Theology That Bites Back
Resolved: Paedocommunion Consistently Expresses Christ’s Purposes in Giving Us the Sacraments: Thank you all for coming. It is great to be with you all. Thanks to NSA for the opportunity to discuss ...
Lane has moved on to discuss Venema’s treatment of 1 Corinthians 11 in chapter 6. Before I follow him there, I wanted to say at least a couple of things about Venema’s introduction of “New Testament evidence” in his chapter 5, and respond briefly to his argument from John 6. First, it bears repeating that …
My apologies to Lane, who gently nudged me into a response. I had for some reason missed his two earlier posts and was politely waiting around for him to get back to business. But alas, it was me who needed to get back to business, and I have nothing exculpatory to say. This post should …
Lane and I continue the discussion. In this segment, Lane repeats Venema’s argument that receiving the sacrament of bread and wine is just like receiving the Word, and that it is necessary for someone to be able to do the latter before they can be admitted to the former. Both require “active engagement” by the …
Just a few quick comments on Lane’s latest post so that we can continue to work through Venema’s book. Lane says that baptism “means” inclusion in the visible church, according to the Confession, and that all the other stuff (regeneration and so forth) only applies when the individual baptized has the thing signified. Lane goes …
Just a quick response to Lane’s latest, and then we can continue to move on through Venema’s book. I believe that the issues Lane raises here are really worth pursuing, and I hope we do that as our discussion proceeds. Lane says that baptism belongs to the administration of the covenant of grace because it …
Time to reengage with Lane on the question of paedocommunion. First, just a few comments on his post, and then on to Venema’s treatment of the historic Reformed position on all this. Lane uses the example of citizenship and certain privileges like driving or voting. He wants to say that just because covenant children are …
The next chapter of Venema’s book addresses paedocommunion in the history of the Church, and he provides us with a judicious and fair treatment. Lane’s response to that chapter is here. Venema handles the material from the fathers competently, grants clear evidence where clear evidence is present, and also gives a fair hearing to the …
Just a few more brief comments, and we can move on. Thanks to Lane for his reply on Venema’s definition of soft paedocommunion. On 1 Cor. 10:17, my point is that it doesn’t matter how you translate it — the basic point remains the same. If the loaf is the body (KJV), then all who …
Lane has responded to me here. Just a couple of things, and I am ready to move on to Venema’s next chapter. First, Lane has not yet responded to whether or not Venema would consider him a soft paedocommunionist. It seems to me that according to the definitions, that is the way it would have …
