The book under critique, Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, was written by Shawn D. Wright. Wright is a theology professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. With this book, Wright teams up with Thomas R. Schreiner, the Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Together, they co-edit a collection of scholarly and scriptural essays on the history and truth of baptism.
Using critical biblical interpretations, a thorough history of the doctrine and practices of early church, and with the final goal of placing baptism in its rightful place as one of the central liturgical act of Christianity, the authors set out to promote credobaptism. …show more content…
With that, Schreiner and Wright explain who should be baptized, when the baptism should occur, and what is achieved in the believer’s life when they are baptized. With the help of eight other Bible scholars, the authors set out to demonstrate that baptism should be reserved exclusively for those who believe, have repented, and have upheld their faith. The conclusions and discoveries presented by the authors are deeply rooted in biblical truth. They offer real-world application for the believer of today, while also giving possible explanations for the existence of paedobaptism (the practice of infant baptism) and how people came to believe that infant baptism is linked to the covenant relationship found in the Old …show more content…
Despite there being no existence of infant baptism in the canon of Scripture, Stephen J. Wellum explains that “at the heart of the doctrine of infant baptism is the argument it is an implication drawn from the comprehensive theological category of the covenant of grace” (p. 68). Taking a closer look at this claim and you will see that Wellum accesses the relationship of baptism and the covenants. He concludes that it is “[only] if the interpretation of the covenant of grace, along with its understanding of the continuity between Israel and the church can be maintained do we have a strong case for infant baptism” (p. 124). Wellum cleverly debunks paedobaptism by pointing out that the main problem it is that there exists a “failure to understand that the relationship between the biblical covenants, [as] a truly covenantal approach to Scripture… demands an affirmation of believer’s baptism” (p. 160). He continues that “circumcision and baptism carry essentially the same spiritual meaning and that in the new covenant era baptism is the replacement of circumcision as a covenant sign” (p. 153). Ultimately, we can see that the relationship baptism had taken on with the covenants is that it replaced circumcision. The chapter concludes that the significance of baptism is the union that is created between the believer and Jesus as a result of the act, but it is also solidified by grace through faith (p.
Using critical biblical interpretations, a thorough history of the doctrine and practices of early church, and with the final goal of placing baptism in its rightful place as one of the central liturgical act of Christianity, the authors set out to promote credobaptism. …show more content…
With that, Schreiner and Wright explain who should be baptized, when the baptism should occur, and what is achieved in the believer’s life when they are baptized. With the help of eight other Bible scholars, the authors set out to demonstrate that baptism should be reserved exclusively for those who believe, have repented, and have upheld their faith. The conclusions and discoveries presented by the authors are deeply rooted in biblical truth. They offer real-world application for the believer of today, while also giving possible explanations for the existence of paedobaptism (the practice of infant baptism) and how people came to believe that infant baptism is linked to the covenant relationship found in the Old …show more content…
Despite there being no existence of infant baptism in the canon of Scripture, Stephen J. Wellum explains that “at the heart of the doctrine of infant baptism is the argument it is an implication drawn from the comprehensive theological category of the covenant of grace” (p. 68). Taking a closer look at this claim and you will see that Wellum accesses the relationship of baptism and the covenants. He concludes that it is “[only] if the interpretation of the covenant of grace, along with its understanding of the continuity between Israel and the church can be maintained do we have a strong case for infant baptism” (p. 124). Wellum cleverly debunks paedobaptism by pointing out that the main problem it is that there exists a “failure to understand that the relationship between the biblical covenants, [as] a truly covenantal approach to Scripture… demands an affirmation of believer’s baptism” (p. 160). He continues that “circumcision and baptism carry essentially the same spiritual meaning and that in the new covenant era baptism is the replacement of circumcision as a covenant sign” (p. 153). Ultimately, we can see that the relationship baptism had taken on with the covenants is that it replaced circumcision. The chapter concludes that the significance of baptism is the union that is created between the believer and Jesus as a result of the act, but it is also solidified by grace through faith (p.