Baptism Deconstructed
I think many Christians, who fall prey to the theological errors of infant baptism (paedobaptism), and the concept of so-called covenant children, are confused about what the covenant is for believers, and how one enters it. The covenant sign of the new covenant is spiritual circumcision of the heart (as opposed to the physical circumcision of the old covenant). Baptism by water is NOT the covenant sign. Unlike the old, the new covenant is wholly different and better Scripture tells us. The covenant sign as I said is spiritual circumcision when God grants repentance and saving faith to an individual. It is a strictly monergistic act. Water baptism is a synergistic work of man. And no, faith is not a work of man. Unlike the old covenant, the new covenant membership is made up of only the regenerate (the Elect sheep)!! So infant baptism can’t possibly be the covenant sign since millions of babies baptized as infants grow up to be reprobates (unregenerate). We Reformed believe one who is truly Elect cannot lose their status as being saved. Unlike the Roman Catholics who will vacillate between saved and unsaved thousands of times throughout their life! I call that Yo-Yo soteriology!
Baptismal Regeneration
It’s no secret that the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox church both practice infant baptism, specifically they believe in baptismal regeneration.
Proponents of baptismal regeneration sometimes will say that water baptism is God’s proscribed method of saving souls. This is terribly false! If we say that you recite a certain phrase and baptism with water and the child is now miraculously regenerate that degrades Christianity to a type of witchcraft where one says the spell or incantation, does the ordained act, and gets a supernatural effect. No that is absolutely not how salvation works!
Baptismal regeneration goes against the whole counsel of Scripture and is absolutely demonic and Satanic! It has been Satan’s most effective tool. Infant baptism has sent literally billions of souls to Hell because they trusted in their baptism and figured they were “already saved” so they never learned of biblical repentance and the gift of saving faith which God grants His Elect sheep vis a vis the hearing of the Gospel!
Credobaptism Is Biblical
Scripture is clear that believer’s baptism (credobaptism) is the only biblical model of baptism. There is not in the New Testament a single case of explicit and unambiguous infant baptism (and no, examples of household baptism doesn’t imply infants were present, let alone baptized), nor baptismal regeneration. So both positions, of infant baptism and baptismal regeneration, are arguing from silence which is the weakest of all forms of argumentation.
The only way to make a case for infant baptism or baptismal regeneration is to cherry pick certain so-called proof texts which are then interpreted via eisegesis not proper exegesis. Also such proponents also employ faulty unbiblical hermeneutics in their analysis of Scripture.
Born of water and Spirit?
In John 3:5, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” This statement emphasizes the crucial role of spiritual rebirth in one’s relationship with God. In the excellent article below we’ll examine John 3 which is the seminal text on baptism since it’s Jesus Himself who is teaching us! Pay careful attention.
In John 3, Jesus uses the phrase “born of water” in answer to Nicodemus’s question about how to enter the kingdom of heaven. He told Nicodemus that he “must be born again” (John 3:3). Nicodemus questioned how such a thing could happen when he was a grown man. Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5).
Being “born of the Spirit” is easily interpreted—salvation involves a new life that only the Holy Spirit can produce (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:6). But there are a couple different schools of thought on what Jesus meant when He said, “born of water.” One perspective is that “born of water” refers to physical birth. Unborn babies float in fluid in the amniotic sac for nine months. When the time for birth arrives, the amniotic sac bursts, and the baby is born in a rush of “water,” entering the world as a new creature. This birth parallels being “born of the Spirit,” as a similar new birth occurs within our hearts (2 Corinthians 5:17). A person once-born has physical life; a person twice-born has eternal life (John 3:15–18, 36; 17:3; 1 Peter 1:23). Just as a baby contributes no effort to the birth process—the work is done by the mother—so it is with spiritual birth. We are merely the recipients of God’s grace as He gives us new birth through His Spirit (Ephesians 2:8–9). According to this view, Jesus was using a teaching technique He often employed by comparing a spiritual truth with a physical reality. Nicodemus did not understand spiritual birth, but he could understand physical birth so that was where Jesus took him.
The other perspective is that “born of water” refers to spiritual cleansing and that Nicodemus would have naturally understood it that way. According to this view, “born of water” and “born of the Spirit” are different ways of saying the same thing, once metaphorically and once literally. Jesus’ words “born of water and the Spirit” describe different aspects of the same spiritual birth, or of what it means to be “born again.” So, when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must “be born of water,” He was referring to his need for spiritual cleansing. Throughout the Old Testament, water is used figuratively of spiritual cleansing. For example, Ezekiel 36:25 says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities” (see also Numbers 19:17–19; and Psalm 51:2, 7). Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, would surely have been familiar with the concept of physical water representing spiritual purification.
The New Testament, too, uses water as a figure of the new birth. Regeneration is called a “washing” brought about by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of salvation (Titus 3:5; cf. Ephesians 5:26; John 13:10). Christians are “washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The “washing” Paul speaks of here is a spiritual one.
Whichever perspective is correct, one thing is certain: Jesus was not teaching that one must be baptized in water in order to be saved. Baptism is nowhere mentioned in the context, nor did Jesus ever imply that we must do anything to inherit eternal life but trust in Him in faith (John 3:16). The emphasis of Jesus’ words is on repentance and spiritual renewal—we need the “living water” Jesus later promised the woman at the well (John 4:10). Water baptism is an outward sign that we have given our lives to Jesus, but not a requirement for salvation (Luke 23:40–43).
https://www.gotquestions.org/born-of-water.html
I personally favor the interpretation where water refers to the physical birth waters that occur when a baby is born. But we have Christian liberty since Scripture is not adamant on any of the various interpretations mentioned in the article. This doesn’t mean that one can hold to the baptismal regeneration position and be biblically consistent.
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