INFANT BAPTISM

How Old Is the Church of Christ?

Q. What are the necessary essentials of a church of Jesus Christ?
A. They are: (1) A belief in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. (2) A belief in Jesus Christ the Son of God, our only Savior. (3) A belief in God the Holy Ghost, our regenerator and sanctifier. (4) And there must be some men believing in and trusting these divine Persons as their only and personal hope of salvation.

(1) Gen.1:1; Dt. 6:4-6; Dt. 7-9; Lk. 4:8; Mt. 6:9-13
(2) Jn. 1:1; Mt. 1:21; Jn. 3:15-16,36; Ac. 4:12
(3) Jn. 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 6:11; Rom. 8-9; Jn. 16:7-14; Ezek. 36:27
(4) 1 Jn. 2:22; Jn. 3:15-16, 36; Mt. 28:19-20; 2 Cor. 13:14

Q. Since the essentials of a true church of Jesus Christ are a belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, with individual men believing and accepting this triune God as their hope (and only hope) of salvation, then is it not true that wherever we find men so believing and trusting in these three Persons of the trinity, we have a church of Jesus Christ?
A. It certainly is true. Wherever we find these essentials of the church of Christ, we have the church of Christ (1 Jn. 2:22-23; Jn. 14:7, 10, 16-17; Rom. 15:16-17; Jn. 3:15-16, 36).

Proof That the Church Existed Before Christ’s Death

Q. Can we find the essentials of the church and can we find the church of Jesus Christ before His death?
A. Yes (Ac. 7:38; Gen. 1:1-2, 3:15; Jn. 1:1-4; Ps. 51:10-12; Heb. 11; Gal. 3:16).

Q. How were men saved before the death of Christ?
A. By believing in the Christ that was to come, just as we are now saved by believing in the Christ that has come (Jn. 8:56; Heb. 11:13; Ac. 26:6-7).

Q. Are the Old Testament and New Testament churches the same church, or are they different churches?
A. They are the same church, having the same God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, with the same kind of personal faith of individual men in the triune God (Heb. 11; Rom. 11:15-19; Ac. 7:38).

The Essential Laws in Both the Old and New Testament Dispensations are the Same

Q. Since the church is the same in both Old and New Testament dispensations, is it governed by the same laws?
A. It is governed by the same laws, except where the laws have been fulfilled and for that reason have passed away. The law of faith for salvation is the same in both Old and New Testament dispensations (compare Ex. 20:3-17 with Mt. 22:36-40; Mt. 5:17-18; Mt. 3:15; Jn. 5:39; 2 Tim. 3:14-16).

Q. Has the law governing admission into the church of Christ passed away, or has it been repealed?
A. No. It requires the same conditions today to be a member of the church of Christ that it required in the Old Testament dispensation: namely, faith in the triune God (Heb. 11; Rom. 4:3-16; Mk. 16:16; 1 Jn. 5:1, 6-12).

Q. Then if we have a man believing in and accepting personally the doctrine of the trinity as his only hope of salvation, would we have a member of the church of Jesus Christ?
A. Yes (Heb. 11:4; Lk. 17:20-21; Jn. 3:15-16, 36; Mk. 16:16).

Q. How old, then, is the church of Jesus Christ?
A. It is as old as the fall of man; certainly it is as old as the offering of Abel (Gen. 3:15, 4:3-5; Ac. 4:12; Heb. 11:4; Gal. 3:16-17; Rev. 13:8).

Q. Does the Bible anywhere require a definite number of persons believing in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost in order to constitute a church of Jesus Christ?
A. No. As few as a household may be a church (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19).

The Organized Church of Christ

Q. How old is the organized church of Jesus Christ?
A. As old as the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:10-14, 23-27; Gal. 3:7, 13-17; Rom. 4:9-16).

Q. Does the covenant with Abraham extend to the New Testament church and is it the same covenant in the New as in the Old Testament dispensation?
A. Yes. This covenant with Abraham was and is an everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:7; Gal. 3:29; Gen. 3:15; Gal. 3:13-16; Gal. 4:4-5; Ac. 2:39, 3:25, 26:6-7; Rom. 4:9-16).

Q. Do all lawful organizations have their own covenant and outward seal of that covenant?
A. Yes. The state has its covenant and its outward seal of that covenant. The fraternal orders have their covenant and their outward seal of that covenant. And the church has its covenant and its outward seal of that covenant (Mt. 28:19; Gen. 17:10).

Q. What was the outward seal of membership in the organized church of the Old Testament dispensation, and to whom was it to be applied?
A. The seal was circumcision, and it was applied to believers and their children (Gen. 17:10-14, 24-27; Rom. 4:9-14).

