LBCF 29.3: “The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
There are three elements to this Article:
The outward element of water. The naming of the act as “Baptism”. The invocation of the Triune Name (in the singular). The conversion into a formula is the standard “I baptize you in the Name …” whilst physically using ordinary water.
LBCF 29.2: “Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.”
The operative phrase is “only proper subjects”. As in the case of “due administration”, this phrase is not self-defining, because “proper” could be taken in two ways.
Either, (a) “proper” refers to that which is “appropriate”, which pertains to congruity of the one with the other thing, the subject and the rite.
LBCF 29.4: “Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary for the due administration of this ordinance.”
That which is “due” refers to that which is required for an act to be properly performed. Properly performed itself needs to be defined.
There is nothing in the word “due” which contains the manner of this “proper performance”. Is it essential to the rite, such that without it the rite is not performed?
Tertullian’s treatise, or sermon perhaps, on Baptism is the earliest work dedicated to the subject. It is interesting in many ways, but perhaps one of those more hotly debated refers to his apparent notion of the deferment of Baptism in chapter 18.
In traditional Baptist polemics, this is typically taken as an expression of surprise at attempts by others to innovate the Baptism of young ones. The reading is that Tertullian was quite unaware of the Baptism of young ones and was forcefully resisting it.
Titles in English read in translation.
Theology
Hans Boersma – Seeing God (4.5/5) Hans Boersma – Heavenly Participation (5/5) Robert Letham – Through Western Eyes (3/5) Allen – Sanctification (3/5) Matthew Barrett – God’s Word Alone (2/5) van Asselt – Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism (4/5) Ludwig van Ott – Grundriss der Katholischen Dogmatik (4/5) Peter Leithart – The End of Protestantism (4.5/5) Matthew Levering – Engaging the Doctrine of Creation (2.