Believer's Baptism Quotes

“Just as Luther proclaimed the centrality and sufficiency of faith for justification, so he accentuated with new power the role of faith in the reception of the sacraments. He declared that a sacrament apart from faith is empty; in reference to baptism he said: “Unless faith is present, or comes to life in baptism, the ceremony is of no avail.”7”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“paedobaptists often appeal to Romans 4 to argue that circumcision, as a sign and seal of Abraham's faith, is applied to infants as a sign and seal to them as well, which is then carried over in baptism.128 But this is not Paul's point in this text. Instead, Paul is presenting Abraham as the paradigm for all believers, both Jew and Gentile. To Abraham and to him alone, circumcision was a covenantal sign attesting that he had already been justified by faith apart from circumcision. The text is not giving a general statement about the nature of circumcision for everyone who receives it.”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“Israel, as a nation, is a type of the church. But this is the case, not because the church is merely the replacement of Israel, but because Christ, as the true seed of Abraham and the fulfillment of Israel, unites in himself both spiritual Jews and Gentiles as the “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16). There is continuity, but also important discontinuity. Now that Christ has come, only those who have faith and have experienced spiritual rebirth are his people and part of his family.”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“Interestingly, paedobaptists often appeal to Romans 4 to argue that circumcision, as a sign and seal of Abraham's faith, is applied to infants as a sign and seal to them as well, which is then carried over in baptism.128 But this is not Paul's point in this text. Instead, Paul is presenting Abraham as the paradigm for all believers, both Jew and Gentile. To Abraham and to him alone, circumcision was a covenantal sign attesting that he had already been justified by faith apart from circumcision.”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“necessary; it has served its purpose. Now, in Christ, and the creation of the “new man” (Eph 2:11–22), the law-covenant has been fulfilled and the God-given divisions tied to that law-covenant have been removed so much so that Paul can proclaim, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Gal 6:15).”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“(Deut 30:6; cp. Jer 4:4). Indeed, the new covenant promise in Jer 31:33 of the “law written on their hearts” combined with Ezek 36:25–27 pointed forward to the day when the entire covenant community would be circumcised in heart. This emphasis picks up the teaching of the prophets that physical circumcision only availed the one who had been spiritually circumcised (see Rom 2:25–29).”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“This is further underscored by Jesus' disciples' comment in Matt 16:14 that some think Jesus is John the Baptist (presumably raised from the dead; see Matt 14:1; see Mark 6:14) and is made even more clear by Jesus' clarification that “Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” (Matt 17:12). The teachers of the Law insisted that Elijah had to come first (presumably on the basis of passages such as Mal 3:1–2), so that the time had not yet come”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“The references to baptism in Mark's Gospel present themselves therefore as follows: (1)  1:4–9: John the Baptist's baptism of repentance and his baptism of Jesus (2)  6:14,24–25: Rumor that Jesus is the Baptist raised from the dead; John's beheading (3)  7:13: Elijah has come in the person of John the Baptist (4)  8:28: Some say Jesus is John the Baptist (see 6:14) (5)  10:38–39: Jesus' reference to a future “baptism” he must undergo (his crucifixion) (6)  11:30: Jesus' challenge to the Jews to identify the source of John's baptism”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ

“Jesus took a special interest in children, received them into his arms, and blessed them. He did not baptize them. It is right that the children of Christian parents”
― Shawn D. Wright, Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