The Upper Register

2014 ETS Annual Meeting in San Diego

The Evangelical Theological Society meets this week in San Diego for its Annual Meeting, November 19-21. This year's theme is "Ecclesiology." I'll be giving a paper on Wednesday at 4:30pm titled "Household Baptism in the New Testament: Assessing the Debate 50+ Years Later." For those who are interested, here is a summary of my paper.

The New Testament records three household baptisms – the household of Lydia (Acts 16:15), of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:33), and of Stephanas (1 Cor 1:16). The number of household baptisms may be increased to six if we include three cases where a household context is implied – the baptisms of Crispus and Gaius (1 Cor 1:14; Acts 18:8) and of Cornelius (Acts 10:2; 11:13-18). In addition to the household baptisms, there are texts which speak of an adult believing (John 4:53; Acts 16:34; 18:8) or being saved (Acts 11:14; 16:31; Heb 11:7) along with their household. In 1949, Ethelbert Stauffer suggested that these texts employ what he called "the oikos formula." In 1958–1962, over the course of three monographs, Joachim Jeremias and Kurt Aland had a spirited exchange over this issue as part of a broader inquiry as to whether the early church baptized infants.

In this paper I review and assess the debate between Jeremias and Aland on the NT household baptisms, as well as the ways in which subsequent scholars have picked up their arguments in the continued polemics over infant baptism. I will argue that the debate has been sidetracked by unhelpful attempts on both sides to prove that infants were either included in or excluded from these household baptisms. It is my contention that a more helpful approach is to ask what "the oikos formula" itself implies with respect to the basis on which baptism was administered. My thesis is that the formula is rooted in the Old Testament as mediated by the Septuagint, and as such points to the Hebraic principle of household solidarity in regard to religion, that is, that the children are included in the religious community on the basis of the confession of faith of the head of the household. The New Testament's use of this formula suggests that baptism was administered in the apostolic age not only to adults on the basis of their profession of faith, but also to the children of believers on the basis of parental authority and household solidarity. 

I plan to mention Meredith G. Kline who takes the recurring use of the oikos phrase in connection with faith, conversion and baptism as terminological evidence in the New Testament of "a standard missions policy according to which the covenant community would regularly be enlarged through the accretion of household authority units" (By Oath Consigned, p. 97). The key is "the household authority principle," that is, the principle that the head of the household has authority in the sphere of religion over the household subordinates under his or her authority (I say "her" as well because of cases like Lydia who is the head of her household). 

But I'm most excited about the last part of the paper where I attempt to show that the oikos phrase ("he and his [whole] house") in the NT has a theological aura due to its origin in the Septuagint. To make this case, I appeal to the evidence that Luke’s Greek style was influenced by the Septuagint and that at times he even engaged in conscious imitation of Septuagint vocabulary, phrases, and constructions. The classic study on this subject was a pair of essays published in 1940 by the Swedish classical scholar, Albert Wifstrand, titled "Luke and Greek Classicism" and "Luke and the Septuagint."

Wifstrand argued that Luke's conscious imitations of Septuagint vocabulary and syntax gave "a certain solemn and hieratic tone to Luke’s diction, dignifying it and raising it above everyday life" and gave "his narrative an aura of sacred history." My thesis is that Luke's use of the oikos phrase is yet another one of these Septuagintisms and that this gives the phrase a theological significance, supporiting the concept of family solidarity in matters of religion.

My sense is that Baptists have more influence and that the covenantal/paedobaptist view is not well-represented at ETS. So I'm glad the organizers accepted my paper for inclusion. Should be fun!

[For those interested, English translations of Wifstrand's seminal essays may be found in Epochs and Styles: Selected Writings on the New Testament, Greek Language and Greek Culture in the Post-Classical Era (ed. Lars Rydbeck and Stanley E. Porter; translated from the Swedish Originals by Denis Searby; WUNT 179; Τübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 17-27, 28-45. See also Loveday C. A. Alexander, "Septuaginta, Fachprosa, Imitatio: Albert Wifstrand and the Language of Luke-Acts," in Acts in Its Ancient Literary Context: A Classicist Looks at the Acts of the Apostles (LNTS 298; London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2005), 231-53.] 

Must Covenant Children Have a Conversion Experience?

