Introductory Remarks

I would much rather spend 2 hours telling you all how much I have learned from TE Leithart, and how much I appreciate his scholarship and his wit. But I do want you to know that I bear no personal feelings against TE Leithart. I do not know TE Leithart personally, and have only interacted with him twice, once in an email about 4-5 years ago to ask him what works of his I needed to read to get a good handle on his theology with relation to the Federal Vision, and the other a blog interaction, where TE Leithart responded to one of my posts examining his article “Judge Me, O God.” In the email, TE Leithart told me that all I really needed to read of his was Priesthood of the Plebs and The Baptized Body. However, this being a trial, and not just my personal attempt to get a basic handle on Leithart, I felt it my duty to read far more widely in the works of Leithart. Adherence to the Ninth Commandment, and to the love for the brothers that I am to embody required no less of me. The following are the books I have read of TE Leithart (in chronological order): Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated? (1992), The Kingdom and the Power (1993), Wise Words (1995), A House For My Name (2000), Blessed Are the Hungry (2000), Against Christianity (2003), A Son to Me (2003), From Silence to Song (2003), The Priesthood of the Plebs (2003), The Promise of His Appearing (2004), A Great Mystery (2006), 1&2 Kings (2006), The Baptized Body (2007),  Solomon Among the Postmoderns (2008), Deep Exegesis (2009), From Behind the Veil (2009), Defending Constantine (2010), The Four (2010). The following are the journal articles written by TE Leithart that I have read (also in chronological order): “Baptism and the Church” http://www.hornes.org/theologia/peter-leithart/baptism-and-the-church (1998); “Attendants of Yahweh's House: Priesthood in the Old Testament JSOT 85 (1999), 3-24; Conjugating the Rites: Old and New in Augustine's Theory of Signs CTJ 34 (1999), 136-147; “Framing' Sacramental Theology: Trinity and Symbol”WTJ 62 (2000), 1-16; “Modernity and the Merely Social”Pro Ecclesia 9.3 (2000), 319-330; “Womb of the World: Baptism and the Priesthood of the New Covenant in Hebrews 10:19-22” JSNT 78 (2000), 49-65; “Judge Me, O God,” in The Federal Vision, edited by Steve Wilkins and Duane Garner (2004); “Embracing the Ritual: Sacraments as Rites”CTJ 40 (2005), 6-20; “Justification As Verdict and Deliverance: A Biblical Perspective”Pro Ecclesia 16.1 (2007), 56-72; “What Baptism Confers” http://www.leithart.com/archives/003087.php (June 18, 2007); “Adam, Moses, and Jesus: A Reading of Romans 5:12-14”CTJ 43 (2008), 257-273. Furthermore, I have read the complete Record of the Case, including the majority report, the minority report, Leithart's response to both reports, the decision of the SJC, the supplemental brief, the indictment, the brief of the prosecution, and the brief of the defense, including the defense exhibits. I have also engaged in serious exegesis of the relevant passages, as I will seek to make plain as we proceed. 

 

Baptism

 

Confessional teaching on baptism: sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace (WCF 27.1). They represent Christ, confirm our interest in Him, put a visible difference between the church and the world, and act as inducements to the service of God in the world (WCF 27.1). Although, officially, there are only two parts to a sacrament (the outward and sensible sign, and the inward and spiritual grace, WLC 163), there is a spiritual relationship, or sacramental union, between the sign and thing signified (WCF 27.2). Sometimes this results in sacramental language being used, where the efficacy of the thing signified is attributed to the sign, and vice versa (WCF 27.2). The efficacy of the sacraments depends on the Holy Spirit, not on the outward signs (WCF 27.3). Indeed, the power does not depend on the sign at all, but on the Spirit, who gives faith (WCF 27.3). The promise of benefit is to worthy receivers (WCF 27.3), implying that there are unworthy receivers who do not receive the benefit of the sacraments. The sacraments are one and the same in substance between OT and NT (WCF 27.5).

 

Baptism in particular is the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church. Other passages in the Standards indicate that children are already members of the visible church. For instance, the very definition of the visible church in 25.2 says that the visible church consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and their children. It does not say “and of their baptized children,” but simply “and of their children.” WLC 62 says exactly the same thing. This is based on the teaching of 1 Cor 7:14, which talks about the faith of the believing parent as being the basis for the children being holy. Baptism is nowhere mentioned in 1 Corinthians 7. The basis for the children being holy is the faith of the parent or parents. That is the basis for why they should be baptized. They are already holy by virtue of covenant continuity. They are already part of the visible church. So when baptism is said to be the solemn admission of the party into the visible church, this means, as Thomas Boston says, “It supposes the party to have a right to these privileges before, and does not make them members of the visible church, but admits them solemnly thereto,” as quoted by Robert Shaw in his exposition of the Catechism. WLC 166 says that baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church. Therefore, adults need to profess their faith in Christ, but infants belonging to those professing faith are in that respect within the covenant, and are therefore to be baptized (WLC 166). The basis for baptizing infants is that they are already within the covenant. Baptism solemnizes that covenantal arrangement. Baptism does not make a person a member of the visible church. It is rather the sign of admission to the visible church. Johannes Vos says (p. 476), on question 166 of the WLC, that “Only those who are members of the visible church can rightly receive the sacrament of baptism....the visible church consists of two classes of people, those who have made a personal profession, and their infant children.”  Similarly, Joseph Morecraft (AC V, p. 348)says that “a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ makes one, together with his household, a member of the visible church.” This is also demonstrated quite clearly from the case of Abraham in Romans 4. Abraham believed God years before he ever received the sign of circumcision. Are we to suppose that Abraham was outside of the visible church until he received circumcision some 19 years after he believed and professed his faith by doing what God commanded him to do? That would be unthinkable! The words “solemn admission,” therefore, when taken in the context of the entire teaching of the WS, mean a formal ceremony that acknowledges what is already true.

 

It is a sign and seal of saving benefits such as union with Christ, regeneration, forgiveness of sins. It is a sign and seal of those things. The language of Romans 4:11 helps us understand that the language of “signs and seals” does not mean “convey.” The text says explicitly that Abraham already had the faith which circumcision signed and sealed. He already had it. He had the thing signified. He was given the sign and seal after he had the thing signified. Now, it is clear from the testimony of the Standards, that the order of events here is not particularly important. The thing signified can come before, during, or after the time point of the sign. The efficacy is not tied to the moment of its administration. I might point out Defense (!) Exhibit 8, p. 6, quotations by Robert Letham: “Baptism is efficacious for salvation, the Confession insists. However, this needs qualification. It is not to be understood in a temporal sense, as if at the moment of baptism the person baptized is regenerated and saved; there is no such temporal connection.” This requires us to look very closely at WCF 28.6, which is usually quoted out of context by FV proponents and defenders. The entire section needs to be quoted: “The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred, by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God's own will, in His appointed time.” Usually, I have found that FV proponents and defendants only quote the words “exhibited and conferred.” They hardly ever quote the qualifiers that are inseparably attached to that conferral language. Note the first qualifier: “by the right use of this ordinance.” Nothing is exhibited and conferred without the right use of this ordinance. Secondly, it comes only to those to such...as that grace belongeth unto.” This would imply that if the grace doesn't belong to a person, then that grace is not conferred or exhibited. Thirdly, there is a time qualification: it is in God's appointed time. Faith is given by God before, during, or after the time-point of the administration of baptism. The efficacy is not tied to the moment of its administration. And the efficacy of baptism lies in the Spirit-given faith, which is the connecting rod between the sign and the thing signified. It doesn't matter whether one has the sign first or the thing signified first, they are only connected when the Holy Spirit gives faith, and we may not put the Holy Spirit in a box by saying that it happens at the time-point of the administration of baptism.

 

Now here we must deal with a particular interpretation of the standards that is illegitimate. Some, but not all (and I do not know what Leithart's position is on this, but I have my suspicions) FV proponents and defendants interpret the WCF 28.6 language of “not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered” to be equivalent to “not limited to that moment of time.” In other words, their interpretation says that the efficacy starts at the moment of baptism, and then continues throughout the rest of life. The reason that interpretation is illegitimate is that it makes the last phrase of the section completely redundant and useless: why would it happen “in God's appointed time,” if that time were already fixed as the time-point of baptism? The phrase “in His appointed time” means without a shadow of a doubt that the efficacy can be like a delayed reaction. It isn't always delayed. And, as the Bible clearly teaches in Romans 4, one can have the thing signified long before one has the sign. The order of sign and thing signified simply doesn't matter, unless someone is trying to tie the efficacy of baptism down to the time-point of its administration, which I will argue that Leithart does.

 

The issue here is not whether baptism is an effectual means of salvation. The Standards tell us that baptism is an effectual means of salvation in WLC 161, when it explicitly says that “the sacraments become effectual means of salvation,” but then notice the qualifiers: “Not by any power in themselves, or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered, but only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ, by whom they are instituted.” So, no one is accusing TE Leithart of believing in the “magic” of water. No one believes that the water is “magical,” NOT EVEN Roman Catholics. Instead, TE Leithart is being accused of tying the efficacy of baptism to the rite itself. It is not the rite that confers the thing signified. It is the Holy Spirit that gives faith, and that act of the Holy Spirit is what ties the sign to the thing signified. 

 

General statements from Leithart on the nature of baptism:

 

Some of these quotations lay out Leithart's position; not all of them undermine the confession's teaching. I will try to make clear which statements undermine the Confession's teaching, and which are simply laying out the full context of Leithart's view.

I. TBB p. 4:

          A. Context:

                    1. Overall context of book:

Thesis statement of book: “In addition to being hurried and unpolished, The Baptized Body is a narrow and polemical little book. It is narrow because it focuses on a single question in the theology of baptism―the question of baptismal efficacy: What does baptism do to the baptized? (p. vii).”

 

Intent and scope of book is to describe his own position on matters related to the FV:

I cannot speak for all those wearing the FV logo, but in my view the Federal Vision is centrally about the issues I address in this book: Baptismal efficacy, to be sure, but more importantly and fundamentally, the nature of signs and rites, the character of the church as the body of Christ, the possibility of apostasy. At its heart, the Federal Vision is about ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. The most important chapter in this little book is the third, “'The Body of Christ' Is the Body of Christ.” As I see it, the Federal Vision's central affirmation is this: Without qualification or hedging, the church is the body of Christ. Everything the Federal Vision says about baptism, about soteriology, about apostasy flows from that affirmation (p. ix).

 

                    2. Near context: Leithart argues that we often ask the wrong questions about baptism, and some of these questions “arise from a faulty view of man and of personal identity, a faulty view that is largely a product of modern individualism” (p. 4).

         

          B.  Statement: “Baptism is about personal identity. It answers the question, 'Who am I?'” (p. 4). Comment: This statement argues for a sociological dimension to baptism, not just a soteriological definition. Both are involved in Leithart's definitions, as we will see.

 

II. TBB p. 22:

          A. Context: Leithart's opinion is that “ritual” is the single best category to describe the sacraments. Rites and rituals imply a communal action, an action performed by a community. Baptism is therefore water used in a certain way by a community.

          B. Statement: “Understanding sacraments as rites also helps us to understand the efficacy of sacraments...Rites accomplish what they signify.” Comment: this statement would seem to tie the efficacy of baptism to the time point of its administration, contrary to WCF 28.6.

 

III. TBB, p. 33:

          A. Context: Leithart is stating fairly plainly that baptism, although being a particular use of water, is always done in connection with the Word.

