Category: Baptism
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Baptismal Exhortation: Another Link in the Chain
Infant baptism is a sign of God’s multi-generational faithfulness. God’s covenants always include the next generation. We Presbyterians call this “covenant succession.” The promise God makes to believing parents is, “I will be your God and the God of your children.” The hope, based on this promise, is that the faith will be passed on…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Grace Restores the Family
There are many arguments we can derive from Scripture in favor of the practice of baptizing children. This is the eighth day of Christmas, the day of Christ’s circumcision. We could look at circumcision as a precursor to baptism. If the sign of the righteousness that comes by faith could be applied to children in…
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Baptismal Exhortation: The Watery Doorway
In baptism, water is poured or sprinkled over a person in the Triune name. Why does baptism use water? To grasp the full meaning of baptism, we need to grasp the meaning of water in the Scripture. Water was chosen for a reason, having to do with both its symbolism and its practical uses. Water…
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Baptism as Sign and Seal
We are gathered here today to celebrate the sacrament of baptism. In Reformational theology, baptism is considered a sign and seal. Signs in the Bible are mighty works of God. The plagues God put on Egypt are called signs. Jesus’ miracles are called signs. Baptism is called a sign because circumcision was called a sign;…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Types and Shadows of God’s Salvation
To understand baptism, we cannot just look at a few NT passages that mention baptism explicitly. The apostles clearly believed there were events in the OT that prefigured Christian baptism. For example, Peter says the flood, in which Noah and his family were saved by water in the ark, was a type, or foreshadowing of…
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The TPC Baptismal Liturgy
This is an email I send out to our congregation occasionally to instruct them about our practice of infant baptism — not just why we baptize infants, but also why we baptize the way we do, why we use the liturgy we do, etc. This is a good opportunity for me to remind you where…
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Do I Believe in Baptismal Regeneration?
I’d have to do some research on my hard drive or in my old email folders to be sure, but I think this essay was probably written about 2004 or 2005, when the Federal Vision controversy was raging. Because this essay has been one of my more commented-on baptismal essays, I thought it would be…
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The Baptism of a Baby Is a Beautiful Thing
There are many beautiful things about baptizing a baby — besides the baby herself! For one thing, in an infant baptism we get to see God’s covenant promise come to fulfillment before our very eyes. God’s promise to Christian parents is “I will be God to you and to your children” (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39). In this case, God…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Baptism as Holy Week in Sacramental Form
Today, these parents have come to claim God’s promises to and about their children. God says to us, “I will be a God to you and to your children.” In baptism, we claim that covenant pledge and God acts to make good on that pledge. In baptism, parents give their children to God, and God…
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Baptismal Exhortation: His Blood Be Upon us and Our Children
Easter Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week, but in considering the meaning of baptism today, I want us to go back to Jesus’ trial before Pilate. When Jesus was on trial, the crowd cried out, “His blood be on us and on our children.” By that, they meant that they judged Jesus worthy of…
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