Saturday, January 26, 2013

Baptism and the Romans 14 Rule.

     Baptism is a command, to that all parties agree. Jesus in the great commission commands this act to be practiced until He returns. However, the method of it falls under a secondary practice by definition. The Christian faith does not stand nor fall on the method of one’s baptism. It stands or falls on the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of Scripture, and the doctrine of salvation. Therefore, though baptism is a command, regarding it’s method it is a secondary practice. Therefore we apply this Romans 14 rule to it.

The rule is this: when a believer in this assembly[The Well] is governed by their faith and conscience over matters of secondary practice, we will not despise them nor pass judgment on them. We get this rule directly from Romans 14, so lets read a few verses.
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables [v.1-2]....One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God[v.5-6]....So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”[v.12] 
Now granted at this point Paul is only speaking about food and the observance of days. However those are just examples that Paul is using to make his point. The practice of eating food and observing days, like the method of baptism are secondary practices.  Paul continues...

“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding[v.13-19].... But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin."[v.23]
Historically there has been three positions that have governed the local church in the area of baptism.
 1) The Baptist position.  This position allows only converts, that is professing believers or disciples to be baptized. Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” 
2) The Presbyterian position which in addition to conversion baptisms, encourages believing parents to baptize their children. They see inclusion of children in the new covenant on the basis of the perpetual promise made to Abraham in Genesis 17. Abraham was commanded to circumcise all the males in his household, including the infants and aliens as a perpetual covenant. Abraham and his seed were to keep the covenant by receiving the sign of the covenant, namely circumcision. Now the N.T. tells us that all who are of faith are blessed and are called Abraham’s descendants. [Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 3:9]. Therefore they argue that “the infant seed of believing Gentiles, even in the Old Testament, were partakers of the promises made to Abraham and so were in covenant with God; “therefore they are in it still, unless God hath repealed. it.””  (Joel Beeke, Mark Jones A Puritan Theology: Doctrine For Life. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012, pg. 728)  So their view is that since infants of believing parents are included in the covenant they are to receive the sign of the covenant.  In the New Covenant, this sign is baptism.  As evidence, it is often pointed out that in a couple places in the book of Acts(Acts 16:15; 33-34), and in 1 Cor. 1:16 whole households were baptized, therefore inferring that children were being baptized as well. 

Now certainly God is not confused as to what He had in mind.  He knows exactly what He intended, and both sides of this debate swear that their position is God's position.  Granted.  Yet in His providence, He has neither prohibited infant baptism, nor commanded it explicitly. In addition He has not explicitly commanded conversion only baptisms. Yet, He has commanded all to repent, believe the gospel and be baptized. So the 3rd position which is ours is the so-called  3)"Romans 14 position" This position allows for both positions to be practiced in one body.  This is not because we are relativists, nor because we simply want to take a third "less offensive" position.  All Christians everywhere ought to rigorously apply their mind to Scripture and good teaching and then practice in full faith and according to their conscience what they think the Scripture is teaching. We will not despise nor pass judgment on these believers. We have in mind that baptism is a sign that points to Christ. It is not intended to point to us. It is a means of grace so that we could see a picture of the gospel in it. We are not willing to divide over a sign. We will divide over the substance, i.e. the gospel, but not over the sign of it. That is our position. This is the Romans 14 rule. Sincere believers can have different views on the method of baptism. All parties however are bound by faith and conscience.  This binding of faith and conscience should be allowed to be the rule over secondary practices just as Paul commanded.  It is not safe nor right to advise them to violate their conscience, and it is a reproach to the gospel to make a sign of the gospel more important than the gospel itself and ask them to leave the church. We allow both forms to be expressed at the Well so long as the recipients of this sign are not doing it superstitiously, or treating it as efficacious for salvation or meritorious for earning God’s favor. We try to discern where people are at on this through an interview process.

We did not come to this position merely out of reaction, or a desire to be different from other churches. Major Christian leaders such as Mark Dever(a Baptist) and Ligon Duncan(a Presbyterian), men that we really like, started conference 6 years ago called Together For The Gospel. They practice this rule in a conference setting. We believe that this can be done in the same church under the same roof. 
We know have not come to this position in order to appease all parties nor because we are motivated to not offend at all costs. We know the gospel is offensive enough. We hold this position because we think it is a loving practice to those who hold differing views, and since it promotes love and maturity amongst our members, therefore it is most God-glorifying position in our view.

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