          B. Statement: “Therefore, the question is never 'Can water do this?' but always 'Can baptism do this?'” Comment: Leithart here seeks to avoid a crass “magical” view of baptismal efficacy. On page 35, Leithart says, describing Calvin's position, apparently favorably, “Water baptism 'rightly received' does what Paul says it does.” Introducing the question of what “rightly received” means is important. More on this later.

 

IV. TBB 78:

          A. Context: Leithart is talking about the various elements of the order of salvation (p. 77), and he includes a claim that “righteousness is not a thing or substance that is poured out or transferred.” It is a quality of Jesus Christ and a verdict, as he says, that we obtain by being united to Christ, which happens in baptism:

          B. Statement: “Thus, when asked, Do the baptized receive all the benefits of Christ, save persevering faith? I object to the form of the question. The baptized are implanted into Christ's body, and in Him share in all that He has to give.”

          C. Further qualification: Leithart stated, in his reply to the committee's report that “this is overstated, and actually violates one of the principal assumptions of my baptismal theology” (RPCR 15). The way he would qualify that statement is to say that “the contours of that union and relationship vary from person to person. Even among the elect, it is not true to say that we all share in all Christ has to give; some know Christ more intimately than others. Reprobates who are branches in the vine for only a time certainly have a different relationship with Christ than the elect. My more careful claim would be that the baptized share in Christ Himself and in His body, in varying ways and degrees.” Comment: He would still say that the efficacy of baptism is tied to the moment of its administration, and that whatever people get from baptism, they get at the moment of receiving baptism. His comment further suggests that everyone gets something positive from baptism, even the reprobate. This would undermine the teaching that baptism only confers something when it is rightly used (WCF 28.6), and only to such as that grace belongeth unto (WCF 28.6).

 

V. PP, p. 155

          A. Context: The section of the book is revealing, as the Latin is translated “Sacraments cause what they signify.” His intention in this section is to suggest ways in which the priestly typology sheds light on baptismal efficacy, and he will push this typology.

          B. Statement: “We can begin with the obvious: Th ordination texts imply an emphatically objective notion of ritual efficacy.” Comment: even looking at the following context does not really clarify what Leithart means by this. The only clue I could find is in the following pages 156-157, where he says that “the ordination texts suppress traditional sacramental uses of signum-res” (sign and thing signified, LK). This sounds like a claim that the objective nature of the typology suppresses the distinction between sign and thing signified.

 

VI. PP, p. 165ff.

          A. Context: Leithart's version of the typology of Aaron's ordination involves a recreation, a new creation week on the eighth day that makes Aaron a new man.

          B. Statement: “Applied to baptism, then, our typology leads to a doctrine of 'baptismal regeneration.'” What he means by this is explained on p. 169, where he writes “Baptism irreversibly plants my story in the story of the church, for even if I renounce her, my renunciation is part of her history.” Comment: Clearly, Leithart desires to diminish the distinction between outer and inner in the Christian life. The objective and the subjective become less relevant distinctions in Leithart's theology. This is how he can argue for a form of baptismal regeneration. Further explanation is on page 170, where he says “Operative ceremonies, thus, by placing us in new roles, vesting us with new clothes, and imposing new sets of obligations and rules, effect an 'ontological' transformation, a change in who we are, who we think we are, and who others think we are. Baptism clothes us as priests, and these clothes remake the man. (par. break, LK) Having cleared some ground, we can return more explicitly to our typology to show that it implies a theological, not a reductively sociological, view of baptismal regeneration.” Later, he will say “The baptized is no longer regarded as 'stranger' but born again as a 'son of the house.'” And again, on p. 171, “Baptism into the ecclesial priesthood that is the house therefore also confers the arrabon of the Spirit.” Finally, he says that “as baptism authorizes and deputizes to such ministry, it grants a share in the life of salvation.” Comment: One really cannot have clearer statements than these: baptism confers at the time point of its administration, saving benefits. The rite is not viewed by Leithart as having a confirmatory significance. Leithart relocates the efficacy of the rite by tying the Holy Spirit to the moment of baptism. 

 

VII. PP, p. 175.

          A. Context: Leithart is answering the question of whether it is the water that can do these things.  Leithart believes that the typology “points beyond the impasse.”

          B. Statement: He argues that “Our typology, as I have extrapolated it, challenges the basic conception that a sacrament is an 'outward sign of inward grace' by insisting that the outward signs reach to the innermost parts and that God extends His grace to us in the outward form of concrete favors.” He says further that the “'sonship' conferred by baptism is not 'external' to our basic identity but constitutive of it.” Comment: A higher view of baptismal efficacy could scarcely be imagined, though it is certainly not “magical.” Our standards do not attribute the acquisition of sonship to baptism. Chapter 12 of the WCF deals with adoption, and it is closely tied to justification. Baptism is not mentioned or even hinted at in this section of the WS.

 

VIII. A Son to Me, pp. 184-185

          A. Context: Leithart is expounding David's three anointings as marking out the three stages of his career (p. 184). He draws an analogy between David and us in the “blossoming of our union to the Anointed One in our single baptism.”

          B. Statement: “Baptism admits us to the sanctuary-garden, joins us to the brotherhood of the church, and marks us as witnesses in the world; baptism governs our relations with our fathers, both biological and spiritual, during our childhood; it shapes our life with our brothers in the church as we grow and with a sister-wife as we come to marriage; and it provides the framework for mature kingly and prophetic ministry in the world.” Again, the idea of joining us to something to which we did not already belong is paramount here, though, of course, not his main point. But the idea is present here.

 

IX. Defending Constantine, pp. 324, 341

          A. Leithart describes baptism in terms of beginnings, both individual and corporate, even applying this theology to Rome.

          B. Statements: p. 324 “It was, like every baptism, an infant baptism.” p. 341 “All baptisms are infant baptisms.” Comment: presumably, this is how Leithart would answer if asked concerning adults who are converted. When they are baptized, they become like a child, and it is thus an infant baptism. This idea comes from James Jordan, as we learn in Leithart's Kings commentary, p. 195.

 

X. From Behind the Veil, p. 103

          A. Context: this volume is Leithart's commentary on 1-3 John. The value of this particular quotation comes especially after reading Priesthood of the Plebs. The latter volume made me ask the question of whether Leithart was denying the typology of circumcision for the background of baptism. This quotation helps us understand how he views the entire typology of baptism.

          B. Statement: “The New Testament bundles together the various initiation rites of the Old Testament―circumcision, royal or priestly anointing, investiture, washing―into the single rite of water baptism.”

XI. “Modernity and the 'Merely Social': Toward a Socio-Theological Account of Baptismal Regeneration” Pro Ecclesia 9.3 (2000), pp. 319-330, esp. p. 320

          A. Context: the title of the article is an accurate description of where Leithart is wanting to go: a theory of baptismal regeneration that is socio-theological. Leithart intends to combine his ideas concerning ritual with a communal understanding of the church to provide the milieu for a doctrine of baptismal regeneration that is a ritual and social event. The word “social” however does not mean “merely social,” as we will see. Leithart's view of baptism is that it confers regeneration, understood in a social, communal, but still fully theological, way.

          B. Statements and comment: (p. 320) “Sacramental theologies influenced by ritual studies have thus been able to develop Rahner's and Schillebeeckx's (both Roman Catholic theologians, LK) insistence that sacramental efficacy is an efficacy of signs and symbols rather than a quasi-physical or a moral causation. Reflecting on Christian sacraments in the fresh contexts provided by these disciplines opens wide ecumenical vistas, and lays a pathway toward the reunion of sign and thing, and with that for the first steps toward a reunified vision of creation and redemption.” Comment: apparently the traditional Reformed account of sacraments divorces sign and thing signified, which divorce is not conducive to ecumenism. So, we have to abandon the traditional Reformed distinctions in order to achieve ecumenism.

 

Baptismal Efficacy:

 

I. TBB, p. 83, where Leithart states, “In the last two chapters, I have offered a very strong view of the efficacy of baptism. I've argued that the New Testament is talking about water baptism in most of the cases where it uses the word 'baptism,' and that it attributes virtually unbelievable powers to baptism. These wonders of baptism all arise from the fundamental fact that baptism initiates the baptized into the visible or historical church, which I have argued is the body of the Son of God, the Bride of Christ, and (one might add), the temple of the Spirit. Baptism is the water-crossing between membership in Adam and membership in Christ.” Comment: Here, both main problems with Leithart's view of baptism come to the fore: baptism initiates someone into the visible church (and note his confusion of “visible” with “historical,” which are NOT the same terms), and baptism confers its grace at the time-point of its administration. Indeed, as Leithart says elsewhere, his “entire view of baptism rests on the Confessional notion that baptism is 'solemn admission to the visible church'” (Brief of the Defense, p. 3). As we have seen above, “solemn admission” is not the same things as “admission,” and therefore Leithart's view does not rest on a Confessional distinction, but on his misinterpretation of what the Confession says. Leithart is quite clear in many other places that his view of baptism is that it creates a new status, and that it most emphatically does not recognize a status that already exists. For instance, in TBB, pp. 22-23, he says this: “Understanding sacraments as rites also helps us to understand the efficacy of sacraments. Certain Puritans (and Lady Macbeth) to the contrary, rites and ceremonies are not mere window-dressing added to an occasion that could take place without ritual and ceremony. Rites accomplish what they signify...Rites do not recognize a status that already exists; they place a person in a new status.” Leithart is even more emphatic in Daddy, pp. 29-30, where he says, “If they are not baptized, they are not members of the Church.” If Leithart is correct, then Abraham was not a part of the visible church until he was circumcised, some 19 years after his conversion. Leithart's view  is also in direct contradiction to WLC 166, which states that no one may be baptized who is not part of the visible church, and then defines the visible church as consisting of believers and their children. Similarly, Leithart says in TBB, p. 41, “What brings us into the visible body of Christ is the visible rite of baptism.” Here we must address 1 Corinthians 12:13, which Leithart exegetes as supporting his position. But Paul is talking about body life in this passage. Being baptized by one Spirit into one body is not saying that infants who are not baptized are not part of the church. This is evident, because Paul is primarily talking about adults who would gripe and complain that they are not some other person in the body. That a person may be part of the visible church and yet not be baptized is quite evident from the case of Abraham in Romans 4:11, and the case of the thief on the cross. Profession makes one a member of the visible church. Profession makes a person as well as all the people he represents, members of the visible church. Baptism is the sign of that, but does not accomplish that. Leithart seems to think that his view is the consensus of various Christian traditions (see “'Framing' Sacramental Theology: Trinity and Symbol” WTJ 62 (2000), pp. 1-16, especially p. 15, where he says “there is a consensus across Christian traditions that in baptism one becomes a member of the visible church and is publicly committed to Christ as his servant and disciple”). It is no such thing, and is actually a holdover from Baptist theology. Reformed theology has always said that children are part of the covenant by virtue of being born into a covenant family. Unless Leithart desires to introduce a profound disconnect between covenant and church (and something tells me he would not want to do that), then his position on what baptism does in terms of the visible church is wrong. Children are already part of the visible church (WLC 166, WCF 25.2, WLC 62, building off of 1 Corinthians 7:14) because they are already part of the covenant community, which is the church. Reformed authors have confirmed this many times. Bavinck says, “As was the case in the Old Testament, so now too the children of believers are included among the people of God....The children of a household where either the father or the mother is a believer are counted according to the believing spouse, even if it is the woman of the house. In such a household it is the Christian confession that sets the tone. It is the standard by which the whole family must be judged...the whole family is regarded in light of the confession of the believing spouse...(Children) are included in the covenant and are holy, not by nature...but by virtue of the covenant” (RD, IV, pp. 528-530). Kersten says, “Nevertheless, the women are also members of the Church, and the children also belong to it. They are members because they are born of 'believing parents, and therefore at baptism the first question asked of the parents is whether they acknowledge that as members of Christ's Church their children ought to be baptized” (RD, II, p. 468). The Dutch form for baptism is quoted by Van Genderen/Velema (p. 799) as saying “that in view of our children being 'sanctified in Christ...therefore, as members of his Church...ought to be baptized.'” Our own Directory for Worship, in the binding chapter 56, speaks of our children as federally holy before baptism. How can a child be federally holy and yet be apart from the visible church?

