Baptism: The baptism of disciples alone

Today I'm adding the 'The baptism of disciples alone' by Fred Malone (Available from Amazon) to the Master Reading List under the category of Baptism.

The subject of paedobaptism (infant baptism) is controversial.  This is easily evident from the enormous amount of ink which has been spilt on paper over it.

But, in my opinion, among the many volumes on the subject Malone's book has to be the best.

After giving an account of his own gradual realisation of the Baptist position, Malone divides the book into two parts.

Part One gives some preliminary Biblical principles of interpretation which should always be used when studying the Scriptures, including when it comes to baptism.  Although paedobaptists use such principles elsewhere, they seem to neglect them when it comes to baptism.

Then in Part Two, Malone carefully refutes the erroneous paedobaptist arguments, including:
(i) The covenant theology of the Bible;
(ii) The relationship between circumcision and baptism;
(iii) The proof texts concerning baptism;
(iv) Jesus' attitude toward children;
(v) The disjunction of the baptism of John and Christian baptism;
(vi) The argument of silence;
(vii) The argument of expanded blessings;
(viii) The testimony of tradition.

Then a number of Appendices are provided which also include a discussion on the proper mode of baptism (immersion vs sprinkling).

Although there is some repetition at times, Malone writes clearly.  He also speaks without hostility to those who disagree with him (which is something that cannot be said about many paedobaptist writings on the subject).  But Malone is not afraid to outline the dangers of paedobaptism: 'It is my belief that infant baptism will lead to a presumption of salvation for children by those children and their parents, ultimately leading to a decline in experiential religion in each succeeding generation of paedobaptists, at least until a revival restores born-again Christianity for another season.  This is one reason why, in my opinion, we often see a cycle of decline, revival and decline in paedobaptist churches throughout history.'

This is a very important work that should encourage Baptists to continue holding to their Baptist beliefs as Scriptural, and hopefully persuade some paedobaptists to seriously reconsider their theology.