by Richard Barcellos | Jul 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
Melania the Elder was also renowned for her learning and intellect. Palladius comments that she “was very learned and a lover of literature. She turned night into day by going through every writing of the ancient commentators, three million lines of Origen, and two hundred fifty thousand lines of Gregory, Stephen, Pierius, Basil, and other excellent men.” In fact, Palladius observes, Melania read each work “seven or eight times.” (Hall, 45)
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by admin | Jul 14, 2010 | Book, Sacraments
Below is a portion of chapter one of Gary Crampton’s new book, From Paedobaptism to Credobaptism. You can purchase the book for $14.30 at RBAP.
A Problem with the Doctrine of Infant Baptism in the Westminster Standards
The present writer is in agreement with B. B. Warfield that the Westminster Standards, consisting of the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, “are the richest and most precise and best guarded statement ever penned of all that enters into evangelical religion, and of all that must be safeguarded if evangelical religion is to persist in the world.”[1] Then too, Richard Baxter was correct, when he stated, “As far as I am able to judge, the Christian world, since the days of the apostles, had never a synod more excellent than this [the Westminster Assembly].”[2]
As a minister of the gospel, I believe that the Westminster Standards provide the finest summary of the system of doctrine taught in Holy Scripture.[3] In this sense, the Standards are considered to be a subordinate standard to the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. The Bible alone has a systematic monopoly on truth.
The Standards, as with all confessions and creeds, must be evaluated in light of Scripture. One must adhere to the Berean principle of Acts 17:11, where we are enjoined to “search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things be true.” As stated in the Westminster Confession (31:4) and as valuable as confessions and creeds are (and they are very valuable), the fact is that “all synods or councils, since the apostles’ times, whether general or particular, may err; and many have erred.” Therefore, says the Confession (1:10), “The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.” As taught in the Larger Catechism (Q. 3), “The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.”
It is while engaged in a thorough study of the two New Testament sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, that I encountered a problem with the doctrine of infant baptism. The problem is three-fold: first, there are no examples of infant baptism in the Bible; second, baptism and the Lord’s Supper go together; and third, there are multiple differences among paedobaptists as to why infants should be baptized.
[1] Benjamin B. Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings, edited by John E. Meeter (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1973), II:660.
[2] Cited on the back cover of Westminster Confession of Faith (Glasgow: Free Presbyterian Publications, 1994). All citations from the Westminster Standards, comprised of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, are from this publication. The English has been modernized. Note is made that when this author says that he is in agreement with what Warfield and Baxter have said about the Westminster Standards, the same could be said (with certain nuances here and there) about the Congregational Savoy Declaration (1658) and the London Baptist Confession of 1689, because some 90% of the doctrines taught by these three confessions are in agreement with one another. See Errol Hulse, The Testimony of Baptism (Sussex: Carey Publications, 1982), 57.
[3] Again, a similar statement could be made (with certain nuances) with regard to the Savoy Declaration and the London Baptist Confession of 1689.
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
by Richard Barcellos | Jul 14, 2010 | Hermeneutics, Historical Theology
Hall quotes Allison on Matt. 5:5.
Perhaps we should follow the interpretive lead of Theodoret and Eusebius and set Matt. 5:5 against the Moses traditions. Moses was, in meekness, the exemplar. He promised the Israelites inheritance of the land. And he himself did not enter the land. From this last fact, sufficiently unexpected to have engendered much rabbinic reflection, one might extract that the third beatitude pledges something Moses never gained. On such an interpretation, the members of the new covenant would be more blessed than the chief figure of the old; if, in the past, the meek one did not enter the land, now, that the kingdom of God has come, “the meek shall inherit the earth.” One thinks of Matt. 11:11: the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than all of those who came before.
Hall notes that Allison remains undecided about an allusion to Moses in Matt. 5:5 and then adds:
He does beleive, though, that such an allusion should be seriously considered, that it has fruitful homiletical possibilities, and that it clearly tells us what the fathers themselves heard when they listened to the passage. Again, the hermeneutical proximity of the fathers to Scripture has picked up tonal qualities of the text that would remain mute for modern readers if the scholar, pastor or layperson relied solely on recent exegesis. The fathers hear and see where we tend to be deaf and blind. (Hall, 40-41)
Why do the fathers often hear and see where we tend to be deaf and blind?
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by CBTSeminary | Jul 8, 2010 | Book Reviews, Church Planting, Practical Theology
Today we begin reading through the book Church Planting is For Wimps together. Why this book? Because our school has students who by God’s grace may be called as pastors and church planters. Since Mike McKinley has gone through the process of church planting (or more accurately church revitalization), I thought it would be helpful to lead a chapter-by-chapter blog discussion. Who is Mike? An admitted “no-name” who was asked by Mark Dever and Capitol Hill Baptist Church to help plant a church. If interested, feel free to read a brief interview that I recently had with him.
But I do not want to limit this discussion to our students. If you are interested in church planting or pastoring or if you feel like this book could help you in any way, please join us. Simply pick up a copy of the book and start reading!
So, let’s get started….
This week I wanted to cover both the Introduction and Chapter 1. Right up front I want to say that I love Mike’s personal and conversational writing style. I almost feel as if I am in the same room having a conversation with the author. I will try to be informal in this blog series as well.
In any case, I want to use Mike’s own words to explain the purpose of his book:
“You haven’t heard of me. There’s no obvious reason you’d want to read anything I have to say. I don’t pastor a large church…. I don’t have a particularly brilliant methodological insight that will transform your life or ministry…. Instead I want to share with you my story of planting a church…. The small victories and slow progress of the gospel in our lives and churches are actually spectacular evidence of God’s grace and exactly the things that make up part of his wonderful story of redemption” (11-12).
Amen! Finally, a book on church planting that is not based on “success” or rooted in contemporary church growth models. Instead, we have an honest and open look at a man who desired to build his church on the foundation of the Word of God and to be faithful in what it teaches.
Therefore we read a brief bio of the author and then enter into his story of deciding to work with CHBC on planting a church in the Washington DC suburbs. Mike is a Christian punk rocker with tattoos who has refused to buy into church planting for hip youngsters or to focus on the trendy part of the city where the wealthy young professionals live and drink. Instead, he is asked to go to suburbia (the last place on earth he wanted to go!) and plant a church in the county with the highest median household income in America.
I really appreciated Mike’s biblical refutation of the homogeneous unit principle and its contemporary cousin, contextualization. While I do not have a problem with a proper understanding of contextualization (and I suspect Mike doesn’t either), many today do use this concept as a means of intentionally targeting and appealing to a certain social demographic. But as he states:
“When we start churches intentionally designed to appeal to a certain kind of person, we fail to heed the biblical mandate to become all things to all people (1 Cor. 9:22). It seems like many churches want to embrace the first phrase without the second. We want to become all things to some people. The problem is, becoming all things to some people—say, by rocking the tattoos and turning up the music—often keeps us from reaching all kinds of people. After all, wooing one demographic (for example, urban young people) often means alienating others (such as older people or foreigners)…. It seems like we should intentionally plant churches that will, as much as possible, welcome and engage people who are different and diverse with respect to age, gender, personality, and nationality” (20).
Mike continues by providing some practical suggestions on how we should go about fostering diversity rather than homogeneity. Again, I find these ideas very helpful and can easily see how they would make a difference in the life of a new church plant.
Now it is your turn. What do you think?
John Divito
Member, Heritage Baptist Church
M.Div. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
