1. In what sense is baptism a means of grace? By this phrase do Presbyterians mean it is an instrument by which God confers salvation (like the word)? Does it create faith (justification/regeneration) or merely sustain and strengthen it (sanctification)? I'm curious also as to the relationship between baptism as a means of grace and as a sign and seal. Some baptists I speak to have a purely memorial view of baptism but use the language "means of grace" to emphasize that for as much as the gospel is communicated through baptism, it may strengthen our faith. Presbyterians seem to have something different in mind, I'm just not quite sure what.
2. In light of our common conviction concerning the nature of election and atonement, how can baptism function as a seal when even those who aren't elect receive it? I know that often times Reformed people will use the sacraments as a means of assurance (this seems to be what WCF 27.1 is getting at when it says that the sacraments confirm our interest in Christ), but I don't see what assurance baptism can afford us if we deny that it regenerates.
3. Related to these questions is the timing of baptism's efficacy. All NT examples, specifically the book of Acts, record repentance/faith and then baptism. Does this not disprove that baptism confers grace, especially the remission of sins, and is it not the very same point Paul makes in Romans 4 concerning the rite of circumcision?
Thanks for any help, and respond to as many or as few as you like in any fashion you like. I have been trying to understand this like crazy and have spent who knows how many hours reading first the scriptures, then the confessions, then literature recommended by the local PCA pastor, and finally other books and blogs, not least of which are R. Scott Clark's stuff. I agree with the covenantal connections but in terms of what the sacraments accomplish, I'm having a hard time.
2. In light of our common conviction concerning the nature of election and atonement, how can baptism function as a seal when even those who aren't elect receive it? I know that often times Reformed people will use the sacraments as a means of assurance (this seems to be what WCF 27.1 is getting at when it says that the sacraments confirm our interest in Christ), but I don't see what assurance baptism can afford us if we deny that it regenerates.
3. Related to these questions is the timing of baptism's efficacy. All NT examples, specifically the book of Acts, record repentance/faith and then baptism. Does this not disprove that baptism confers grace, especially the remission of sins, and is it not the very same point Paul makes in Romans 4 concerning the rite of circumcision?
Thanks for any help, and respond to as many or as few as you like in any fashion you like. I have been trying to understand this like crazy and have spent who knows how many hours reading first the scriptures, then the confessions, then literature recommended by the local PCA pastor, and finally other books and blogs, not least of which are R. Scott Clark's stuff. I agree with the covenantal connections but in terms of what the sacraments accomplish, I'm having a hard time.