To a Thousand Generations (Douglas Wilson)

Prompted by the discussions and decisions of friends, and enabled by this book's unexpected presence on our shelf, I found myself reading about infant baptism while camping last weekend. Douglas Wilson's To a Thousand Generations is a short teatise by a former credo-baptist (one who believes in believer baptism) on the Biblical directive for infant baptism. As a credo-baptist myself (although I didn't know it before reading this book), I was fascinated to read the reasoning behind the other side for the first time.

As I understand it, the argument of a paedo-baptist (one who believes in infant baptism) centers around the continuity of the old and new covenants, drawing a clear parallel between circumcision and baptism. As birth members of the covenant race, Jewish infants were circumcised prior to demonstrating faith in Jehovah; therefore children of believing, faithful Christian parents are to be baptized as birth members of the new covenant without regard for their personal faith profession or demonstration.

This argument actually makes sense to me. It is, at least, internally consistent. However, I was not convinced of the irrefutable Biblical evidence that requires adopting a paedo-baptist viewpoint. The book hinges on the assumption of continuity between the covenants in specific areas, and requires a parallel between circumcision and baptism that I believe is credible, but far from conclusive.

My conclusion from reading the book was that my own credo-baptist position is not as unassailable as I once thought. At the same time, the evidence presented to change my mind was insufficient. I remain faithful to the credo-baptist position, but am more firmly convinced that those on either side of this issue must continue their arguments with the utmost grace and compassion, for in the end, baptism is a sign, and only the true transformative power of Christ matters.