, December 6, 2016. I wanted to post this here for record keeping and so that it can have a more visible and permanent viewership for those concerned or wishing to be more informed about the PCA.  I would like to explain my love for and grave concerns within the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America), the denomination in which I am currently a member and have served as a ruling elder. The state of the PCA is, in my estimation, not a consistently conservative, orthodox, and confessional one. I believe it is in the midst of much compromise, and I do not think that the average lay person is aware of it. It grieves me to say these things. I wish they were not true. I grew up in the PCA, and until several years ago I was still under the delusion that all was well in this denomination, that it was, by and large, holding fast to the Word of God. I still believe that there are many...
11 comments
Read more