 

II. PP, p. 100

          A. Context: Leithart is exegeting Hebrews 10:19-22. His argument concerning the passage is that the Old Testament passages describing the sprinkling of the priests in their ordination provides the background and typology for the phrase “having hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Therefore, Hebrews 10:22 describes baptism with imagery borrowed from Ordination. In the context, Leithart does acknowledge that the agent for cleansing the heart is the blood of Christ. The point of the quotation is to show that Leithart believes that the efficacy of baptism is tied to the moment of its administration.

          B. Statement: “This text also proves that 'B replaces O' (baptism replaces ordination, LK). Sprinkled and washed, believers enter through the veil.” Comment: this statement is saying that the baptized are believers, and thus that baptism conveys faith. The washing of the water happens at the same time as the washing of the blood. The exegetical concerns need not detain us here, since I would freely acknowledge and agree with Leithart that baptism is in the picture in this text. But just because baptism is in the text does not mean that we are forced to Leithart's conclusions. The cleansing of the blood does not have to happen at the time-point of the cleansing of the water. Hebrews is simply saying that both are important, and that the washing of water is connected sacramentally with the washing of the blood. But it does not have to happen at the same point in time.

 

III. Exegesis of Colossians 2:11-12: Leithart argues that “baptism” means baptism (p. 49 of TBB). He offers several points of argumentation. Firstly, the language is similar to Romans 6, and the similarity of language offers prima facie evidence that the two passages are talking about the same thing. Secondly, the flow of thought moves from circumcision to baptism, a movement that goes through Jesus Christ to refer to burial and resurrection. So verse 12 tells us how individuals come to share in Christ's own circumcision, His death and resurrection. That way is baptism: “Through baptism, the story of Jesus' circumcision, burial and resurrection becomes ours” (p. 51).

 

Answer: it is difficult to believe that Paul meant merely the rite of baptism, when he referred specifically to the circumcision made without hands. Baptism is still done with hands. Furthermore, the reference to baptism, while present, is somewhat fleeting. Paul is really talking about union with Christ in this paragraph. As such, faith receives a strong emphasis at the end of verse 12. It is fairly easy to concede that Paul's reference to “baptism” is not meant to exclude water baptism. However, it seems fairly clear that Paul is primarily talking about the thing signified by baptism, which is obtained through faith. At any rate, there is nothing that forces us to believe Leithart's position. Calvin's position is helpful: “He adds, by faith, for unquestionably it is by it that we receive what is presented to us in baptism” (p. 186).

 

IV. Exegesis of 1 Corinthians 6:11: Calvin's mention of faith makes it necessary to note that the defense believes it has been misrepresented when Leithart has been accused of teaching that faith plays no part in the reception of baptismal benefits. The prosecution has not misrepresented Leithart. Leithart believes explicitly that baptism confers its benefits regardless of the faith of the recipient of baptism. In Priesthood of the Plebs, page 159, Leithart states this outright: “baptism makes priests regardless of the faith of the baptized or of the minister of baptism. Rightly done, baptism inducts, ex opere operato, into the priesthood of the Christian church.” In context, Leithart is talking about the idea that the ordination of priests in the OT is a typological precedent for baptism. Now, in the footnote, Leithart argues that baptism functions ex opere operato to induct someone into the visible church, and uses the deprecating phrase “which is all, at this point, that I have argued for.” However, when you add Leithart's belief that the (visible) church is the body of Christ without qualification or hedging, then his use of the term “visible” is meaningless, in terms of the visible/invisible church distinction. Leithart attempts to qualify this further in the defense brief, p. 2, where he says that statements like this one are “not identical to saying that all the baptized are 'regenerated' in the sense of WCF 28.6.” He attempts to make a difference between being made priests, being made members of the body of Christ, etc., on the one hand, and being regenerated in the sense of WCF 28.6, on the other.

 

This claim to qualification is significantly undermined by his statement that “sanctification and justification are conferred through the washing” (BATC). This is in the context of his exegesis of 1 Cor 6:11, where he interprets the relevant phrase as “you received a sanctifying and justifying washing,” rather than seeing the verbs as three verbs parallel in a series. He says a similar thing in The Baptized Body, p. 30, where he argues for this interpretation in some depth. He argues that Acts 22:16 is the only other use of the word (which is true, LK), when it is used in connection with baptism. However, as David Garland notes, it is not the word used for baptism in Acts 22:16. Leithart also claims that the phrase “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” refers to a baptismal formula. However, the phrase is used in 1 Corinthians 1:10 in a very non-baptismal context in the greeting of Paul to the Corinthians, and it is used in Ephesians 5:20 to refer to the manner in which the Ephesians are to give thanks to God. It is further used in 2 Thess 3:6 to refer to the authority by which Paul commands the Thessalonians to keep aloof from every brother who lives irresponsibly. So the phrase does not prove a baptismal reference, especially when it is so far removed from the word “washing” in 1 Cor 6:11.. Leithart argues that 1 Cor 12:13 is a further evidence of Paul's strong view of baptismal efficacy, but it is difficult to see the connection, since the language is so different. 1 Cor 12:13 speaks of “being baptized into one body through the Spirit,” all terms which are not found in 1 Cor 6:11, except the term “Spirit.” In the Priesthood of the Plebs, Leithart devotes several pages to this text. Leithart argues that “if the washing is a reference to baptism, then one would expect 'name' to follow immediately” (p. 109, fn 34). But if this were true, and I have argued that the phrase “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” does not prove a baptismal formula, then why does Leithart press the reference to baptism? Wouldn't the separation of the phrase from the word “washing” be a strong argument against a baptismal reference? The only commentator I could find that even remotely resembles Leithart's specific exegesis is Frederic Godet. The rest of the commentators either reject a reference to baptism, as we will see below, or they view the three verbs as independent events, not related in a particular way. Leithart sums up his view in the brief of the defense, p. 3, where he says, “I would explain 1 Cor 6:11 as a description of the gifts given to the baptized as members of the visible church.” He acknowledges possible exceptions, but he states that he is concerned about what happens in normal cases. Rather, “baptism is not defined by the abuse of the apostate, but by the proper use of the faithful.”

 

There are many other factors that tell against Leithart's view of 1 Cor 6:11. Gordon Fee notes that the verb translated “washing” is not used in the NT to denote baptism (p. 246). He says further that “Paul is not here concerned with the Christian initiatory rite, but with the spiritual transformation made possible through Christ and effected by the Spirit.” Hodge agrees by saying that “The reference which so many assume to baptism, does not seem to be authorized by any thing in the context” (p. 100). David Garland also agrees when he says that “Paul's choice of the verb apelousasthe instead of the verb 'you were baptized' is apt to refer to cleansing off the filth of these past sins” (p. 215). Even the Roman Catholic commentator, Joseph Fitzmyer, while agreeing with Leithart that “washing” refers to baptism, does not agree with Leithart concerning the relationship of the three verbs. He writes that “The three effects are simply mentioned with no chronological or logical order among them” (p. 258). John Calvin's view is that the “the term washing is metaphorical, Christ's blood being likened to water” (p. 212). The variety of views indicated by these commentators shows us that Leithart is certainly not forced by the text to his position. He takes the position he does on 1 Cor 6:11 in such a way that he ascribes sanctification and justification to baptism. This is not forced by the text, even if baptism is referenced in the text (which many commentators believe it is). That does not force us to the position that sanctification and justification are given in baptism. And we do not have to prescribe any one interpretation of the passage to realize that Leithart's rather forced interpretation of the passage is in contradiction to the standards, where he simply does not have to interpret the text that way. 

 

We have already seen that baptism, for Leithart, does not necessarily involve faith at the time-point of baptism. But baptism, for Leithart, accomplishes more than making one a member of the visible church, regardless of the presence of faith, since it confers sanctification and justification, according to his exegesis of 1 Cor 6:11. The only way that Leithart could evade the force of this objection is if he believed that faith comes at the time-point of baptism. But he has already said in PP that baptism accomplishes what it does regardless of the faith of the recipient.

 

V. Exegesis of 2 Corinthians 1:21-22- Leithart is not certain that this passage refers to water baptism (PP, 122). Some scholars think there is an allusion to baptism, while others do not. Leithart's argument here is a bit difficult to follow, but he is basically saying that even if the passage is not directly about baptism, the things it speaks of should be integrated into a baptismal theology of initiation. In this context, Leithart says “Its (referring to the passage, LK) reference to sharing the chrism of Christ assumes the reality of union with Christ, established by baptism (Rom. 6). Though Paul may not have called baptism an 'anointing' or 'sealing,' baptism (at least) symbolizes the union of which anointing and sealing are aspects.” Comment: For Leithart, baptism as a rite establishes union with Christ. It is rather certain that the text does not say this. Indeed, the “arrabon,” or “down-payment,” is the down-payment of the Holy Spirit, and comes “into our hearts” as the last phrase of the verse indicates. Whatever the arrabon is, it is something internal, not external.

 

VI. PP, pp. 182-183

          A. Context- I combined these two pages together, even over a chapter break, because Leithart starts chapter 5 with a summary of what he was doing in chapter 4. He ends chapter 4 with these words, “baptism not only makes new men; through it, the body of Christ shares with Christ in making a new cosmos.” Starting at the beginning of chapter 5, he says that “In the previous chapter, I developed a theology of initiation in which 'baptismal regeneration' was construed as induction into the 'cultural-linguistic' practice of the church.” In other words, he has been arguing for a form of baptismal regeneration.

          B. Statement: “Far from being reductionist, this typology and the framework extrapolated from it permits a richer and stronger affirmation of the objectivity of baptismal grace than found in traditional sacramental theology, which has hesitated to affirm that baptism confers grace ex opere operato....If grace is the favor of God manifested in the bestowal of favors, then baptism is and confers grace: the grace of a standing in the house of God, the grace of membership in the community of the reconciled, the grace of immersion in the history of the bride of Christ, the grace of God's favorable regard upon us. It would be churlish to complain that it does not also guarantee perseverance. (par. break, LK) Objections may, however, arise from a different quarter. Thus far I have used 'regeneration' in the traditional sense of individual transformation.” Comment: a number of things are important here: 1. He does not hesitate, unlike traditional sacramental theology, to affirm that baptism works ex opere operato. 2. When baptism confers regeneration, Leithart has meant it in the usual sense of individual transformation. 3. Leithart grants that baptism does not guarantee perseverance. So baptism confers regeneration, but this regeneration, though used in the normal sense, does not guarantee perseverance. There are many problems with this, confessionally. If a person is regenerated in the normal sense, he cannot lose that regeneration. This is basic Calvinism. Secondly, no sacrament works ex opere operato. As we have seen in our exposition of the WS, not everyone receives the grace offered, and not everyone receives it at the time-point of its administration. It is rather the Holy Spirit who gives faith that effects the thing signified. The general drift of Leithart's work here is to eliminate altogether the distinction between signum-res, and he believes that his typology of OT priesthood is what allows him to do this.

