Is Albert Barnes your Magisterium? Is he guided by the Holy Spirit in such a way as to where we must dogmatize his commentary? It sounds as if you're committing the same fallacy that you constantly criticize the Catholics of ... the individual believer can't properly exegete the Scriptures.
Why entertain such foolishness? Is either Keating or Kahn your Magesterium?? Is Kahn guided by the Holy Spirit in such a way as to where he must dogmatize his writings? It sounds as if you are committing the same fallacy that you say you don't commit: only allowing the Magesterium to properly interpret the Scriptures.
Of course Peter wasn't addressing infants. He was addressing Men and brethren, and to the men and brethren, he tells us that this promise is applicable to everyone: them, their children, and to all that are far off. No exemption is made for the infants, and you can't provide this exemption because it isn't in the Biblical text. You superimpose your novel tradition of men upon the Word of God and nullify that very same word with your anti-sacramental tradition.
RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH!!! This is something you fail to do. Acts 2:37-39 in no way refers to infants. You don't have any Biblical basis for this incredulous assumption. The promise is to those that believe and repent, something that infants cannot do. You have strung together a list of Scriptures so inaptly that it is just as easy to take another string of Scripture and prove the non-existence of God. If it is not in the text; it is not in the text. Peter was not talking of AK-47's and machine guns either. Don't read into the text that which is not there. Infants are not in the text. The word "children" speaks of generations to come, and nothing more.
John tells us that one enters the kingdom of God by being born again by "water and spirit" in Chapter 3 of his Gospel.
Your point being?? The word for water is much different than the word for baptism. There is no mention of baptism in this entire chapter. Jesus was not speaking of baptism to Nicodemus, he was speaking of the New Birth, which has nothing to do with baptism.
Luke tells us, "Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God'" (Luke 18:15–16).
In the Greek, we have "Proseferon de auto kai ta brephe." The Greek word brephe means "infants" — children who are quite unable to approach Christ on their own and who could not possibly make a conscious decision to "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior." The Lord did not require the infants to make a conscious decision. He says that they are precisely the kind of people who can come to him and receive the kingdom.
Your are right. The Lord did not require any infant to make a conscious decision. There is nothing in this text to say that some of these same children grew up, despising Christianity and were judged of God when Titus razed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. There is nothing in this Scripture to say that these infants were saved. There is nothing in these Scriptures to indicate at all that their lives were changed or would be changed in the future, because Jesus touched them when they were infants. That is pure superstition. Did all adults believe on Jesus just because they were "touched" by Him? Hardly! 10 Lepers were healed. Only one returned with thanksgiving. What happened to the other nine? Did they really believe. Though Jesus did many miracles before the eyes of many, yet they still did not believe. And now you say that because an infant, who cannot believe in the first place, will be a Christian, just because he or she was touched by Jesus?! That's an incredible belief or shall I say superstition.
They brought them to Jesus. Jesus said forbid them not for as such is the Kingdom of God. He was using small children as an illustration, that one must have simple faith like a child to be saved. I have small children. Just as they put faith in their father, I put faith in my Heavenly Father. That was the lesson Jesus was teaching.
Thus, these children must be "born again" by "water and Spirit" in order to "enter the Kingdom of God" to which our God Himself tells us we cannot prevent infants - unable as they are to make a conscious decision - from doing.
Non Sequitor. Your conclusion has nothing to do with the passage above. Jesus was not talking of salvation when he said let the children come unto me, he was giving an illustration of faith. John 3 speaks of the New Birth, and again this passage has nothing to do with infants or baptism. To tie in this passage with the other is like saying that India is geographically next to America. There is no relationship.
So on what basis, DHK, can infants and young children be excluded from the sacrament of baptism? If Jesus said "let them come unto me," who are you to say "no," and withhold baptism from them?
I say so on the authority of God's Word, and on the Word of Christ. Don't you listen to Him? He said "Let them come unto me." He did not say, "Go and baptize them," or "Let them come and I will baptize them." What foolishness are you trying to read into the Scriptures here? You might as well say that Jesus was saying, "Let the children come unto me and I will give them wings so they can fly." Why not? What else do you want to read into the Scriptures? Stick with the text.
Do they teach Biblical hermeneutics at your seminary, Carson? Or is it just hermeneutics of the Church Fathers?
The Biblical evidence is conclusive; there is no way around the implications of God's Word irregardless of the hoops that you attempt to jump through, and I pray that you learn the virtue of obedience to the divine Word.
You are so right. The Biblical evidence is conclusive that Baptismal regeneration is a heresy. It is not found in the Bible. There is no way around the straight teachings of the Word of God. It isn't even implied in the Word of God, regardless of the hoops that you attempt to jump through. I pray that you learn to rightly divide the Word of Truth and obey God's Holy Word.
DHK
NE OR MORE OF THE ELEMENTS ACCORDING TO THE CONTEXT!