As I have been reading some other people respond to posts on 9Marks and other sites I have seen responses like (loosely paraphrased) “those Baptists just need to change their opinions on believer baptism and then all this controversy will go away” to “The Bible is remarkably silent on the issue of baptism.”
I do not believe that Baptists need to “change their minds” regarding credo-baptism nor that the Bible is “remarkably silent” regarding baptism, on the contrary I believe that it says much about baptism: John’s baptism, the disciples of Jesus baptizing (John 4:1-2), Jesus’ commands to baptize the nations (Matthew 28:19), and the baptism in/of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).
My understanding from scripture is that the baptism of John in the Jordan river was marked by confession of sin and repentance. This baptism also pointed to a future Savior (Acts 19:4), in fact, John claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the one who would be “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” (Isaiah 40:3). All those who were baptized by John in the Jordan were adults who made a confession of sin and repentance and who were looking forward to the coming Messiah. Infants cannot make confession of sin, they cannot repent and therefore they cannot put their faith and trust in the Savior. There are no recorded instances in Scripture of infants being baptized by John, Jesus, Paul or any other New Testament persons.
(To be continued)
