Friday 7 December 2012

A Covenantal View of Baptism and Its Relationship to Evangelism

Christian baptism is in urgent need of being revisited by the evangelical church. This essay explores a covenantal view of baptism and its relationship to evangelism. The doctrine of baptism as put forward by the teaching found in the Westminster Standards is upheld. It is contended that there is a connection between God’s covenant and God’s signs of the covenant, which in the New Testament are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The shadow of baptism in the Old Testament was circumcision: whereas circumcision involved the shedding of blood and therefore it pointed forwards to the future shed blood of Christ, baptism points backwards to the shed blood of Christ and Christ’s completed atonement. Baptism in the new covenant is to be administered using water and the new covenant name of God, “the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19); and it is to be applied to Christian converts, and the children of believing parents.

This is the introduction to an article that I was requested to write for Affinity in the UK. The full article is available on their website or for downloading onto a PDF. The link is: http://www.affinity.org.uk/foundations-issues/issue-63-article-3-a-covenantal-view-of-baptism-and-its-relationship-to-evangelism

Let us pray for a recovery of a covenantal view of baptism as presented in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

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