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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 50
13 May 2007
Dear Brethren in Christ,
Thank God for a blessed
time of listening to God’s Word and fellowship with like-minded brethren
at the FEBC annual retreat at Lautan Biru Resort, in Mersing, Malaysia,
from Monday to Wednesday. I am very glad and thankful to the Lord to
meet and have fellowship with my beloved Pastor and Principal, Rev Dr
Timothy Tow, my beloved Matron, Mrs Tow, the Academic Dean, Rev Dr
Jeffrey Khoo, the Dean of students, Rev Dr Prabhudas Koshy, and my
lecturers, Rev Koa Keng Woo and Miss Carol Lee, as well as with FEBC
students.
I am touched and encouraged
to hear a short exhortation on Psalm 23 from Rev Dr Timothy Tow with a
brief history how God led him to find, purchase and build this nice
resort by the blue sea. It is interesting to hear the testimony of the
FEBC President, Dr Tow Siang Yeow.
The theme of the retreat
this year is “Blessings and Struggles in the Ministry.” Rev Errol Stone
shared God’s blessings upon his ministry based on Romans 8:28-39
although he had to take a stand to do God’s work, even to discipline his
loved one. Rev Dennis Kwok shared about the caring heart of the shepherd
based on Jeremiah 8:18-22 and the joy to see the brethren walking in the
truth (3 John3-4). Rev Lee Kim Shong shared his ministry, struggles and
blessings based on 2 Corinthians chapter 4, preaching Christ and God’s
Word with the sufficiency in Christ and never giving up despite the
difficulties. And I shared about ministering and not being ministered to
as a servant of the Lord (Matt 20:25-28), being glad to spend and be
spent (2 Cor 12:14-15), and keeping oneself pure for the Master’s use (2
Tim 2:20-21).
It is encouraging to hear
the testimonies of FEBC graduates, special items from FEBC students in
different languages, with sketches, Bible quizzes/games and sports.
Thank God for His blessings.
Thank God for the article
on “Why Infant Baptism” by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo.
May God bless you and keep
you.
In His grace,
HN
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Why Infant Baptism
By Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo
“But the mercy of the LORD
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his
righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant,
and to those that remember his commandments to do them”
(Ps 103:17-18).
God desires to bless
His people. Children are God’s gift to us (Ps 127:3). As Christian
parents it is our duty to bring them up in the fear and knowledge of God
(Prov 22:6). God Himself is interested in the spiritual development of
our children. His way of reminding us of His concern is in the ceremony
of water baptism which is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace.
Children of Christian parents are also recipients of this covenant sign
and seal. Christian parents ought to have their babies baptised as soon
as possible. God is pleased with this act, and will bless both parent
and child accordingly.
I need to correct an
inaccurate conception of baptism held by the Baptists. The Baptists
teach what is called “believer’s baptism.” According to them, only
adults who can confess and believe in Christ can be baptised. Infants
are excluded since they are unable to exercise faith. The Baptists
cannot see how God can bless a believer and his family members who have
yet to trust in Christ. They view God’s covenant as something very
individualistic. They fail to see that God is not only interested in the
Christian, but also his family, that the Scriptures teach household
baptism.
This is where a proper
understanding of Covenant Theology comes in. Let me explain briefly. The
period between Adam’s creation and the time of his fall is called the
Covenant of Works. It is called the Covenant of Works because (1) of the
absence of sin, and (2) of God’s requirement of works to enter heaven.
God put man to the test. If Adam wants to live with God forever, he must
obey God. God commanded Adam, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die” (Gen 2:16-17). Adam failed the test by eating the forbidden fruit.
His disobedience led to his depravity.
But God planned a way of
salvation for mankind. From the time of the fall till today, we are
living in a period called the Covenant of Grace. This period began when
God made this promise in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” God promised to send a
Saviour. This Saviour would be born of a virgin (note: “seed of a
woman”). The Saviour will be crucified (“bruise his heel”), but His
crucifixion will defeat Satan totally (“bruise thy head”). Man is saved
solely by grace through faith in Christ.
