THE PROBLEM OF BAPTISM

One of the more difficult issues facing the church today is baptism. Men in the pastoral ministry in those denominations baptising infants often have to face the incessant demands of people outside the church for it to be administered almost at the whim of those requesting it. In any event, baptism is administered often many years before the candidate comes to faith (if ever, realistically it must be said that the vast majority of those baptized as infants in our churches never show any sign that the prayer offered at baptism was effective). Those in denominations practising 'believers' baptism', while not subject to the same demands from unbelievers, are not immune from difficulty either. It is not impossible that, for them, baptism can be a mark of maturity, as if to say, baptism is a step of obedience which one takes, sometimes many years after becoming a believer.

The New Testament evidence points to . . .