Q. What is the outward seal of membership in the church of the New Testament dispensation, and to whom is it to be applied?
A. The seal is baptism, and it is to be applied to believers and their children (Ac. 2:38-39; Mt. 29:19; Rom. 4:11-14, 16; Gal. 3:7, 14-17, 29; 1 Cor. 7:13-14).

Q. Do circumcision and baptism represent the same thing, namely, the outward seal of church membership?
A. Yes. Circumcision was the outward seal of church membership in the Old Testament dispensation, and baptism is the outward seal of church membership in the New Testament dispensation. Both of the seals were and are administered on the same condition of faith in the triune God (Rom. 4:11-14,16; Mt. 28:19; Gal. 3:17; Jn. 3:18).

Q. Why was circumcision—the outward seal of church membership in the Old Testament dispensation—not applied to females?
A. Because the female in the Old Testament dispensation was always represented in the male. The man is responsible for particular acts, not the woman (Gen. 2:16-17; Gen. 3:9-11; Lev. 27:2; Num. 30).

Q. Was the law changed in the New Testament dispensation so that the female should receive baptism, the outward seal of church membership?
A. Yes. Lydia and her household were baptized (Ac. 16:14-15; Mt. 28:19).

The Rights of Church Membership

Q. Does an individual member of the church have a right to all privileges of the church member?
A. Yes, just as a citizen of the state has a right to all privileges granted by the state to its citizens (Gal. 3:26-29; Gen. 17:10-14, 23; Ac. 2:39).

Q. Were the children of believing parents admitted to the outward seal of church membership in the Old Testament dispensation upon the faith of their parents?
A. Yes. They were not only admitted upon the faith of their parents to the outward seal of membership in the church of the Old Testament dispensation, but their parents were required to have the outward seal administered to their children, and the parents who failed to do this brought a curse upon their children (Gen. 17:12-14, 23-27).

Q. Is there any record in the Bible where God forbade the children of believing parents the right of the outward seal of church membership in the church of the New Testament dispensation?
A. No, there is not. But on the other hand, God has affirmed that the children of believing parents in the New Testament dispensation have the same right to the outward seal of membership in the church that the children of believing parents had in the Old Testament dispensation (Gal. 3:29; 1 Cor. 7:13-14; Mk. 10:13-14; Ac. 2:39).

Q. Since the children of believing parents in the church of the Old Testament dispensation were required to have the outward seal of membership—circumcision—administered to them, and since the church is the same in both Old and New Testament dispensations, and since the covenant with Abraham extends to the New Testament and is the same in both Old and New Testament dispensations, and since there is no record in the Bible excluding the children of believing parents from the outward seal of church membership (but on the other hand the right to the outward seal of the church member is affirmed to them in the New Testament dispensation), are not the children of believing parents entitled, today, upon the faith of their parents, to the rite of baptism, which is the outward seal of church membership in the New Testament dispensation?
A. They certainly are so entitled (Rom. 4:11-13; Mt. 28:19; Gal. 3:39; 1 Cor. 7:13-14; Ac. 2:39).

Fallacies Exposed

Q. Has man a right to change or discard God’s laws or appointed ordinances without an express command from God?
A. No. God put the child of believing parents into the church and has never taken him out of the church, and man cannot take him out (Pr. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19; 2 Pet. 3:16; Dt. 4:2; Gen. 17:10-14).

Q. Is it not perilous for man to change or discard God’s appointed laws or ordinances?
A. Yes (Pr. 30:5-6; Mt. 7:24-27; 2 Pet. 3:16; Rev. 22:18-19).

Q. Does the benefit of obedience to God’s commands depend upon a man’s ability to see the reason for the command, or to see what good is accomplished by complying with them?
A. No (Dt. 11:26-28, 32; 1 Sam. 15:22-23; Rom. 9:20-21; Dt. 4:2; Rev. 22:14).

Q. Does God bestow His blessings upon men as the result of the faith of others?
A. Yes. Devils were cast out on the faith of another and the dead were raised upon the faith of another (Mk. 9:22-25; Mk. 5:35-42; Mt. 9:2).

Q. Can Christian parents neglect to have their children baptized and be sure that they have not broken God’s law and brought hurt upon themselves and their children?
A. It is evident that they cannot (Gen. 17:14; Dt. 11:26-28; Gal. 3:29; 1 Cor. 7:13-14; Mk. 10:13-16).


Text of a tract by Rev. C. Z. Berryhill entitled Infant Baptism
(Richmond, Virginia, no date), edited by Stephen Pribble

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