The Baptism of Disciples Alone: A Covenantal Argument for Credobaptism Versus Paedobaptism

by Fred A. Malone

Genres: Theology

361 pages, Paperback

Published February 8, 2024

Reviews

[Titus Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me way to long to read but finally finished. As a reformed baptist with questions surrounding baptism this book was refreshing and clarifying. Needless to say I cannot support paedobaptism (infant baptism). Malone clearly outlines the flaws in its logic as well as the “plot holes” in the scripture that paedobaptists use to support said logic. Malone also gives a resounding call for both Baptist and Presbyterians to return to the regulative principle.

[Camden Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not in good conscience baptize an infant after reading this book. Malone has a unique perspective because he holds to covenant theology, unlike many of his credobaptist brethren. I am convinced, at this point, that his exegesis of baptism passages is more accurate than that of paedobaptists, especially in Acts 2:38ff and the oikos instances. He is more consistent in his hermeneutics than paedobaptists, despite having similar conclusions in that field. The paedobaptist position is weak and this book is a must-read if you have not decided for yourself what you believe, even if you do not hold to covenant theology. Adopting a practice from silence is far different from rejecting one never mentioned.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent refutation of the reformed paedobaptist position.

[John Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

This will not be a thorough review. Perhaps I will do one at a later date when I have the time. Below are simply some thoughts.

POSITIVES:

First let me say I’m glad to have had the opportunity to read the book. It’s nice to have a lengthy manuscript to engage with as I explore this question.

Second, Malone is rhetorically powerful, especially in the first few chapters. He does a good job at making one doubt their convictions or leanings. Unfortunately for him and his case, that doubt flew away as he sought to defend his claims.

THESIS:

Malone struggled to convince that his thesis was correct, namely that 1. infant baptism violates the regulative principle and that 2. the use of good and necessary consequences is wrongly used to come to the conclusion that infant baptism is biblical.

First, it seems that Malone does not really understand the regulative principle. I am fairly new to the reformed world, but it seems he either misunderstands its meaning or simply defined it to fit his purpose. He heavily emphasizes that our worship must be normed by the NT alone, which really doesn’t seem to be what the regulative principle is getting at. He tries to show that his view would still allow sabbath keeping, but it’s an anemic defense. His view of the regulative principle is more dispensational than reformed.

Second, he takes ‘good and necessary consequence’ to task, claiming (all over the book) that a sacrament instituted by Christ cannot be established by good and necessary consequence. Ironically, he doesn’t realize that his view of baptism is nowhere established or directly instituted by Christ… where does he say, explicitly, that believers are to be baptized as a profession of their faith? If we use Malone’s hermeneutic, we will all end up Lutheran after reading Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. He says to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins… that’s about as didactic as it gets, and if Malone is going to limit our hermeneutical tools then we’re stuck with the words at face value.

Many times I simply thought to myself: ‘did he ever understand ______?’

EXEGESIS:

Malone made many claims throughout the book, but few were backed up by exegesis. He would refer to a passage and then make his point as if it was obvious that what he was trying to say was proven by that passage. Some of the worst offenders were: John 4:1-2, Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Matthew 28:18-20.

He, without any exegesis, did not prove that the NC only has regenerate members. He didn’t take the prophetic nature of the passage into account, or that there are still teachers in the NC.

Bottom line: his claims were not sufficiently backed up with scripture exegesis, the very thing he accused PB of doing.

TONE:

Malone was pretty snarky here. I understand the role of polemics, don’t get me wrong, but you can do polemics without basically claiming the other side is a ‘cult.’ He does this twice by saying PBs employ the same kind of hermeneutics of ‘good and necessary inference’ as many cult groups. What Malone doesn’t seem to realize is cults are much more likely to be biblicist… something he certainly could be accused of after reading this manuscript. The cults take things at face value without attempt to systematize.

Anyway, his tone came off as if he had an axe to grind. There were many unnecessary adjectives thrown in throughout the book when describing the PB case.

SOURCES:

Malone didn’t sent to wrestle with the best reformed sources. He used some decent ones, but then used a bunch of FV guys. That will not convince the PB of your case - they reject wilsonism and are adamant it doesn’t reflect Reformed theology. Hardly any Calvin, Owen was used like most Reformed Baptists use him - selectively quoted to bolster their case. Hardly any scholastics were engaged with. The decent sources he did used were ripped out of context so they seemed to contradict one another.

FORMAT:

Malone repeated himself a lot and the book was kind of a mess when it comes to structure. I would expect the thesis stated in the preface to be supported in the following chapters, but instead it seemed the thesis was stated and then used as support in the individual chapters. It also felt rushed, like Malone was not able to show all his work. This weakened his case.

CONCLUSION

This book will seem well written to the Baptists, but most PB will not be convinced. If you’re struggling with the issue, read this book, but don’t take Malone for an accurate representation of Reformed PB theology.

[Josh Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malone accomplishes his mission here.
A few of his key arguments for believers baptism:
- The NT authors consistently are dealing with the covenantal promises as it pertains to individuals, rather than a national or ethnic sense - Jeremiah 31 points to this. Thus, the special relation to God that was first applied to the totality of Israel is now restricted AND extended to those who respond to the preaching of the gospel with repentance & faith.
- Paedobaptists argue a view that unregenerate children are members of a new covenant but yet are not united to the Mediator of that covenant by faith. This does seem to be contrary to Hebrews, at least on the surface.
- As is clear from the teaching of Jesus (Matt 5-7), it was common practice for NT writers to take aspects of the law and call for its fulfillment spiritually in the work of Christ and the beginning of the New Covenant. For Malone, circumcision of the old is less “replaced” by baptism as it is fulfilled by spiritual circumcision, which is symbolized by baptism, evidenced by faith and repentance. To me, this seems to be a consistent way to handle Colossians 2. The life of faith by the Spirit’s monergisitc work in heart circumcision is the antitype that fulfills OC circumcision.

Lastly, Malone rightly argues that modern Baptist churches have gone against their own practices of disciples only baptism in becoming seeker sensitive; this is spot on! A church that only administers baptism to those who profess faith should not be catering their ecclesiastical practices to the unregenerate; it should be building up those who have placed faith in Jesus to do the work of evangelism in their lives. Malone credits the seeker sensitive movement in Baptist churches for sending many Baptist leaning people into the arms of paedobaptist churches. I think this is spot on.


This gets 4 stars instead of 5 since I would have liked for the church father’s section to be much longer than it was

[Logan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biblical, exegetical, theological, and historical defense of believer's (disciples only) baptism from a Reformed Baptist perspective. The best polemic against paedobaptism (of all stripes) that I've read. I highly recommend.

[Richard Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fred Malone makes a strong case for the Baptist view of baptism from a Reformed covenant theology perspective. The book highlights the strengths of credobaptism and thoughtfully critiques paedobaptist arguments. It’s a great resource for anyone wanting to understand this important theological debate.

[Noah Gwinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. Malone brought some arguments I thought were persuasive, but I was wishing he would have spent more time interacting with some of the loudest voices, historically speaking, representing the paedo baptist position. Often I found him to be repeating himself, one of a few reasons I do not think the book was edited very well.