Covenant Children Today: Physical or Spiritual?

In the past I have disputed with Baptist pastors that deny Particular Redemption (Limited Atonement) for the simple reason that a consistent definition of Substitutionary Atonement demands a consistent application of Jesus' death to believers only. This logic and reasoning would also be consistently applied to believers baptism.

Over the years, I have sought to be more consistent with my own theology. As a Baptist I have grown in my understanding that Particular Baptists of the past saw the inconsistencies of their own day and sought to correct them.

With a return to a more consistent Covenant Theology among some Baptist churches, an interesting problem has occurred at one church in Oklahoma. According to Pastor Alan Conner (I don't remember where I read this) members of his church were beginning to be converted to the Reformed Paedo-Baptist (infant baptism) position. The reason is two-fold. First, many that are becoming Reformed in theirs views and going back and reading the great Reformed theologians such as John Owen and Jonathan Edwards. Since these men are paedo-baptists, then to be consistent with their views, so it would seem, many are embracing their views of baptism.

A second aspect of this so-called problem is that modern Reformed writers have written a slew of books in the last decade defending and promoting paedo-baptism. There has been very little in response by credo-Baptists. Due to Dispenationalism, most Baptists would not be able to write a consistent rebuttal or critique of the paedo-Baptist position, since they would refuse to apply the same logic and reasoning to other aspects of their own theology.

Pastor Alan Conner has stepped up to the plate with an excellent book. As a Covenantal theologian, he is able to write about the New Covenant and it application in a broad scope. Each chapter is fairly short and very readable to the average layman. The book's length is little over a hundred pages.

I recommend this book to any and all Baptist churches that are seeking to be consistent with their theology. It is also a great book for pastors that live in areas that are heavily dominated by churches that practice infant baptism. How often do we receive new converts with an infant baptist background and are forced to explain our views over and over again. This book will serve the church of Christ for years to come and equip our members to think consistently and Biblically.