10/16/2011

Peter Leithart's Baptismal Theology

At the beginning of the transcript of Peter Leithart's examination (page 153 and following of the trial transcript) he gives some insight into how and why he began to rethink some of the normal ways of formulating baptismal theology in the Reformed tradition. He responds (and remember, this is a transcript of someone speaking off the cuff):

I began thinking about baptism partly from thinking about the rites of restoration and entry that exist in the old covenant. Rites of washing for uncleanness that moved a person from a status of unclean to a status of clean. Rites of ordination ... that was what my doctoral dissertation was about. That ordination by the rite gave a new status to Aaron and gave him access to God that he didn’t have prior to the rite. And then started thinking about the nature of rites and ceremonies in that regard and then tried to think through baptism. That gave me a way, I thought, of thinking about the strong statements that New Testament makes about baptism in a way that avoided the implications of some kind of magical properties in the water or in the rite itself but still was able to account for the very strong statements about efficacy of baptism that we find in the New Testament. I wanted to come up with a new way of talking about baptism and think about baptism for my own sake that would make 1 Peter 3 which has already been mentioned seem like a very natural way to talk about baptism. That was my - - that was my intention. Another aspect of it is I do emphasize the importance of the visible church and much of what I say about the effect of baptism or different ways of describing what it means to be a member of the visible church, to be a member of the body of Christ. If the body of Christ is the body of Christ. If it is the family of the father and baptism is the right of entry into that community then it confers a certain status before God a certain relation to Christ that is, that’s consistent with the nature of that community.

I thought this was a very good way to begin his testimony. And so, for those who disagree with Leithart, I think a good first question to you is this: "What are you doing in your thinking and preaching to insure that 1 Peter 3:21-22 sounds like a perfectly normal way of talking about baptism?"