If the charge that Dr. Jones has put forward here has any weight at all, it rests on the idea that refusing participation to the table demands a metaphysical statement about those refused – namely, that they do not belong to Christ at all, in any sense.  That’s always the charge of Presbyterians against us poor and uncatechized Baptists – think of all the people we make into no Christians at all.  It’s a middle-class, civilized version of the Reformation argument that we are schismatic – and I appreciate the good will it takes to get us this far (I have my copy of the Augsburg Treaty in hand if necessary), but the difference is only in whether or not there are torches and pitchforks involved.  I think there’s a better way to discuss this, and a better solution.

 
Well, I was going to go on a bit more about the necessity of the local church in the posts headed to this space, but our dear brother in Christ Dr. Mark Jones has done what Presbyterians are prone to do when they interact with Baptists about Baptism, and as the new resident Baptist here I guess it’s my job (by vocation if not by assignment) to disambiguate his confusion over why I would personally see his being sprinkled as an infant as no baptism at all, and why therefore I would say he’s not to take the other ordinance (the Lord’s Supper) in church.  Let me preface these remarks by saying I envy anyone whose name is “Dr. Jones,” and even more any in this fine class who has the self-control not to change his first name to “Indiana.”

Two items as caveats before you read this and start hurling fruit at my kind hosts here at Ref21:

1. The opinions and arguments here are mine and not the arguments of the Alliance.  Hate the player and not the game in this case.
2. The arguments I will make here are also not the position of the local church I attend.  In spite of that church being baptistic in confession, they practice a more open form of communion than I would advocate for.  I’m not an elder there, so as I make my case for what I think is a robust response to Mark Jones, I speak for myself and not my church at BCLR.org.

So the main thrust of Dr. Jones article is that somehow the closed-table Baptist is declining to allow that Presbyterians are Christians at all if he doesn’t allow one paedobatized to take the Lord’s Table when it is presented during worship.  There are probably a dozen things that bother me about this innuendo, but the one which undoubtedly seems the worst to me is to consider all the baptized people a Presbyterian would refuse to serve at the table – that is, all the children which are Christians by the covenantal formula “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just add water.” I’m looking forward to Dr. Jones’ defense of paedocommunion under the pains of being accused of turning out babies from the family of God in his next installment, but I think it probably isn’t coming.

Seriously now: if the charge that Dr. Jones has put forward here has any weight at all, it rests on the idea that refusing participation to the table demands a metaphysical statement about those refused – namely, that they do not belong to Christ at all, in any sense.  That’s always the charge of Presbyterians against us poor and uncatechized Baptists – think of all the people we make into no Christians at all.  It’s a middle-class, civilized version of the Reformation argument that we are schismatic – and I appreciate the good will it takes to get us this far (I have my copy of the Augsburg Treaty in hand if necessary), but the difference is only in whether or not there are torches and pitchforks involved.  I think there’s a better way to discuss this, and a better solution.  And for those of you worried about it, I have put all my best jokes right here in the introduction.  The rest will be appropriately dour and solemn.

Let me provide you an outline of the posts in this (brief) series.

My Outline:

A. The meaning of being a “Christian”
B. The meaning of Baptism (especially for the local church)
C. The meaning of the Lord’s Table
D. Conclusions/Parting Shots
Read More