The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.
In the preceding couple of verses, Peter (who is speaking) commands for all to repent and be baptized and receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. This verse is commonly misunderstood to support the practice of infant baptism. However, that is not doing credit to the context of this verse. If you only look at the first part of this verse, you could come up with that conclusion. But, look at the 2nd part: "all whom the Lord our God will call." This restricts the promise of the Holy Spirit to those whom God will call (referring to the inner call to faith given to the elect, not the broad gospel proclamation to all people). The previous verses also link this promise to faith. Peter simply understood that in order for someone to receive the Spirit, he or she had to be a believer. And, following faith was the symbolic act of baptism. I don't think he at all intended for this to extend the covenant sign to infants who are incapable of exercising faith.
These verses suggest that those who receive the covenantial sign of baptism are those whom God calls and who exercise faith (the ever confusing dual truth of God's sovereignty in election and man's responsibility to believe). It also makes it clear that all believers do receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the post-Pentecost world.
-JRO
1 comment:
I agree Jamie,
I was baptized when I became a believer and It was understood with me, and when it was explained to me when I made the decision to become baptized, that this was an outward sign to the Christian world that I was now an official member of Gods chosen people. My parents left this decision to me and allowed me to look for myself in Peters sermon to see what I felt should be done, and I choose to be baptized to show my faith. This is when I became a recognized Christian to those around me and I felt that I was truly part of Gods people.
I recognize the practice of infant baptism only in the sense of presenting a newborn to the church. I was a practicing catholic for a long time (although i had very real rejections of articles of faith that catholics commonly believe in, i've since left that practice) and I believe that when an infant is baptized it is nothing more than a recognition of the child as the daughter or son of a Christian, the decision must be made later by the individual to be baptized when they are truly saved, when he acceptance of Christ and his mercy are truly in place. I see infant baptism as a kind of giving over to the Lord of ones child, a dedication of the parents to show the church that they will raise the infant in a Christian home and institute Christian values in their home. If that makes sense! I know that there are some churches that separate this as solely a baby dedication (at my church at home we anoint infants that are dedicated with oil and pray them into Gods service) and some practice actual infant baptism as introduction to the holy spirit, but this is my take on what I believe. I hope that presents it clearly!
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