The Covenantal
Baptist Position Briefly Stated
Excerpted from The Baptism of Disciples Alone:
A Covenantal Argument for Credobaptism
Versus Paedobaptism
by Fred Malone
I have come to
believe that the only proper subjects of Christian baptism are defined
biblically as disciples. The following summary of the covenantal Baptist
position was believed and taught by early Southern Baptist theologians such as
Basil Manly, Sr., William Bullein Johnson, James P. Boyce, P. H. Mell, R. B. C.
Howell, John L. Dagg, as well as by the English Baptist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
The following
points are consistent with the 1689
1.
That before the
foundation of the world, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit entered into a
Counsel of Peace, or Covenant of Redemption, to save an elect people from their
sins (Eph. 1:1–14; Titus 1:9). That within the decrees of God, only two
covenant heads were designated, Adam and Christ. That God the Father decreed to
create the world, including Adam as the covenant head of humanity, that He
decreed to permit the fall of Adam by his own free choice, and that He decreed
to send His Son as the covenant head to rescue an elect people from their sins
and death. That all men who ever were to be born had Adam designated as their
head in his Covenant of Works and that all of God’s elect people had Christ
designated as their head in the Covenant of Redemption. That every person at
any time in history is either in Adam or in Christ (Rom. 5:12–19), but never in
both or neither.
2.
That the
so-called Covenant of Grace with God’s elect is His historical working out of
that eternal Covenant of Redemption in Christ.
3.
That Adam was
created upright and placed in a relationship with God which would continue
perpetually if he kept God’s commands, variously called the Covenant of Works or
Covenant of Life (Eccles. 7:29; Hos. 6:7). As the covenant head of all
humanity, his fall into sin brought sin, death, and condemnation upon the
entire race (Rom. 5:12–19).
4.
That God did
reveal historically the “promise of grace” in Gen. 3:15, commonly called the
Covenant of Grace, successively revealing its future fulfillment in Jesus
Christ’s New Covenant through the historical “covenants of promise (Eph.
2:12).” Thus, salvation by grace through faith in the coming “seed of the
woman” as covenant Head was revealed and offered from the fall of man
throughout the Old Testament “covenants of promise.”
5.
That the New
Covenant of Jesus Christ is the prophesied fulfillment of what has been called
the historical Covenant of Grace, revealed in the “covenants of promise” since
the fall, and is the fullest and final historical manifestation of that eternal
Covenant of Redemption to save God’s elect (2 Tim. 1:8–10).
6.
That the New
Covenant is an effectual covenant of realized blessings, not like the Sinai
Covenant which it abrogates (Gal. 3:19), with an effectual Mediator as its
covenant Head, writing the law on every member’s heart as individuals (Jer.
31:27–34; 32:40), giving them the true knowledge of God, and forgiving their
sins (Heb. 8:8–12; 10:15–17).
7.
That Jesus Christ
is the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the final physical seed of Abraham to
Whom the promises were made (Gal. 3:16, 19), the effectual Mediator of the New
Covenant (Rom. 5:12ff.), and the covenant Head whose “of faith” seed become
joint-heirs with Him, members of the New Covenant, children of Abraham, the
true circumcision, the true Jew, “the Israel of God,” and the fulfillment of
the promises to Abraham (Gal. 3:14, 6:15–16; Rom. 2:28–29, 4:16).
8.
That all who
repent of sins and believe in Jesus Christ, Jew or Gentile, shall be saved and,
as evidence of their New Covenant membership and heart-circumcision, should be
baptized as disciples who have professedly entered the New Covenant by
repentance and faith alone.
9.
That John
baptized disciples alone who repented of sin (Matt. 3:6). That Jesus and His
disciples “made and baptized more disciples
than John (John 4:1).” The disciples were first made, then baptized. That every
person baptized had to decide to be baptized for himself, not by another’s
decision for him (as in circumcision).
10. That there is no stated abrogation of the only subjects
of Jesus’ baptism, disciples alone, in the New Testament.
11. That the Great Commission commands us to “make disciples
of all the nations (individuals from all nations, not the national entities),
baptizing them (the “made” disciples)
... teaching them (the baptized
disciples) to do all that I commanded you (Matt. 28:19–20).” Luke corroborates
this understanding: “and
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all
nations, beginning at
12.
That this is
exactly what happened at Pentecost. Only those who “received [Peter’s] words
were baptized” (Acts 2:41), not the infant children of believers.
13.
That, amidst the
debates about whether infant baptized children of believers are included in the
New Testament church visible, it is often overlooked that the common
designation for the church visible in Acts is “the disciples” (Acts 1:15;
6:1f.; 9:19, 26, 28; 11:29; 13:52; 14:20, 22, 28; 15:10; 18:23, 27; 19:9, 30;
20:1, 7, 30; 21:4, 16): “And it came about that for an entire year [Saul and
Barnabas] met with the church, and
taught considerable numbers; and the
disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26).” The church
is called “the disciples” because it was made up of those who followed Christ
as committed “learners.” These disciples were first called Christians at
14.
That baptism is a
sign of the subject’s cleansing from sin, his union with Christ by his faith,
and his commitment to a new life in Christ from thenceforth.
15.
And, finally, as
stated in the Westminster Confession and the London Baptist Confession (1689),
baptism and the Lord’s Supper, including their subjects, are “sacraments
instituted by Christ.” That they are included as elements of worship under the
regulative principle of worship positively instituted by God and “limited by
His own revealed will (WCF 20:1, 5).” The elements of Christian worship
governed by the regulative principle are all “expressly set down in Scripture,”
not “by good and necessary inference.” The only form of baptism which fits this
principle is that which was “instituted” and “prescribed in the Holy
Scripture;” that is, the baptism of disciples alone, not of infants by additional
and possibly erroneous “good and necessary inference.” Baptism is for disciples
alone (John 4:1; Acts 2:38–41): solis discipulis.