A CHRISTIAN’S POCKET GUIDE TO BAPTISM
The water that unites
By Robert Letham. Christian Focus. 120 pages. £4.99
ISBN 978 1 845 509 682
This is a helpful introduction to some of the questions surrounding an oft-debated issue, written by a gracious and wise Christian. Does it achieve what it says on the tin? Yes and no.
Pocket? Yes — it is small, readable and manageable. Guide to? Yes, in parts — it clearly and concisely explains the continuity in covenantal structures across Scripture. Yet, at other points, it is a more complex read than one might expect of such a series. Of course, carefully nuanced issues shouldn't be ‘dumbed down’ and simplified more than Scripture warrants. But it seemed that extensive quotations from confessional documents, for example, didn't serve to clarify, but raise further questions. One quote from John Knox (on p.76 and repeated on p.102) was more than a little bewildering.
While the introduction of the biblical importance of the concept of ‘the corporate’, as well as ‘the individual’, was helpful, it was, in this respect, an inadequate treatment. There was little consideration of the particularity of the New Covenant, as well as its universality. Hebrews 8, surely a key passage on the subject, could have done with a more thorough explanation. There was no discussion of who ‘the children of Abraham’ now are. There seemed to be an underlying nervousness about the link between faith and baptism, and the way in which baptism may be viewed as a means of grace.
All of which leads to the last point: a Christian’s guide? Well, some Christians would gladly concur with his viewpoint, but it is hardly the view of all. In an academic treatise where ideas are being interacted with more fully, critiquing others would be expected, but here it may lead a young Christian to struggle to situate themselves in the wider debate.
As a basic introduction to some of the issues and questions, this book will be helpful. But, for those seeking a better understanding of the debate, there are other works to recommend (e.g. Infant Baptism, edited by Gregg Strawbridge; Believer’s Baptism, edited by Schreiner and Wright).
Ray Evans & Martin Salter,
both serving on the leadership team of Grace Community Church, Bedford