 

VII. Defending Constantine, pp. 93, 96, 300, 335

          A. Leithart's defense of Constantine involves him in some contradictions, even in his own words. Leithart argues that Constantine was a Christian (p. 96). The language Leithart uses there on page 96 indicates that it is the “Constantine we are examining.” In other words, the majority of the Constantine being examined is the pre-baptized Constantine, a Constantine whom Leithart calls “a Christian.” However, Constantine was not baptized until he was on his death-bed, as Leithart notes on page 93: “When Constantine died in 337, shortly after his baptism...” Leithart later talks about Constantine and baptism: “Baptism was the moment of his 'regeneration and perfection,' the moment when the emperor was received into the people of God. Constantine had the same view.” Leithart is here quoting Eusebius, the famous church historian, but Leithart seems to agree with Eusebius. But how could Constantine be a Christian, then, if he was not baptized until shortly before his death? Leithart argues about baptism this way: “We are priests and kings by his blood, anointed for priestly and royal service by baptism, baptized into armor, baptized for battle” (p. 335).  But wasn't Constantine doing all of these things long before he was baptized? Wasn't he doing these things the moment he came to faith? This is why profession of faith marks a person as a member of the visible church. Otherwise, Leithart has to argue that the “Christian” Constantine wasn't really a Christian until his death-bed. That would undermine his entire thesis, which is, as was stated, that Constantine was a Christian.

 

VIII. Against Christianity, pp. 94-95, 100-101

          A. Context of first quotation: this book is an all-out assault on anything resembling Two Kingdoms theology. The basic thesis of the book is that the church is a polis, or a political entity. That's not all Leithart says it is, of course, but he argues that it is a political entity. The Christianity against which he argues is therefore a depoliticized Christianity. His rhetoric against this form of Christianity is quite vicious at times, as he even admits at the beginning of the book: “I have written an unbalanced book. I have written an unfair book. I have written a fragmented book. I have written an incomplete book. (I think my liver is diseased.)” I quite agree with Leithart's general assessment of his book, and it is the one book that Leithart has written that I feel should not have been written. He aims with a shotgun when he needs a rifle, or even a laser. And he seems to excommunicate any and all forms of Two Kingdoms theology as not worthy of the name “Christian.”

          B. Statement: “Baptism is not a 'symbol' of someone becoming a disciple. Because Jesus designated it as such, this symbol is his 'becoming a disciple.' It is not a picture of a man being joined in covenant to Christ; it is a man being joined in covenant to Christ.” Comment: although Leithart argues that it is Christ's authorization and invitation that “makes all the difference,” this view of baptismal efficacy is clearly not in accord with the covenant theology of the WS. Children are already part of the covenant administration even before baptism. Profession of faith makes one a member of the visible church, and the whole household over which a person is head. 

          C. Context of second quotation: Leithart continues to erase the distinction between signum-res by posing it as a false dichotomy: “Symbol or reality? It is a false question.”

          D. Statements: “Baptism forms as well as symbolizes the new city of God. Through baptism, all sorts and conditions of men are made members of one body and become citizens of a single community...The Reformers cut through the lush overgrowth of subordinate rituals that had clustered around baptism and reduced the rite to its biblical form―a sprinkling with water. That was right and proper. Yet, most of those sub-rites presented the truth about the event of baptism: it really is a renunciation of the world, a deliverance from the domain of Satan into the domain of Christ, an investiture with royal and priestly garments.” The Confession puts these effects down to effectual calling (WCF 10) and justification (WCF 11, cf. Zechariah 3, a picture of justification if ever there was one, especially as it echoes the garments God made for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3). 

 

IX. From Behind the Veil, p. 173

          A. Context: this statement comes us in Leithart's comparison of Jesus and us. The water and the blood (the text he is commenting on is 1 John 5:8) tells us something about Jesus, but it also tells us something about us. Leithart is careful here not to separate water and blood. They belong together.

          B. Statement: “We are adopted into God's family by water.; the Christian life is not by water only, but by water and blood.” The Westminster Standards say that we are adopted into God's family by faith, not by water (WCF 12 on adoption, as it follows WCF 11 on justification).

 

X. Deep Exegesis, p. 179

          A. Context: the book is Leithart's method of exegesis. It is a book about interpretation. In this book, Leithart freely admits to having a method of interpretation very close to the Medieval quadriga (p. 207). The chapter in which this quotation is found is entitled “Texts Are About Christ.” Leithart is using John 9 as the text for illustration of his hermeneutical principles.

          B. Statement: “What can we learn about baptism from John 9? Much in every way. (par. break, LK) Baptism is the washing that opens the eyes and, by doing so, lets the light of Jesus flood in, so that the baptized can shine with light. Baptism puts us face-to-face with Jesus, the glory of God, so that we are transformed from glory to glory. John 9 not only shows how Jesus fulfills the creating act of the first day but also points to how the church participates in that re-creation. When the church baptizes at the command of Jesus, it is causing the light of Jesus to shine more brightly from the hill, the lampstand. John 9 shows that the creation event is about the totus Christus, the Creator Jesus and the people he makes into sub- and re-creators. Jesus has work to do, but he corrals the disciples into that work: 'we must work the works of Him who sent me' (v. 4: emphasis added). Baptism is a commission, a sending. The baptismal font is not a fishbowl but a pool of sending. Every baptism takes place in Siloam, and every baptism unites the baptized with the One Sent. Baptism sets us aflame and sends us out as lights into the deep darkness. It opens our eyes and sends us into the world of the blind. It calls us to bold faithfulness in the midst of intense pressure. Baptism grants us a share in the suffering of Jesus, making his enemies our enemies even as it makes him our friend.” Comment: Because of Leithart's claims elsewhere that without hesitation, qualification, or hedging, the visible church is the body of Christ, his claims here amount to a view of baptismal efficacy that goes way beyond the confessional standards. The standards clearly tell us that the grace offered is only given to such as that grace belongeth unto, whereas Leithart here argues that that grace belongs to everyone baptized.

 

XI. 1&2 Kings, pp. 192-197

          A. Context and statements: This is Leithart's exegesis of 2 Kings 5:1-27, the story of Naaman. He argues that “The story of Naaman is the richest Old Testament story of baptism and anticipates Christian baptism in a number of specific ways” (p. 192). “Naaman's 'dipping' in the Jordan is the effective ritual sign of this change of status” (p. 193). After quoting many of the disputed passages on baptism, Leithart asks this question, “How can water do such wonders? Because baptism is not simply water, but water and word, water and promise. God does wonders, but he promises to do wonders through water” (p. 194). He phrases any other interpretation of the New Testament passages as if they “doubt what the New Testament says about the power of baptismal water” (p. 194). As we are seeing,, however, and as we will continue to see, every one of the passages adduced by Leithart is capable of other interpretations, and we are not forced to his narrow interpretation.

 

XII. 1&2 Kings, p. 201

          A. Context and statement: Leithart is exegeting the story of the axehead, and argues that the typology relates to baptism, as it is combined with the story of Naaman. He writes, “As the baptized person passes through the waters, he or she is joined into the fellowship of Christ, shares in his body, shares in the Spirit that inhabits and animates the body, and participates in the resurrection power of Jesus.” Comment: here again we find the idea that baptism gives us the thing signified.

 

XII. The Promise of His Appearing, p. 32

          A. Context: This is Leithart's preterist commentary on 2 Peter. The passage he is looking at is 2 Peter 1:8-10, especially verse 9. He argues that the term “katharismou” here is a reference to baptism. According to BDAG, the standard Greek lexicon, the words means either “cleansing from cultic impurity, purification,” or “cleansing from inward pollution, purify” (BDAG 489). It is quite possible, therefore, that there is no reference to water baptism here at all. Even if there is, however, it could still be a sacramental use of language. Calvin's view is that the cleansing here is the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. He never mentions baptism in connection with this passage (p. 375). Hendriksen thinks that baptism is included here, but that the point here is whether the person remembers the significance of what baptism signifies (p. 255). Leithart, having reached a controversial conclusion as to the meaning of the verse, expands on the meaning of baptism.

          B. Statement: “Through baptism, we enter into the new life of the Spirit, receive a grant of divine power, are incorporated into Christ's body, and die and rise again with Christ. In the purification of baptism, we are cleansed of our 'former sins' (v. 9) and begin to participate in the divine nature and the power of Jesus' resurrection.” And, a little later, “Baptism thus marks our entrance into Christ's kingdom.” Comment: as we have seen, people are already part of the kingdom of God by their coming to faith in Christ. Children are represented covenantally by their professing parent(s). Leithart's position here proves inadequate, since it does not explain why only the “former” sins are mentioned as being cleansed. Leithart's view  would therefore border on the Roman Catholic view, which states that baptism cleanses us of everything sinful we have done before baptism. There are other interpretations of this passage that are quite possible which do not ascribe saving efficacy to the rite and time-point of baptism.

 

XIII. The Kingdom and the Power, p. 118, 189

          A. Context: this volume is an earlier work that shows us how consistent Leithart's view of baptism has been through the years. The book itself is about the church, and in the context of the first quotation, he is talking about the general nature of baptism, and in the context of the second, he is talking about baptism as a seal that means more than a “spiritual birth certificate.”

          B. Statements: “Baptism is not only an entitlement; it is an enlistment.” “the Scriptures treat baptism as the turning point in a person's life.” Comment: On the first quotation, this could be understood as a pledge, in which case it is unobjectionable. The second quotation, however, ignores the fact that faith is the turning point in a person's life, which may not be at the same time-point as baptism (as in the case of Abraham, the thief on the cross, Paul, and many others, including myself).

 

XIV. “Conjugating the Rites: Old and New in Augustine's Theory of Signs” Calvin Theological Journal 34 (1999): 136-147, p. 138, 147. 

          A. Context. The thesis of this article is that some of the problems of moving from Old to New Testament have born bad fruit in an alliance of the “outer sign/inner grace” idea with a quasi-Marcionite history of salvation (the new is more spiritual). The problems show up in Augustine already (136). His method is to “first examine some way stations along the way of traditional quasi0Marcionite sacramentology and then examine the 'grammatical' and 'pragmatic' account of signs in some of Augustine's letters and treatises” (p. 137).

          B. Statements: “A distinction of signum and res seems necessary to any same involvement in the world. A gap, however, implies that one comes to know things only by leaving signa behind and raises the specter of skepticism. In fact, we simply move from one sign-encoded reality to another” (p. 138, fn 5). “Todorov (Theories of the Symbol, pp. 46-47, LK) is correct to point out that the distinction between signum and res dissolves somewhat, since a res that is properly used is transitive, leading the user to the enjoyment of God. Thus, every res is, for the pious mind, at least potentially, a signum” (p. 138, fn 7). “At a more theoretical level, this alternative concept throws into radical question the dualisms of traditional sacramental theology. First, the dualism of signum and res. If the res of the sacrament is the totus Christus, and the if the goal of the sacrament is to unify the church in Christ, then contemplating the sacrament (assuming that contemplation is what one is supposed to do with it) does not bring something else to mind. What is sensibly apparent in the Eucharist is what is brought to mind, and this, in turn, is what is accomplished―the unity of the body” (p. 147).  Comment: on the one hand, he seems to affirm the distinction between sign and thing signified here. On the other hand, he has no problem with anything that diminishes the distance between the two, and even dissolves the distinction. This contradicts the WS's definition of sacraments as having two parts: a sign and a thing signified. These must always  be distinguished, never meshed together. That Leithart intends to blur the distinction between sign and thing signified is quite clear on page 147, where the concept of the “whole Christ” (head, members, and sacramental Eucharist) blurs the lines between sign and thing signified.