This Covenant of Grace is
divided into 2 periods: (1) OT and (2) NT. The central Figure of both
Testaments is Jesus Christ. The people in the OT were saved by looking
forward to the cross (John 8:56), and we in the NT are saved by looking
back at the cross. In the OT, God taught the people mainly through
symbols (eg, tabernacle, sacrifices, etc). All these symbols point to
Christ. In the NT, God revealed Himself through His Son (Heb 1:1-3).
Jesus fulfilled all the OT symbols and prophecies. In the OT, the
ceremonies that identified the nation of Israel to God were the passover
and circumcision. In the NT, since Christ is the fulfillment of the OT,
the passover and circumcision have been replaced by the Lord’s supper
and water baptism respectively (Luke 22:14-20, Col 2:11-12).
Now, let us focus on the OT
rite of circumcision, and the NT rite of baptism. They are quite
similar. Paul in Colossians 2:11-12 calls water baptism “the
circumcision of Christ.” Water baptism is Christian circumcision. When a
Jew is circumcised, he is telling people that He believes in Jehovah,
and that he is a member of the nation of Israel. When a believer goes
through water baptism, he is telling everyone that he believes in
Christ, and that he is a member of the church. In the OT, male babies
when they reach 8 days old are circumcised. Likewise in the NT, we
baptise our babies as early as possible. They are within God’s covenant
promises.
Why were Jewish babies
circumcised? And why are babies born to Christian parents baptised? It
is because God is interested in the family unit. When God saves one in
the family, He also desires to save all. God’s covenant promises are
given not only to the individual but also to those who are part of his
household (Gen 17:7-14). This household concept is very important.
In the OT we find the
following instances where God saved not only a person, but also his
family from destruction. Consider the OT teaching on household salvation
as found in the case of Noah (Gen 7:1), of Abraham (Gen 17:12-13, 23,
27), and of Lot (Gen 19:16). God included their respective families in
His work of salvation or deliverance.
Now let us look at the NT. The
same household salvation teaching is found in the NT. When Peter and
Paul preached the gospel, they called not only individuals to salvation
but also their family members (Acts 2:38-39, Acts 16:31). Consider the
following examples of household salvation: (1) Martha, Mary and Lazarus
of Bethany (John 11:1), (2) Cornelius and his family (Acts 10:44-48,
11:14-16), (3) Lydia and her family (Acts 16:14-15), (4) Philippian
jailor and his family (Acts 16:31-33).
It must be said that salvation
is not automatic. It does not mean that if one member of the family
becomes saved, the rest automatically become saved even when they have
yet to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Each person of age must
confess and believe in Christ for salvation. When we talk about
household salvation, we are saying that God is deeply interested in the
eternal destiny of our dear ones. We have a moral responsibility to
preach the Gospel to them, and bear a Christlike testimony at home. When
we prayerfully and diligently do our part, God will be faithful to do
His part to bring them eventually to a saving knowledge of Himself.
This is especially the case
with children. As Christian parents, this should be our primary
concern—that our children come to know Christ as their Saviour at the
earliest possible age. It is a heavy responsibility to be parents. We
have brought one more sinner into the world. And if he or she does not
believe in Christ, eternal punishment awaits. I am sure we do not wish
at all for our children to spend eternity in hell. God does not desire
that either. He encourages us with a promise that He will be faithful to
save our children when we are faithful in bringing them up in the fear
and knowledge of God.
When we offer our infants for
baptism, we are in effect pleading with God to have mercy on our
children, and to claim His promise that He will save our children. In
infant baptism, parents also make the commitment to bring up their
children in the Christian way in accordance to the Scriptures. It is a
means of grace. We have made a promise to God publicly to pray for our
children and to teach them the Holy Scriptures, and this serves as a
reminder throughout the years when our children are under our care. It
is also important to understand that at the baptismal service, it is the
parents’ faith which is exercised and not the child. The faith exercised
is the parents’ faith in the covenant promises of God for the family. As
Christian parents, may we not neglect our biblical duty to God and to
our children.
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