Before Easter, Steve Kneale on his blog drew our attention to a recent article giving 5 reasons to reconsider infant baptism. I agree with Steve’s responses and in fact, the arguments are not significantly new but I did want to give a little bit more attention to two of them. One here and the other… Continue reading “Stop” seems to be the hardest word (to hear)
Tag: Circumcision
James 1:19-27 Listening and doing
This morning’s sermon…. Slowing the game down Sometimes in a frantic football game you need the player with skill, experience, patience just to put their foot on the ball, pause and slow the game down a bit giving everyone time to get their breath and their bearings. Then they get things moving again with a… Continue reading James 1:19-27 Listening and doing
Misrepresentation
In Galatians 2, Paul talks about the circumcision party who had previously caused trouble in Antioch as those who “came from James.” The implication there may have been that James himself was endorsing their position. However, that isn’t necessarily the case. In 5:11, Paul is himself compelled, to deny and refute that he was a… Continue reading Misrepresentation
Exclusion
It is unlikely that we are going to find ourselves in exactly the same boat as the Galatian church. The issue of circumcision is unlikely to come up in our churches. So, what does the application of Galatians 2 have to do with us? I asked the question at our Life Group one evening and… Continue reading Exclusion
Saving Titus
One of the striking things in Galatians 2 is the pivotal role that Titus plays in the drama. Titus is part of Paul’s team and he goes to Jerusalem with him. Paul tells us that Titus is not compelled to be circumcised. We can skim read it as an incidental extra but actually, the point… Continue reading Saving Titus
Face to face
Would you draw a connection between who you had round for dinner and whether or not you really believed the Gospel? Paul did. A look at the text: Read Galatians 2:11-14 When Paul had visited Jerusalem, he had found himself in agreement with Peter but at a later date, Peter had reason to visit the… Continue reading Face to face
Galatians Reconsidered (Book Review)
Much ink has been spilt over a little controversy amongst New Testament Theologians, the so called New Perspective on Paul. Neil Martin believes that he has found a way through the impasse to enable us to be enriched by Paul’s teaching, especially in Galatians. The New Perspective was a response to the traditional Protestant position,… Continue reading Galatians Reconsidered (Book Review)
The missing verse of Christmas
I wonder what the preacher will preach on today at the Christmas Day service. There’s a good likelihood that he will pick up on the account in Luke 2. If they do, I suspect that the reading will focus on v1-20. We’ll hear about the census, the journey to Bethlehem. We may well hear quite… Continue reading The missing verse of Christmas
Baptism and circumcision -are we misreading the covenants?
I picked up on this article recently which gives an other example of why it’s important that we do our text work right. First of all though I’d like to respond briefly to the point made here: “Our credobaptist brothers and sisters have to demonstrate that the Bible teaches that professing believers, and no one… Continue reading Baptism and circumcision -are we misreading the covenants?
The problem with some of the big arguments for infant baptism
Over the years, I’ve consistently heard three main arguments for infant baptism. These are: That when preaching, the apostles announced that the promise was for “you and your children.” Therefore, Christians can confidently expect their children to be within the new covenant promise. That baptism is the New Covenant equivalent of circumcision, that circumcision was… Continue reading The problem with some of the big arguments for infant baptism
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