 

XV. “Embracing Ritual: Sacraments as Rites” Calvin Theological Journal 40 (2005) 6-20, especially, p 7, 15, . 

          A. Context, statement and comment: Leithart's thesis may be stated in his own words: “Causes for the stagnation of Reformed and evangelical sacramental theology are doubtless deeply rooted in the respective traditions where Puritanism and revivalism have, separately or in conspiracy, vitiated attention to sacraments. Exploring those historical factors, however, is outside the  scope of this article. Instead, I hope to open up fresh perspectives on the sacraments, writing from the conviction that Reformed and evangelical sacramentology must be revised at a fundamental level. I offer, as a first step toward that revision, critical analyses of several common definitions of 'sacraments in general.' In the course of this critical analysis, I move toward a constructive proposal for the reformulation of sacramental theology, which Lane Keister argues for reconceiving sacraments under the rubric of ritual or rite rather than as means of grace, signs, symbols, or visible words.” It must also be noted that he is talking more about trajectories rather than strict definitions (see fn 8). Comment: notice here that he clearly wants to recast all of Reformed and evangelical theology from the ground up on the question of sacraments. This will involve wholesale recasting of the Westminster standards. This is a very frank admission that he thinks the entire system of Westminster on the subject of baptism needs to be recast under the rubric of ritual, or rites. It is plain that he disagrees with the fundamental status of sacramental theology as it currently exists, giving it the status of “stagnation” and “vitiated attention to sacraments” due to too much Puritan and/or revivalistic traditions influencing the Reformed and evangelical world. His program is clear from the remainder of the article. On page 15, he says “As symbolic actions, the sacraments are symbols by and through and in which personal, covenantal relationships are forged and maintained,” giving us his definition of what sacraments are under the new rubric. To be more specific, he argues that “Just as words are performative, so the sacraments as visible words actually do things and do not merely tell things. They not only remind us and teach us about Christ's death, but they make promises, issue warnings, and establish or renew covenants” (p. 17). Again, on page 19, he reiterates the unconfessional notion that “The rite does not recognize a status that already exists; it actually installs the person into that status.” It is clear from WLC 166 that baptism is not to be administered to anyone outside the visible church, and that infants are members of the visible church by virtue of their parent(s) profession of faith.

 

XVI. “Modernity and the 'Merely Social': Toward a Socio-Theological Account of Baptismal Regeneration” Pro Ecclesia 9.3 (2000), pp. 319-330, esp. pp. 327-328, 330

          A. Context: for context, see previous section, Roman numeral XI.

          B. Statements: (p. 327): “Rites, by placing us in new roles, vesting us with new clothes, and imposing new sets of obligations and rules, effect an 'ontological' transformation, a change in who we are, who we think we are, and who others think we are. Just in this way, baptism clothes us with Christ, and these clothes remake the man. (par. break, LK) 'Baptismal regeneration' may thus be defined in terms of the new identity, tasks, relationship, and privileges that are conferred through the baptismal rite.” Comment: The rite places us in a new role, which effects an ontological transformation, which may be labeled baptismal regeneration. It is difficult to discern how any Roman Catholic would object to this way of phrasing the issue, especially considering that most Roman Catholics do not regard the water as having magical power in itself any more than Reformed folk do. Statement (p. 327): “Baptism effects a transition, as Rowan Williams (archbishop of Canterbury, LK) puts it, not only in the regard of men but in the 'gaze of God,' and this makes us 'new creations' in the deepest possible sense.” Comment: Leithart is saying that baptism makes us new creations in the deepest possible sense. According to Leithart, this happens at the time-point of the rite of baptism. The efficacy of baptism, according to Leithart, is tied to the moment of its administration, and it is, in itself as a rite (understood as having the power of the Holy Spirit), the power that effects the transformation. Statement (p. 328): “The baptized is no longer regarded as 'stranger' but born again as a 'son of the house.' Comment: the language of being born again is applied to baptism. Even if John 3 is in the background of Leithart's thought here, it is not an exegetical given that the reference to water in John 3 has to do with the efficacy of baptism. Statement (p. 328): “Initiation is thus not so much a doorway through which one passes into the house as the act by which one becomes part of the house; it is not passage toward membership so much as the first act of membership, and therefore the first contact with the Spirit who circulates through the body (cf. Acts 2:38; 1 Cor 12:12-13). Baptism into membership in the community of Christ therefore also confers the arrabonof the Spirit, and in this sense too is a 'regenerating' ordinance. There can be no 'merely social' membership in thisfamily.” Comment: again the twin errors of Leithart show themselves in other garments: baptism is the way in which we become part of the house (implying that the baptized person was not a part of the house before). This is contrary to WLC 166, which says that only members of the visible church may be baptized. Secondly, Leithart ties the efficacy of baptism to the moment of its administration by calling it a regenerating ordinance. This is contrary to WCF 28.6, which tells us that the efficacy of baptism is not tied to the moment of its administration.

 

XVII. Response to Presbytery Committee Reports, p. 13

          A. Context: Leithart is quoting the Scots Confession and the French Confession in order to seek to prove that his views have precedent in the Reformed tradition.

          B. Statement: “Aside from the Westminster Confession, there is evidence from other Reformed confessions that baptism unites the baptized to Christ. According to John Knox's Scots Confession (1560), 'we utterly condemn the vanity of those who affirm the sacraments to be nothing else than naked and bare signs. No, we assuredly believe that by baptism we are engrafted into Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of his righteousness, by which our sins are covered and remitted.' The French Confession states: 'We acknowledge only two sacraments, common to the whole church, the former whereof is baptism, given unto us to witness to our adoption, for by it we are grafted into the body of Christ, that being washed with his blood we might be renewed by his Spirit unto holiness of life...[I]n baptism, God gives us really and in fact that which he there sets before us; and that consequently with these signs is given true possession and enjoyment of that which they present to us.'” Comment: these statements are both quoted out of the context of the rest of the Scots and French Confession. Note, for instance, what the Scots Confession says in general about sacraments: “And their Sacraments, as well of Old as of New Testament, now instituted by God, not only to make a visible difference betwixt his people and they that was without his league: but also to exercise the faith of his Children, and, by participation of the same Sacraments, to seal in their hearts the assurance of his promise, and of that most blessed conjunction, union and society, which the elect have with their head Christ Jesus (emphasis added, Article 21, p. 467 of Schaff).” This is the definition of what the Sacraments are for, and should be allowed to qualify the statements following concerning what Baptism does. In other words, the instrumental nature of Baptism is only true for the elect, and the instrumental sense is applied only to assurance. The instrumental nature of baptism is not defined in the Scots Confession. However, John Knox elsewhere qualifies his statements in exactly the same way. In 1556, 4 years before the Scotch Confession was published, Knox has this to say about baptism (translating the brogue):

We have some respect also, that no more be given to the external sign, than is proper to it, that is, that it be the seal of justice and the sign of regeneration, but neither the cause, neither yet the effect or virtue…Baptism is the sign of our first entrance in the household of God our Father, by the which issignified that we are received in league with him, that we are clad with Christ’s justice, our sins and filthiness being washed away in His blood (emphasis added, volume 4 of the Works of John Knox, “Answers to Some Questions Concerning Baptism,” pp. 122-123).

Furthermore, in 1561, just one year after he wrote the Scotch Confession, he penned these words:

Albeit that the Sacraments are pledges to assure us of the grace of God, yet I Confess that they were unprofitable, except the Holy Ghost should make them effectual in us as instruments, to the intent that our faith should not be distracted from God, and stay upon creatures. Also, I Confess that the Sacraments are depraved and corrupt, when they are not referred to this end, to seek in Jesus Christ all that appertaineth to our salvation, and when they are applied to any other use than that our faith thereby should be wholly confirmed toward him (emphasis added, p. 366 of volume 5, in Additional Prayers for the Scholars of Geneva).

In other words, John Knox is stating that the efficacy of baptism resides in the sacramental union, not in the rite, and he does not tie the sacramental union so tightly to the time-point of the rite as Leithart does. Knox cannot, therefore, be used as a precedent for Leithart's views.

 

Secondly, on the quotation from the French Confession, Leithart conveniently ignores evidence that discounts his claims. Firstly, the French Confession attributes regeneration to God-given faith, not to baptism (Article 22 “We believe that by this faith we are regenerated in newness of life”). Secondly, The French Confession calls the sacraments “pledges and seals of the grace of God” (Article 34). It is balanced in its assessment of where the power lies: “they are outward signs through which God operates by his Spirit, so that he may not signify any thing to us in vain. Yet we hold that their substance and truth is in Jesus Christ, and that of themselves they are only smoke and shadow” (article 34). Thirdly, the sacraments can only be apprehended by faith: “In short, because it is heavenly, it can only be apprehended by faith” (article 36, speaking of the Lord's Supper). Immediately after the last portion of the Confession which Leithart quotes, is further evidence that he has misinterpreted the French Confession: “And thus all who bring a pure faith, like a vessel, to the sacred table of Christ, receive truly that of which it is a sign” (Article 37, speaking of the Lord's Supper). Finally, in article 38, the efficacy of baptism lies clearly in the Holy Spirit, not in the rite, when it says “Thus we hold that water, being a feeble element, still testifies to us in truth the inward cleansing of our souls in the blood of Jesus Christ by the efficacy of his Spirit.” The cleansing happens by the blood of Christ, not by the water.

 

XVIII. “What Baptism Confers” http://www.leithart.com/archives/003087.php (written June 18, 2007)

          A. Context: This short piece gives a list of benefits that baptism confers all by itself.

          B. Statement: “That's not all that the baptized receives. In receiving baptism, the baptized receive a great deal more. The baptized person is brought into the community of the church, which is the body of Christ. That's a gift. The baptized is made a member of the family of the Father. That's a gift. The baptized is separated from the world and identified before the world as a member of Christ's people. That's a gift. The baptized is enlisted in Christ's army, invested to be Christ's servant, made a member of the royal priesthood, given a station in the royal court, branded as a sheep of Christ's flock. All that is gift.

All this the baptized is not only offered, but receives. All this he receives simply by virtue of being baptized. (par. break, LK) Some will spurn the gift. Some will say, "I don't believe I belong to Christ. I don't believe I'm a sheep of His flock, or a soldier in His retinue." Some will enlist enthusiastically for a time, and then go AWOL. But their failure is not a failure to receive a gift. Their failure is a failure to use it rightly.” Comment: notice in this statement that Leithart says that baptism confers “sheepness” in Christ's flock. Baptism makes a person a sheep. Since, apparently, they might not stay that way, they may revert back to being goats. Unless there is a way of being a sheep that is not like the way that other sheep are sheep. Maybe they're a hybrid sort of “geep” or “shoat.” Or maybe, they belong to a category the term for which was invented by my father: “electrobate.” They'll probably get something of a shock on judgment day.

 

Expositions of Scriptures

While some passages have already been exegeted, we will look more closely at a few more, keeping close to Leithart's own treatments. What is intended to be shown here is not one authoritative exegesis of any given passage, but rather the inadequacy of Leithart's exegesis, in order to prove that the Scripture does not force Leithart to come to his non-confessional positions. It is, therefore, not a question of Leithart's exegesis versus Keister's exegesis, but rather a question of Leithart's exegesis versus the Standards' exegesis. I will be hoping to show that since the text does not force us to Leithart's conclusions, and that actually the texts more likely go in other directions, that therefore Leithart cannot claim to be standing on Scripture no matter what the Standards say.