This is not an ivory-tower question for me. Misty and I have three children, ages 13, 10 and 4. They were all baptized in good Presbyterian fashion in their infancy and Misty and I have raised them and treated them as Christians, as members of the household of faith. But the question arises, Is it not necessary for them to be converted? Doesn't the Bible insistently and repeatedly command "all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30)? See also Isa 55:6-7; Ezek 33:11; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38; 3:19 -- to list only a few of the many verses that use terms for "turning" from sin, "repentance," and so on. Indeed, repentance is said to "lead to life" (Acts 11:18) and "to salvation" (2 Cor 7:10), which suggests that conversion is vital, perhaps even necessary for salvation.

Yet, on the other hand, the Bible also makes clear that covenant children are to be treated as saved, as members of the body of Christ. For example, Paul addresses the children of the church at Ephesus, right alongside the husbands and wives, masters and slaves, as those who can be exhorted to respond to the imperatives of the gospel in light of union with Christ: "children obey your parents in the Lord" (Eph 6:1).  

So which is it? Do covenant children need to have a conversion experience or are they to be treated as those who already enjoy salvation?

Part of the solution is to make a distinction between regeneration and conversion. Regeneration is God's secret operation, at the subconscious level, by which he gives the elect a new heart that is capable of repenting of sin and exercising faith in Christ. Conversion, to use Berkhof's definition, is

"that act of God whereby He causes the regenerated sinner, in his conscious life, to turn to Him in repentance and faith" (p. 483). "The principle of the new life implanted in regeneration passes into the conscious life in conversion" (p. 491).

If we accept this distinction between regeneration and conversion, it leads to a number of important but often overlooked implications:

First, regeneration is prior to conversion, and conversion follows regeneration. Thus, it is possible for a child to be regenerated in the womb, and to experience conversion or the evidence of conversion, namely, conscious repentance and faith, at a later date.

Second, regeneration is absolutely necessary for salvation, but conversion is not. Berkhof writes, perhaps somewhat suprisingly:

"The Bible speaks in absolute terms of the necessity of regeneration; not so of the necessity of conversion. It tells us plainly that, 'Except a man be born again (anew, or, from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God,' John 3:3, but does not speak of the need of conversion in the same general way, which allows of no exceptions ... The expressed or implied exhortations to turn about, found in Scripture, come only to those to whom they are addressed and do not necessarily mean that every one must pass through a conscious conversion, in order to be saved" (pp. 490-91). 

Why is conversion not spoken of in Scripture as being absolutely necessary like regeneration? Perhaps one reason is because ...

"those who die in infancy must be regenerated, in order to be saved, but cannot very well experience conversion, a conscious turning from sin unto God" (p. 491). 

Third, if regeneration is at the subconscious level and then passes into the conscious life in conversion, i.e., in the form of conscious turning from sin and trusting in Christ, then it is best to treat covenant children as regenerated and then to expect that they will experience growing evidence of conversion, that is, repentance and faith, as they mature.

Fourth, regeneration is a one-time, instantaneous, sovereign act of God, whereby the heart is changed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, but conversion can be experienced repeatedly throughout life as the fruit of regeneration. For example, Jesus said of Peter, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32 ESV). See also the exhortations to the seven churches of Asia (Rev 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19). Indeed, the Christian life is one of continual repentance and putting death our sinful deeds and desires by the Spirit in union with Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:11-14; 8:13; Gal 5:24; Col 3:5).

It is unreasonable to expect covenant children to have one definite conversion experience, as is more common among those converted in adulthood. It is more likely that our covenant children will experience a series of critical stages in their Christian growth where their regeneration manifests itself in moments of more or less stronger awareness of their sinfulness, a desire to turn from sin to God, and a sense of coming to Christ in faith. A crisis conversion

"can hardly be looked for ... in the lives of those who, like John the Baptist and Timothy, served the Lord from early youth. At the same time, conversion is necessary in the case of all adults in the sense that its elements, namely, repentance and faith must be present in their lives. This means that they must in some form experience the essence of conversion" (p. 491).

In other words, the consequence or fruit of regeneration, namely, repentance and faith, must be present. 

My two older children sometimes ask me when they were regenerated and converted. I tell them that I don't know for sure, but I suspect they were regenerated when they were in their mommy's womb or in infancy, and that we have both seen and hope to see growing evidence of their regeneration in the form of further increases of repentance and faith as they get older.

[All quotes from L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (4th ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991).]