For You and Your Children: The Book of Acts in Baptism Debates (original) (raw)
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The Act of Baptism In the Book of Acts
The purpose of this paper is to analyze what the book of Acts teaches regarding the Christian practice of baptism. The major passages regarding baptism will be discussed, the correct interpretation offered, and their significance clearly stated. Claims regarding the relationship of baptism to salvation will be examined along with the mode of baptism and the proper candidates for baptism. This paper will not concern itself primarily with other passages but is limited solely to occurrences recorded in the book of Acts.
The Baptism Debate, 2023
Should the church baptize infants? This question has been an issue of debate for over 1500 years. The Baptism Debate provides a fresh look at the Reformed perspective on infant baptism. After thoroughly explaining and examining the Reformed position on infant baptism, this book provides a genuine and thoughtful analysis of Reformed covenant theology and its implications for infant baptism. Grounding the conclusions in a robust analysis of the biblical texts, The Baptism Debate helps the reader understand baptism and answer the question of whether the church should baptize infants.
Troubled Waters A Fresh Look At Baptism And Why We Argue
Self Published, 2016
Baptism is an issue that has long divided the Christian church, and it is an argument that has not made much progress. Each camp discusses the same biblical data, but without hearing each other. This book looks at why we have these camps, and why we persist in misunderstanding one another. It shows how correcting our foundations and assumptions (using biblical data usually ignored in the discussion) suggests a fresh solution to the problem of baptism.
EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY A Text Critical Commentary on Acts
This paper will examine Acts 15:16-21, 29; 21:25 and observe the evidence of variant readings therein. Out of all the literature written about problems with the text in the book of Acts, none is more extensive than that of the 'Apostolic Decree' that is found here in Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25. This passage is important in that it gives the reader insight into Luke's thought, the problems raised with the early church in how to interpret and understand the Law, as well as the primitive church's situational condition in how they treated such disputes. The main problem on text critical research of the Decree has concentrated on which form fits the context best as well as attempting to discern the origin of the variant forms. This paper will go verse by verse starting from Acts 15:16 and discuss the text critical issues ending with verse 21. The verses of Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25 will also be compared and highlighted as to their different forms from Acts 15:20 as these texts have been one of the highlights in the history of text critical issues within the book of Acts.
Infanticide in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15 Revisited
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2019
In a 2009 JETS article, David Instone-Brewer argued that πνικτός in the prohibitions of the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25) is better understood as "smother" rather than "strangle" and relates to the practice of infanticide, specifically the "smothering" of an infant, a practice observed by Gentiles but abhorrent to Jews. Instone-Brewer's proposal has received little interaction since its proposal. Therefore, this article seeks to outline Instone-Brewer's argument, indicate why it might be helpful, and then provide a critical examination of it. While Instone-Brewer's view would solve difficult problems related to the identification and purpose of the prohibitions, it faces significant textual, text-critical, and logical challenges that ultimately call its viability into question.
One of the areas of ecumenical endeavour continuing to defy consensus is that of the theology and practice of baptism. The historical development of the doctrine shows clearly that baptismal theology and practice have been powerfully influenced by Scriptural statements that do not contain any explicit baptismal vocabulary at all. The present study is confined to explicit baptismal vocabulary, on the grounds that it alone provides a solid foundation for establishing the baptismal theology and practice of the apostolic era, which, arguably, continues to be normative for authentic Christianity. A. The explicit baptismal vocabulary of the New Testament The explicit baptismal vocabulary of the New Testament is comprised of four words. Three of these are nouns, one a verb. In order of frequency they are (1) the verb βαπτίζω. With 76 occurrences, it has by far the highest number of occurrences. It is followed by the three nouns (2) βάπτισµα (19x), (3) βαπτιστής (12x) and (4) βαπτισµός (4x). These 111 occurrences are distributed among only 12 of the 27 NT writings, i.e., less than half (Appendix A). The single occurrence in the Longer Ending of Mark (Mark 16.16) is excluded from our considerations, as on text-critical grounds it is to be regarded as a later, non-Marcan, addition to the original Gospel of Mark. Also falling outside our considerations is Acts 8.37 [Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' The eunuch answered, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' (NIV2011)]. Here the evidence of the manuscript tradition indicates clearly that this text was added later to Acts 8.26–40, the baptismal narrative concerning Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Although it contains no baptismal vocabulary, mention is made of the Acts 8.37 addition because it seems to have exercised an undeserved influence on baptismal theology and practice.