 

I. Romans 4:11- This passage does not receive much attention at the hands of Leithart. There is really only one passage that deals in any detail with Romans 4:11, and the passage is Leithart's exposition of how baptism works as a seal. The Kingdom and the Power, p. 190 puts it this way: “Circumcision was a seal (Rom 4:11), and, since circumcision is fulfilled in baptism (Col. 2:11-12), it is appropriate to call baptism a seal. (par break, LK) But what is a seal? What does it mean to be 'sealed' by baptism? The Greek word had several different connotations. It referred to the brand that a shepherd put on his sheep, or to the tatoo that marked a soldier as a member of a particular regimen, or to the sign placed upon a slave. When we were sealed with baptism, we were marked as God's property, His slaves, His soldiers.” In the next section he goes on to state the corporate dimensions of this sealing. However, he does not deal with what Romans 4:11 actually says.

The passage in Greek: 

 

καὶ σημεῖον ἔλαβεν περιτομῆς σφραγῖδα τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πατέρα πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων δι᾽ ἀκροβυστίας, εἰς τὸ λογισθῆναι καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην,

 

Translation: “And he received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith which he had while in uncircumcision, so that he would become the father of all those who believe while uncircumcised, so that righteousness might also be imputed to them.” Here the language of sign and seal are used by Paul to describe something that Abraham already had. In context, Paul is talking about Abraham as the father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Therefore he is many ways exemplary for us. The point is that Paul is emphatic about the possession of righteousness: Abraham already had what was signed and sealed. He already had that righteousness. This means that, whatever else “sign and seal” means, it does NOT mean “convey at the time point of administration.” The thing that conveyed the righteousness at the time when it happened was clearly faith. As Leithart correctly notes, baptism fulfills circumcision, so what is true here of circumcision is also true of baptism. As we know from other passages, it does not particularly matter whether the thing signified comes before or after the sign and seal of baptism. The connection is established by the Holy Spirit giving us faith. The real efficacy is in Spirit-given faith, not in the rite itself.

 

II. Galatians 3:27- Leithart appeals to this text regularly in his exposition of baptismal efficacy. The main exposition of the passage occurs in The Priesthood of the Plebs, pp. 102-108. Leithart's main point in this section is to indicate that the “putting off” and “putting on” language is primarily tied to the Old Testament priesthood, and the clothes they wore, such that baptism is a form of priestly initiation. He also connects the priestly investiture with the Old Adam/New Adam schema of redemptive history, the point being that “putting on a new man” is equivalent to partaking in new creation. Leithart only alludes to the contrary argument of J.D.G. Dunn, that Paul would not have substituted another external rite for circumcision. Leithart dismisses this as begging the question, “For one might argue that this is precisely what Paul did.” One could argue that Leithart begs the question in saying that, however, since he does not argue the point at all, but merely asserts. That Dunn is actually correct here is made likely by the context. Paul's main topic in this entire section is faith (Fung says that the fact that “faith is mentioned fifteen times and baptism only once would even by itself compel agreement with the dictum that Paul 'by no means unconditionally attributes magic influence to baptism, as if receiving it guaranteed salvation'” p. 173 (quoting Bultmann)). The view that Leithart takes is also dealt with by Fung: “According to another view, 'that which baptism symbolizes also actually happens, and precisely through baptism': 'Baptism is the moment of faith in which the adoption is realized―in the dual sense of effected by God and grasped by man―which is the same as saying that in baptism faith receives the Christ in whom the adoption is effected' (quoting Nygren, a Lutheran, LK). Here the emphasis upon a close alliance of faith and baptism is no doubt well placed; but in seeking to do justice to both ideas this view seems to make faith's efficacy dependent upon baptism as though it were only in baptism (as 'the moment of faith') that faith receives Christ; this would logically lead to the conclusion that baptism is indispensable for the reception of Christ in whom alone salvation is to be found” (p. 173). Leithart connects baptism with adoption in TBB, p. 76, where he says “Further, Galatians 3 connects baptism with adoption, another element of the traditional ordo salutis.” This is a crucial quotation, for it demonstrates that when Leithart uses the traditional ordo salutis terminology, he usually means it the same way it has always been used. Baptism confers ordo salutis adoption. And since baptism does not guarantee final salvation, this ordo salutis adoption is losable. 

 

Other scholars agree. David McWilliams writes, “Pauls concern is to show that baptism visibly represents the union of the believer to Christ. Paul certainly does not mean for us to interpret baptism ex opere operato. Baptism does not possess efficacy apart from the gospel. That view would contradict all that Paul has argued till now and would require viewing baptism in place of circumcision as a 'plus' to the gospel” (p. 137). He further explains the garment imagery as “an identifying garment” (ibid). Pipa says nearly the same thing: “It is not baptism that regenerates us, but that God uses our baptism in such a way that it confirms to us the reality of our union. It functions as a secondary means” (p. 138). Peter Barnes writes to the same effect: “Surely, Paul is referring to water baptism. It is true that external baptism does not unite us to Christ. Paul is hardly saying that the rite of circumcision does not save or add to salvation, but the rite of baptism does! As John Stott puts it, 'Faith secures the union; baptism signifies it outwardly and visibly'” (178). Phil Ryken warns against an overly objective reading of baptism here by saying that “this is precisely the kind of thinking that Paul was warning against. The Judaizers were treating circumcision as a method for gaining salvation” (p. 146). Ultimately, the most helpful comments, however, are from Calvin:

But the argument, that, because they have been baptized, they have put on Christ, appears weak; for how far is baptism from being efficacious in all? Is it reasonable that the grace of the Holy Spirit should be so closely linked to an external symbol? Does not the uniform doctrine of Scripture, as well as experience, appear to confute this statement? I answer, it is customary with Paul to treat of the sacraments in two points of view. When he is dealing with hypocrites, in whom the mere symbol awakens pride, he then proclaims loudly the emptiness and worthlessness of the outward symbol, and denounces, in strong terms, their foolish confidence. In such cases he contemplates not the ordinance of God, but the corruption of wicked men. When, on the other hand, he addresses believers, who make a proper use of the symbols, he then views them in connexion with the truth―which they represent...But perhaps some person will ask, Is it then possible that, through the fault of men, a sacrament shall cease to bear a figurative meaning? The reply is easy. Though wicked men may derive no advantage from the sacraments, they still retain undiminished their nature and force. The sacraments present, both to good and to bad men, the grace of God. No falsehood attaches to the promises which they exhibit of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Believers receive what is offered; and if wicked men, by rejecting it, render the offer unprofitable to themselves, their conduct cannot destroy the faithfulness of God, or the true meaning of the sacrament...With strict propriety, then, does Paul, in addressing believers, say, that when they were baptized, they 'put on Christ;' just as, in the Epistle to the Romans, he says, 'that we have been planted together into his death, so as to be also partakers of his resurrection.' (Rom 6:5) In this way, the symbol and the Divine operation are kept distinct, and yet the meaning of the sacraments is manifest; so that they cannot be regarded as empty and trivial exhibitions” (pp. 111-112).

Hedriksen is very similar: “The apostle is speaking, therefore, not about the merely outward administration of baptism, as if some magical healing power adhered to it, but about the sign and seal in conjunction with that which is signified and sealed.” In other words, with Paul, he is saying that the sign and the thing signified together look like putting the old man and putting on the new man. Paul is not actually talking about the efficacy of the sign by itself, nor is he saying that when the sign happens, so does the thing signified. The whole passage has been about faith as the turning point. In the context, it is faith that has the instrumental power by the Holy Spirit. Boice puts it most clearly: “This is not referring to water baptism, because if it were, the illustration of being clothed with Christ would be inappropriate. Rather, it refers to our being identified with Christ, like a child identifies with her mother when she dresses in her mother's clothes or a soldier identifies with the armed forces of his country when he dons a uniform (Romans II, p. 660).  

 

III. Luke 3:21-23 Leithart's point from this passage is a simple one, but one that he has not proven. His point is that “if Jesus' baptism inaugurated His priestly ministry, it follows that Christian baptism is also initiation to priesthood” (PP, p. 112). What follows is his exegetical discussion of the typological connection between Jesus' baptism and the Old Testament priestly ordination. While some of these points are convincing, especially in his explanation of Jesus' baptism of repentance (see p. 116), it seems to connect a few too many typological dots to say that our baptism is into Jesus' baptism. There are other explanations of this passage.

 

IV. Titus 3:5 This passage is often used to defend the idea of baptismal regeneration. Leithart's exegesis of it can be found in TBB, p. 77. I will simply quote it in full: “And Titus 3:5, I think a baptismal passage, speaks about baptism as the 'washing of regeneration.' This again uses a term found in all the Reformed ordo salutis models and connects it to baptism. How is baptism the washing of regeneration? The word regeneration is used only twice in the New Testament, and in the other use (Mt. 19:28) it refers to a cosmic transformation or a coming epoch of history--'in the regeneration.' I take it to refer to the New Covenant order, the order of life in Christ, in which the apostles will sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel. If this is also the meaning in Titus 3:5, then baptism initiates the baptized into the regeneration, into the renewed humanity and renewed cosmos that is the body of Christ.” In Leithart's article “Womb of the World” (JSNT 78 (2000), pp. 49-65), Leithart argues for a cosmic meaning of baptism in Titus 3:5 and in other places (the article itself is focused on Hebrews 10:19-22, with which we have already dealt). So, it is unclear whether Leithart argues for the tradition meaning of regeneration here. He seems to be interpreting the word in a cosmic sense. But the most likely explanation is that the cosmic sense includes the normal ordo salutissense, since Leithart does not shy away from baptismal regeneration in other contexts. The cosmic includes the personal, for Leithart. Even if the passage is talking about baptism (a fact highly disputed in the commentaries), it does not justify Leithart's conclusions. For instance, Calvin, Towner, and others see a reference to baptism here, but as a sign and seal of benefits obtained another way. After talking about how to understand rightly the sacraments, Calvin says, “Paul, while he speaks directly about the Holy Spirit, at the same time alludes to baptism. It is therefore the Spirit of God who regenerates us, and makes us new creatures; but because his grace is invisible and hidden, a visible symbol of it is beheld in baptism” (p. 334). On verse 6, he makes it clear that Paul “speaks not of the sign, but rather of the thing signified, in which the truth of the sign exists” (334). However, the genitival phrase itself is ambiguous. Several recent scholars (Mounce, Marshall, Morecraft, and Knight) take the phrase to mean that regeneration is seen as a form of washing, and that there is no reference here at all to baptism. In other words, regeneration is a kind of washing, and that Paul is really talking about regeneration straight up. We can go with Calvin, or we can go with the non-baptismal reference to regeneration. Either way, we are not forced into Leithart's position. This is quite independent of the question of the meaning of “regeneration” here, which does not flip the issue one way or another.

