Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry Is Published Semiannually by the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry
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1 SPRING 2018 • VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 Spring 2018 • Vol. 15, No. 1 The Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Editor-in-Chief 2018 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Charles S. Kelley, ThD Bart Barber, PhD Executive Editor First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas Steve W. Lemke, PhD Rex Butler, PhD Editor & BCTM Director New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Adam Harwood, PhD Research Assistant Nathan Finn, PhD Hoyt Denton Union University Book Review Editors Eric Hankins, PhD Archie England, PhD First Baptist Fairhope, Fairhope, Alabama Dennis Phelps, PhD Malcolm Yarnell, PhD Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry is a research institute of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The seminary is located at 3939 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70126. BCTM exists to provide theological and ministerial resources to enrich and energize ministry in Baptist churches. Our goal is to bring together professor and practitioner to produce and apply these resources to Baptist life, polity, and ministry. The mission of the BCTM is to develop, preserve, and communicate the distinctive theological identity of Baptists. The Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry is published semiannually by the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry. Copyright ©2018 The Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. All Rights Reserved. This peridiocal is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®), http://www.atla.com. CONTACT BCTM (800) 662-8701, ext. 8074 [email protected] www.baptistcenter.com SUBMISSIONS Visit the Baptist Center website for submission guidelines. TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial Introduction 1 Adam Harwood Credo v. Certo Baptism: How Delaying Baptism May Change its Meaning from Profession of Faith to Evidence of Salvation 3 Rustin Umstattd George Beasley-Murray on the Meaning and Practice of Baptism 15 Justin Nalls Form and Substance: Baptist Ecclesiology and the Regulative Principle 23 Scott Aniol Hermenuetical Problem? Homiletical Opportunity! 33 R. Larry Overstreet Pericope-by-Pericope: Transforming Disciples into Christ's Likeness through the Theological Interpretation of Scripture 47 Gregory K. Hollifield Romans 9 and the Calvinist Doctrine of Reprobation 62 Eric Hankins Southern Baptist Openness to and Departure from Ecumenism 75 Ray Wilkins Spiritual Warfare: A Strategic Guide 88 Lance Beauchamp Book Reviews 100 1 Editorial Introduction Adam Harwood, PhD Adam Harwood is associate professor of theology, occupying the McFarland Chair of Theology; director of the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry; editor, Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. he eight articles in this issue of the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry address the Ttopics of baptism, preaching, theological interpretation of Scripture, Romans 9 and reprobation, Southern Baptist ecumenism, and spiritual warfare. The articles are followed by reviews of books in the fields of biblical studies and theology. Rustin Umstattd is assistant professor of theology and director of the DEdMin program at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. In “Credo v. Certo Baptism: How Delaying Baptism May Change its Meaning from Profession of Faith to Evidence of Sanctification,” Umstattd revisits the New Testament to ask whether churches today should look for a credible profession of faith prior to baptizing new believers or whether baptism itself should be regarded as the confession of faith. One’s answer will guide a church’s discipleship of new believers, administration of membership classes, and instruction on the meaning of baptism. In “George Beasley-Murray on the Meaning and Practice of Baptism,” Justin Nalls, Next Generation Team Leader at Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia, revisits an influential English Baptist’s writings to suggest that baptism is an expression of faith and should be practiced as soon as a person believes in Christ. In “Form and Substance: Baptist Ecclesiology and the Regulative Principle,” Scott Aniol, associate professor of worship ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, points to English Baptists’ commitment to the regulative principle concerning baptism as an example for Baptists today on every matter of theology and practice in the church. Larry Overstreet served as professor of New Testament at Corban University School of Ministry in Tacoma, Washington, and is now adjunct professor at Piedmont International University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In “Hermeneutical Problem? Homiletical Opportunity!” Overstreet raises six types of interpretive problems that arise and suggests how each one can be addressed in a sermon. In “Pericope-by-Pericope: Transforming Disciples into Christ’s Likeness through the Theological Interpretation of Scripture, Gregory K. Hollifield, Assistant Academic Dean and Registrar at Memphis Center for Urban Theological Studies in Memphis, Tennessee, explores the value of Theological Interpretation of Scripture for preaching for transformation. 2 Eric Hankins, pastor of First Baptist Fairhope in Fairhope, Alabama, presents a case in “Romans 9 and the Calvinist Doctrine of Reprobation” that Romans 9–11 is not about reprobation in service of God’s justice but about Jewish unbelief in service of a great Jew and Gentile redemption. Ray Wilkins, pastor of Lebanon Baptist Church in Frisco, Texas, traces the history of inter-denominational cooperation in “Southern Baptist Openness to and Departure from Ecumenism.” In “Spiritual Warfare: A Strategic Guide,” Lance Beauchamp, director of Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, provides a primer for Christians on the topic of spiritual warfare. May the Lord use this issue of JBTM to sharpen your mind and to deepen your love for God and others (Matt 22:36–40). JBTM 15.1 (Spring 2018) 3 Credo v. Certo Baptism: How Delaying Baptism May Change its Meaning from Profession of Faith to Evidence of Sanctification Rustin Umstattd, PhD Rustin Umstattd is assistant professor of theology and director of the DEdMin program at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. [email protected] here is a debate brewing within credo-baptist churches over the timing of baptism, and Twhile this debate often revolves around whether or not to baptize children, this article will address the issue of delayed baptism for adults, and the impact a delay can potentially have regarding how baptism is understood. There are many voices who advocate delaying baptism so that the church can ascertain if the person is making a “valid” or “credible” profession of faith.1 This became the practice of the church in the second and third century as the catechumenate, a period of instruction prior to baptism, reached three years.2 The impetus behind this action is to reduce the number of “false baptisms” that are administered. Additionally, as baptism is often the final step a person takes before becoming a member of a church, the practice of seeking to ascertain if a person has made a “credible profession of faith” is done for the sake of safeguarding regenerate church membership. In contrast, this article will argue that baptism is itself among the most critical items of evidence needed to ascertain if a person is making a credible profession of faith. Thus, using other criteria to determine if a person has made a credible profession of faith, and setting that investigation prior to baptism itself, risks changing baptism from a symbol of initial union with and confession of faith in Christ to a symbol of progressive sanctification. While this is not the intended consequence of a delay in baptism, it may well be the real- world impact that results from such a delay. ¹John Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2005), 120–24. Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where Mark Dever is pastor, offers its reasoning for why it will delay baptism for children until they reach an age in which they assume adult responsibilities, approximately around the age of 18. This is not a fixed rule, but would be the normal practice of the church. This statement can be found at http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/ ministries/children/baptism-of-children/. While this article is not addressing the issues of baptizing young children, it would assume that the practice of delaying baptism for teenagers could result in the same issues as delaying baptism for adults. ²Clinton E. Arnold, “Early Church Catechesis and New Christians’ Classes in Contemporary Evangelicalism,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47.1 (2004): 39–54. CREDO V. CERTO BAPTISM 4 The article will lay out its argument by first showing that baptism is the biblically mandated means of professing one’s faith to the community. While it is understood that a person must show a willingness to profess his faith and that this willingness could itself be construed as a profession, the New Testament emphasizes that it is in the waters of baptism that a person makes his appeal to God for a clear conscience (1 Peter 3:21).3 Additionally, it will be shown that baptism is the initial evidence one should give of repenting from the sin of unbelief (John 16:9, Acts 2:38). Therefore, when a church demands a protracted period of time in which to observe behavioral evidence of repentance it weakens the symbolic power