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Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ. Edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright. NAC Studies in Bible and Theology. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2006, xix + 364 pp., $19.99.
This important volume, which offers a comprehensive case for believer's baptism in distinction from paedobaptism, is one in a series of volumes that aims to provide the church with the fruit of contemporary evangelical scholarship. E. Ray Clendenen, general editor of the series (NAC Studies in Bible and Theology), notes in his preface that the studies will include either detailed exegetical-theological works or biblical-theological treatments of particular topics. Believer's Baptism, though it addresses a general topic of importance to the life and ministry of the church, includes chapters that are primarily exegetical, others that are more theological, and some that trace the history of the topic in the Christian church.
In their introduction, the editors observe that the sacrament of baptism is of particular significance to the ministry of the church. The rite of baptism is an initiatory rite that marks a believer's incorporation into Christ and his body, the church. According to the editors, though differences between those who advocate believer's baptism and paedobaptism ought to be treated in an irenic and charitable manner, the significance of the difference between these two viewpoints may not be understated. They are convinced that advocacy of the believer's baptism position is scripturally demanded and constitutes one of the principal foundations of historic evangelicalism. Unless membership in the new covenant church is reserved for those who respond in faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the testimony of the gospel will be undermined and the church will become a "mixed community of believers and unbelievers" (p. 3). The integrity of the gospel-call to faith in Jesus Christ, as well as the character of the church as a community of believers who have experienced the work of the Spirit in regeneration and conversion, require that only believers receive the visible sign of fellowship with Christ through baptism.
The outline of the chapters in this volume reflects the authors' conviction that Scripture is the foremost norm for the faith and practice of the church. In the first section of the book, there are four chapters that...