 

V. 1 Peter 3:21-22- This infamous passage is tremendously difficult to interpret. This makes it all the more surprising, then, to see Leithart extremely confident in his interpretation of verse 21, and brushing aside alternative interpretations as not worth considering. For instance, he says in the Response to the Presybtery Committee Reports, page 2, that he “started out with the aim of formulating an understanding of baptism that would allow me to say, with Peter's offhand confidence, 'baptism now saves you' (1 Peter 3:21).” As if this statement were not qualified heavily by what follows! However, Leithart's interpretation seeks to answer that objection as well. In TBB, pp. 30-31, he interprets the qualifying phrases of verse 22 as an intensification of the efficacy of baptism, not as what he calls a diminishing of the efficacy. He argues that Peter's point is that Christian baptism has a greater power than the power of the Old Covenant sacraments. However, it is difficult to see why this would be. What Old Testament sacrament was even related to the washing of water? He references Leviticus 15, but the purifications concerning discharges seems rather a stretch, considered as something that Peter was thinking about when he wrote this. Wasn't he thinking more about Noah and the ark? There doesn't seem to be an obvious connection between the Flood and the ceremonial cleansings of Leviticus 15. At any rate, Leithart certainly doesn't argue the point, but merely asserts that this is what the qualification means in verse 22. Leithart's view of the qualification of verse 21 is not shared by any commentator that this witness could find. Almost universally, the qualification of verse 21 is seen as an indication that the efficacy of salvation belongs not to the sign itself, but to the Spirit-given faith that unites the sign to the thing signified. I will not quote all of the commentators I read, but Calvin will suffice: “he speaks not of the naked sign, but that the effect must also be connected with it...the external symbol is not sufficient, except baptism be received really and effectually: and the reality of it will be found only in a few...Let us then learn not to tear away the thing signified from the sign. We must at the same time beware of another evil, such as prevails among the Papists; for as they distinguish not as they ought between the thing and the sign, they stop at the outward element, and on that fix their hope of salvation...We ought to acknowledge in baptism a spiritual washing, we ought to embrace therein the testimony of the remission of sin and the pledge of our renovation, and yet so as to leave to Christ his own honour, and also to the Holy Spirit; so that no part of our salvation should be transferred to the sign” (pp. 117-118). Jobes, Brown, Leighton, Hendriksen and Achtemeier all agree that the qualification of which Peter speaks follows the line of preventing such an understanding as Leithart's.

 

VI. Acts 2:38- Leithart says of this passage that “the link between baptism and forgiveness of sins is not merely sequential” (TBB, p. 29). Instead, “Ananias's words to Paul imply, as G.R. Beasley-Murray says, 'his sins will be washed away in his baptism accompanied by prayer.'” This interpretation of Acts 2:38 is opposed by all the Reformed authors this witness could procure. Calvin says it best: “Although in the text and order of the words, baptism doth here go before remission of sins, yet doth it follow it in order, because it is nothing else but a sealing of those good things which we have by Christ, that they may be established in our consciences” (p. 118). In his sermon on this verse, Calvin calls baptism “a witness of the remission of our sins” (p. 28). Then we might ask why forgiveness and baptism are tied so closely together. Derek Thomas has an answer for this: “Baptism pictured outwardly what was true of those who repented inwardly: forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is the ideal way to picture cleansing from sin” (p. 49). In other words, these authors claim that the text is saying, “Repent, and then show your repentance before the world in baptism.” The text certainly does not create a link between baptism and forgiveness that is causal or instrumental, contrary to Leithart's conclusions.

 

VII. Acts 22:16 Leithart argues that this text is saying exactly the same thing as Acts 2:38. This is granted, but what exactly is it saying? Again, Calvin says it best: “But when he saith, Wash away thy sins, by this speech he expresseth the force and fruit of baptism, as if he had said, Wash away thy sins by baptism. But because it may seem that by this means more is attributed to the outward and corruptible element than is meet, the question is, whether baptism be the cause of our purging. Surely, forasmuch as the blood of Christ is the only means whereby our sins are washed away, and as it was once shed to this end, so the Holy Ghost, by the sprinkling thereof through faith, doth make us clean continually. This honour cannot be translated unto the sign of water, without doing open injury to Christ and the Holy Ghost; and experience doth teach how earnestly men be bent upon this superstition. Therefore, many godly men, lest they put confidence in the outward sign, do overmuch extenuate the force of baptism. But they must keep a measure, lest they darken the glory of Christ; and yet they may not want their force and use. (par break, LK) Wherefore, we must hold this, first, that it is God alone who washeth us from our sins by the blood of his Son; and to the end this washing may be effectual in us, he worketh by the hidden power of his Spirit...We must again beware that we tie not the grace of God to the sacraments; for the external administration of baptism profiteth nothing, save only where it pleaseth God it shall” (pp. 302-303). Derek Thomas adds this: “As a sign and seal to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, nothing could have signaled with greater effect the extent of Saul's change than his baptism” (p. 629).

 

 

VIII.              Romans 6:1-7- Leithart argues that any view that does not see water baptism in Romans 6 is not taking Paul at his word (p. 1). This is good rhetoric, but poor argument. He uses the word-concept fallacy to support his point (“First, if he didn't mean baptism, why did he say baptism?” TBB, p. 1) Just because the word “baptism” is present does not mean that Paul is talking about water baptism. And, even if we grant that water baptism is in the picture, that still does not mean we are forced to Leithart's position. His rhetoric is highly overblown when he says that “by this argument, however, any passage about sacraments can be turned into a passage that is notabout sacraments” (TBB, p. 2). This assumes what needs to be proved, namely, that the passage he has in mind are, in fact, about sacraments. We have seen in a number of places that this is highly disputed. The argument can further be turned back on him to say this: by his argument, sacramental language is impossible, and that it is arbitrary to see any Scripture writer as talking about the thing signified when using language about the sign. This would prevent us from using a key interpretive principle about the sacraments given to us in the WCF 27:2: “There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” This section, incidentally, uses Titus 3:5 as an example of sacramental language in the proof-texts. And again, his rhetoric is highly overblown when he says “This is hopeless. By this procedure, we can neutralize any passage about the sacraments. In the end, we will have no sacramental theology and perhaps no sacraments” (p. 2). This is a very sweeping denunciation of a very highly developed tradition in Reformed theology of seeing sacramental language in Scripture. For instance, Leithart rather condescendingly rejects Murray's interpretation of Romans 6, saying “With a wave of his hands and a few irrelevant quotations from other Pauline letters, Murray concludes that 'reference to the rite may have receded almost to the point of disappearance.' This is not a cogent argument because it is not an argument at all. It is assertion” (p. 3). Don't look now, but Leithart just did the very thing he was accusing Murray of doing: making an argument out of mere assertion. The only appeal to the actual text of Romans in this section is on page 5, where he simply appeals to the words of Paul, without explaining what they mean. And yet, Leithart can still claim that “I'm not disputing the Reformed answer” (p. 4). Would Murray's answer not be Reformed, then? Leithart is not disputing Murray's understanding of Romans 6? Leithart gets a little more detailed on page 29 of TBB, where he argues for the instrumental force of “dia” plus “baptismatos.” He states, “We die and are buried in baptism so that we can participate in new life in Christ” (p. 30). Later on, Leithart takes up Romans 6 again, this time bringing Calvin into the picture. Calvin certainly interpreted Romans 6 as inclusive of water baptism, as Leithart rightly notes. However, Calvin's interpretation does not jibe with Leithart's. Listen to Calvin: “Paul, according to his usual manner, where he speaks of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign; for we know that whatever the Lord offers by the visible symbol is confirmed and ratified by their faith. In short, he teaches what is the real character of baptism when rightly received. So he testifies to the Galatians, that all who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ (Gal iii.27) Thus indeed must we speak, as long as the institution of the Lord and the faith of the godly unite together; for we never have naked and empty symbols, except when our ingratitude and wickedness hinder the working of divine beneficence” (p. 221). Notice here that Calvin is not addressing the question of whether the thing signified comes at the same point as the sign. That is addressed elsewhere. For here, notice that faith has to be present (“rightly received”) in order for baptism to do anything. Otherwise, they are “naked and empty symbols...when our ingratitude and wickedness hinder.” This is not Leithart's view, to put it mildly. Stott interprets this language as sacramental language. He writes (referring to other baptismal texts) “But these are examples of dynamic language which attributes to the visible sign the blessing of the reality signified. It is inconceivable that the apostle Paul, having spent three chapters arguing that justification is by faith alone, should now shift his ground, contradict himself, and declare that after all salvation is by baptism. No, we must give the apostle credit for consistency of though...So union with Christ by faith, which is invisibly effected by the Holy Spirit, is visibly signified and sealed by baptism” (p. 174). Leithart's objections to Boice's view are poor. The best he can come up with is this: “What if one has no conversion experience, or at least no memory of one?” Why should that be a problem for Boice's view (which is that “baptize” refers to conversion). Boice is not talking about a necessarily “felt” experience, but rather the point of entrance, the point of departure from old to new. Leithart argues that “Paul's argument demands that the event he refers to is fixed, clear, public, datable” (pp. 36-37). Where is this in the text? Just because Paul is talking about knowing that we are united to Christ (which Paul certainly is) does not mean that it has to be datable. Again, here is a remnant of Baptistic theology in reverse: one's conversion has to be datable, and instead of it being a violent conversion experience, it is baptism. Supposing one forgets the date of one's baptism, and only remembers that one has been baptized? What then? Where is the datableness then? And why should that bring any more comfort than examining what one believes to make our calling and election sure? I am not arguing one way or the other for whether water baptism is in the text. I don't have a particular problem with saying that it is. But if it is, it is there in the same way it is present every other place: as a sign and seal. Romans 4:11 qualifies Romans 6. We are not forced to an instrumental understanding of verse 4 because of the possibility of sacramental language, and also because the word “baptized” is disputed as to its meaning here. On page 75, Leithart says that “Paul links baptism to justification in Romans 6:1-7. Verse 7 says 'he who has died is justified from sin'.” But Paul does not say “he who has been baptized is justified from sin.” He says “he who died is justified (or freed) from sin.” More on that verse later. For our purposes here, we simply need to point out that “died” does not equal “baptized.” Incidentally, the defense has stated in its supplemental brief to the SJC case 2009-6 that “no reputable commentary on Romans” believes that water baptism is not in the text. Apparently, Barnhouse, Boice, and Lloyd-Jones are not reputable commentaries then, because all three of them deny that Paul is talking about water baptism in Romans 6! Even Leithart acknowledges that some Reformed commentators have suggested that Paul is not talking about water baptism (see Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated?, p.  36). Of course, Leithart argues that this interpretation is not credible. But there are some who say it, contrary to TE Rayburn. The point I wish to make is simply this: no one has settled the dispute about Leithart's views by proving one way or the other that water baptism is present in Romans 6. The question is “If it is present, howis it present?” If it is present, then it is present as it is in other places in Scripture: as a sign and seal of the reality it signifies.

 

Defense Exhibits Notes

I will attempt to make a few notes about the defense exhibits, and why they do not prove in any way, shape, or form, that Leithart's views are confessional and have precedent in the Reformed traditions.

 

On page 2, note that phrase “in the things themselves is the entire benefit of the sacraments.” Then further along, notice that it says “By these things it is not signified, however, that the water is cause, nor even instrument, of purgation and regeneration, but only that the knowledge of such gifts is received in the sacrament.” How Liethart could possibly agree with that statement is beyond me. Notice then, just a little further, confirmation that baptism does not initiate us into the covenant, when the Second Helvetic says “we rightly baptize our children, since they are already participants in the eternal covenant through which the Lord promises (Gen. 17:1-4) that he will be God not only of us, but also of our posterity.” If they are alreadypart of the covenant before baptism, how can they be outsidethe church until they are baptized?

 

In Calvin's Catechism, question 327, note that the cleansing of the soul pertains to the blood of Christ alone, not the water. It is sealed to us in the Sacrament of baptism. The question in bold type reminds us that water is no empty sign, but when conjoined with faith, has its full efficacy. Question 329 qualifies the previous question by saying that only believers feel its efficacy. The proper use of baptism, as question 332 says, is faith and repentance. That is where the true efficacy of baptism lies. On page 4, in the young person's catechism, note that the first question is talking about whether the child IS a Christian, whereas the second question is talking about how this is KNOWN. In other words, the second question has to do with assurance, not with how a person becomes a Christian.

