For a quarter of a century, I have been listening to credo-baptists (advocates of baptism only for believers) and paedo-baptists (advocates for the baptism of infants) argue past each other, often resorting to intellectual posturing and name-calling to advance their respective positions. I had the privilege to be fully immersed in the teachings of some of the leading scholars of both positions. Also, I am enormously grateful to my father and other key spiritual leaders in my life who gave me the opportunity, even as a boy, to discuss this issue with numerous key proponents of both positions.

I have always been concerned by the arrogant grandstanding and ad hominem arguments of some of the modern reformed proponents of paedo-baptism. Such men would lead listeners and readers to believe that only theologically challenged, covenantally ignorant people espouse credo-baptism. But, I have been equally concerned by the refusal of believer’s baptists to answer such challenges with exegetically sound, theologically precise, rigorous arguments. To put it another way, not all paedo-baptists (or their arguments) are Romanist, and not all credo-baptists (or their arguments) are “Anabaptist, anti-covenantal dolts” (their type of terminology, not mine).

To quote a friend, “You can’t fight something with nothing.” In my view, and the view of many others, the time has approached to offer our friends in Christ (especially our brothers in the Reformed community) a charitable, covenantal response to the claims of our paedo-baptist friends, as well as to those dispensational brothers who see a radical disconnect between Old Testament and New Testament.

Last month, my local church, in conjunction with several other churches and Vision Forum Ministries, sponsored a special conference to sort through some of these issues. Lecturing for two days on the covenant and baptism, Pastor Bill Einwechter brought the most lucid, charitable, fresh, exegetically solid, and helpful arguments I have yet seen in favor of the baptism of disciples alone.

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Whether you have a firm and fixed position on the issue of baptism and the covenant, or are seeking further clarity from the Scriptures; whether you are a pastor, student, or family seeking to grow in the knowledge of Christ, we believe you will find The Great Debate over Baptism and the Covenant to be an enormous blessing. In this tape series, developed from a two-day conference on baptism and the covenant sponsored in San Antonio, Texas, Bill Einwechter makes an exegetically derived covenantal argument that the proper object of baptism are disciples — those believers who have actually professed faith in Christ. With charity toward both dispensationalists and traditional reformed paedo-baptists, Mr. Einwechter nonetheless makes the rigorous case that both positions are exegetically inadequate.

Donate $100 or more now through the month of May and receive the CD audio album. That is nearly twelve hours of listening on eleven audio CDs. Visit the Vision Forum Ministries Web site for more information. The CDs are in production and will be mailed out around the end of the month of May.

William O. Einwechter, Th.M. is an ordained minister and serves as an elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church and as the editor of The Christian Statesman. He and his wife Linda reside with their ten children in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The “Conference on Baptism and the Covenant” was held at the historical Ye Kendall Inn in Boerne, Texas.

We were grateful to have representatives from more than a half dozen local churches attending the conference. These included credo-baptists and paedo-baptists, all of whom were given opportunity throughout the conference to discuss, debate, and raise questions on the subject at hand. There was a blessed spirit of charity, notwithstanding the potentially volatile and emotionally charged nature of this subject.

Little girls congregate during the break at the “Conference on Baptism and the Covenant” for some literary relief.