 

On pages 7-9, I must admit to being confused into thinking I was reading an exhibit for the prosecution. Practically nothing in here matches with Leithart's views. Even in the bolded section, it says “all who embrace in faith the promises there offered, receive Christ spiritually with his spiritual gifts.” We get the blessings by faith. Furthermore, there is the distinction drawn between the sign and the thing signified. At the top of page 8, The Consensus says that faith is what makes us true partakers of what is offered in the sacraments. Again, at the bottom of section 12 it says clearly “he neither infuses his own power into them nor does he derogate in any way from the efficacy of his Spirit: but according to our ignorance, he uses them as helps, yet so that all power remains with him alone.” Section 15 tells us that the sacraments nourish, confirm and promote faith: they don't give it. It immediately goes on to say, “not even the smallest portion of our salvation bay be transferred from the single author of it, to the creature or elements.” The next section tells us that only the elect receive benefit from the sacraments. The section after that is entitled “The Sacraments do not confer grace,” surely something Leithart would disagree with most strenuously! Just read the rest of it: “By this doctrine, that fiction of the Sophists is refuted which teaches that the sacraments of the new law confer grace on all who do not interpose the obstacle of mortal sin. For besides the fact that nothing is received in the sacraments except by faith, it is also necessary to hold that the grace of God is certainly not so tied to them that whoever has the sign receives the thing itself. For the signs are administered to the reprobate as well as to the elect, but the reality only reaches the latter.” Even more explicitly on the next page, “the use of the sacraments is no more profitable to the unfaithful than if they abstained.” 

 

On the Large Emden Catechism, not the important words “pledging” (not conferring) and “promise,” (not delivery). The next question says of baptism that it describes, declares, and seals the truth of the gospel, and this is perfectly true. That is not saying that we get it all in the rite. The French and the Scotch confessions have already been dealt with.

 

On Theodore Beza's Confession, note mostly that contextual concerns have been ignored here. In section 43, Beza explicitly talks about what it is in the Sacraments that is effective: “By that Word which is joined with it, He quickens and confirms our faith with which we embrace Him and represents our union with Him as well as with our neighbors.” As Ligon Duncan is fond of saying, if we ever ascribe an efficacy to the sacraments that we do not ascribe to the Word, we are in serious trouble. Then, immediately following the section that the exhibit portrays: “Notwithstanding such conjunction, we do not confound the signs with the thing signified, not abolish the substance of the signs, but make a distinction of what is conjoined. In the very next section, Beza tells us that unbelievers receive nothing but the “bare sign alone.”

 

The Belgic Confession uses the standard formulation that sacraments are “visible signs and seals of an inward and invisible thing,” a distinction that Leithart seeks in general to undermine.

 

On the statement of the Hungarian Confession, this is perhaps the time to point out that the Westminster Confession certainly does not separate sign and thing signified sacramentally. They belong together. However, the sign does not have to occur at the same time as the thing signified. All too often, such a distinction in time is interpreted as a separation of sign and thing signified, even sacramentally. This is not the case.

 

The Heidelberg is only saying that baptism is a sign of inward washing, and that it is a source of assurance for us. It is not saying that the efficacy of baptism is tied to the moment of its administration.

 

On the Second Helvetic, it makes a clear distinction between how we get the inward regeneration, which is by the Holy Spirit, and how we get the outward seal, which is by the water. Furthermore, a section not quoted here states “We disapprove their doctrine also who teach that grace and the things signified are to be so tied to and included in the signs, that whosoever outwardly receives the signs must necessarily inwardly participate in the grace and in the things signified, whatever manner of men they may be...Unbelievers do not receive the things which are offered” (p. 863).

 

The Ridderbos quotation says clearly, “It is God who gives baptism its power, on the faith of the one baptized” (p. 17). Below that he also states clearly that baptism presupposes faith, and that faith is prior to baptism, though it is also in and after baptism as well. 

 

Conclusion: In the supplemental brief to SJC case 2009-6, p. 6, TE Rayburn makes the claim that the SJC is perhaps in need of taking exception to the Standards on the point of baptismal efficacy. But in order to make that point, he quotes WCF 28.6 out of context. He only quotes the conferral language without the qualifying language as to the efficacy not being tied to the moment of its administration, or the limitation of the grace to such as the grace belongeth unto, or the limitation of time as “His appointed time.” TE Rayburn also claims that the panel decision's statement concerning Leithart's views as working ex opere operato are “preposterous and certainly unproven in the record.” I believe I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Leithart believes in baptismal regeneration, and he also believes in a baptism that works ex opere operato. He has not qualified either of his acceptations of that language in any way, except to say that it doesn't happen magically through water. And as I've said before, no one believes that, not even Roman Catholics.

 

Justification and Definitive Sanctification

 

Confessional Exposition: The main argument for Leithart's view being out of accord with the standards goes like this: WCF 11.1 says that we are not justified “for anything wrought in” us. Definitive sanctification is a grace wrought inside us. Therefore definitive sanctification and justification cannot be the same act. Definitive sanctification would certainly fit within the Larger Catechism's definition of sanctification as being “renewed in their whole man after the image of God” (WLC 75). Definitive sanctification is definitely more closely related to progressive sanctification than to justification, as an examination of WLC 77 will show (though, of course, definitive sanctification is nowhere mentioned in the WS). Therefore, it is unconfessional to say that definitive sanctification is part of justification, which Leithart certainly does say.

 

Leithart's views: The majority of the material is found in his two articles “Judge Me, O God,” in The Federal Vision, edited by Steve Wilkins and Duane Garner (2004), pp. 203-235,  and “Justification as Verdict and Deliverance: A Biblical Perspective,” in Pro Ecclesia 16.1 (2007), pp. 56-72. There are a few other passages from other works which bear on this question as well, but we will start with these two works.

 

Hermeneutical question: the main overall question concerning Leithart's treatment of the biblical material is a hermeneutical one: how should we build our doctrine of justification? Should we simply cram every instance of “tsadaq” and “dikaioo” into our doctrine of justification, or should it be another approach? Leithart's approach is stated this way: “My argument in this paper is that by ignoring the 'improper uses' of justification and by failing to take into account the larger biblical theology of justification that these uses imply, the Reformation doctrine of justification has illegitimately narrowed and to some extent distorted the biblical doctrine” (JMOG, p. 209). His approach, then, will be to argue for broader uses of justification terminology, and then see how that ought to broaden our view of justification. This approach has significant flaws, as has been noted by other scholars. Put bluntly, “Leithart's dogmatic case flounders insofar as he fails to distinguish between scriptural language and theological terminology” (“Dogmatic Theology and Biblical Perspectives on Justification: A Reply to Leithart” WTJ 70 (2008), 105-110, by R. Michael Allen and Daniel J. Treier, p. 105).  They put this claim in another way on p. 109: “the doctrine of justification may draw on many biblical uses of terminology insofar as they do not contradict its material import. The flip side of this claim, contra Leithart, is that the presence of justification language within the biblical texts does not necessarily imply that each of these texts will bear directly upon the doctrine of justification. Equally important will be texts that bear on the doctrine without using any of the biblical terminology of justification (e.g., Eph 2:7; 1 Cor 15:44-45).” In other words, we do not formulate our doctrine by looking at every use of a particular word, or even group of words, and then cram the meanings of all those instances of words into our doctrine. This is a sophisticated form of the illegitimate totality transfer fallacy. This fallacy states that every meaning of a word should be imported into every context. Instead of texts, Leithart is doing this with doctrine. I actually wrote this on my blog before the article in the WTJ. Leithart did respond at one point to my blog post. He wrote the following (on his blog, dated June 29, 2007):

          Some decades ago, James Barr criticized biblical scholars for a fallacy he labeled "illegitimate totality transfer." By this phrase, Barr was referring to the habit of some biblical scholars to pack every possible meaning of a word into every context.

          Lane Keister's ongoing critique of my work on justification charges me with a form of illegitimate totality transfer. He writes, "What illegitimate totality transfer does is to import all or most of the meanings that a word has into a particular text. Now, Leithart is not necessarily doing that with individual texts. Rather, he is doing it with the relevant word-groups as it feeds into doctrine."

It's true that I'm not "necessarily" doing this with particular texts. In fact, when I'm dealing with particular texts, I do precisely the opposite: I examine the specific contexts where justification language is used to see what specific nuances are in view.

          When Keister attempts to apply Barr's concept to systematic theology, I don't know he's talking about. Systematic theology is precisely the effort to formulate a "total" view of a subject. When we formulate the doctrine of justification, we pay attention to all the passages that use the term, and all the different contexts in which it is used. Some relevant texts, of course, don't use the term "justify." The doctrine of justification, at least, should be placed within the larger context of a biblical doctrine of judgment (again, something I've been aiming at in my articles on this topic). But taking the texts that use the term into account is at least an important starting point.

          That's how doctrinal construction takes place: We examine the texts that use the word-group (along with other texts), in order to formulate a general concept of justification. If I were to impose this general summary concept on every use of the word "justify" in the Bible, I would be doing what Keister charges. But I'm not doing that.

          To criticize me for taking all the texts that use the word "justify" into consideration when formulating the doctrine of justification strikes me as bizarre. Isn't that what evangelical systematics is about - summarizing what the Bible says about X?

But notice that he commits the very same fallacy in his response to my criticism. Systematic Theology is certainly about summarizing what the Bible says about X. But what is X? A dictionary entry or a concept? We do not do our doctrine by compiling what amounts to a dictionary article on a word or word-group, and then looking at the whole of that, and saying that such is our doctrine. As Allen/Treier say, there may be texts that deal with justification that don't use any of the words. And, conversely, there may be texts that use the word group, but which are NOT about justification. Leithart's method here is a recipe for hermeneutical disaster. As an example, the Bible tells us that wisdom is justified by her children (Matthew 11:19). This text uses the word “dikaioo.” That does not mean that we are talking about Wisdom being given the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. It simply means “proven correct” or “proven right.” Why should that text factor in to our doctrine of justification, even if it is still a judicial use of the word? Isn't there a possibility of “justification” language being used metaphorically in a context that has nothing to do with justification? And, conversely, does not 1 Corinthians 15 have a lot to do with justification, even if it never uses the word “dikaioo?” We must not confuse word and concept, or word and doctrine. The doctrine can be present without any of the words being present, and the words can be present without any of the doctrine being present. This is not limited to the doctrine of justification. As an illustration, in A Son To Me, p. 46, fn 11, we find him committing the word-concept fallacy again in an almost rabbinic way: “Though the ephod used for inquiring of the Lord was not a 'linen ephod,' the fact that both objects are called 'ephods' establishes a conceptual connection between them.” The conceptual link happens through the word “ephod,” rather than contextual links of similar concepts. In the Record of the Case, pp. 22-23, Leithart again makes the word-concept fallacy when he claims, “My article on justification...did not challenge the notion that justification is always forensic. Rather, I was exploring passages where the forensic language of justification is used in contexts other than literal courtrooms.” His article(s) most certainly did challenge the notion that the doctrine of justification should always be forensic. He argues that justification should be forensic while including definitive sanctification. If he is only talking about the language of justification, then he is still challenging the idea that justification is only forensic. Either way, Leithart most certainly is challenging the idea that justification is only forensic. In his Response to the Presbytery Committee Reports, pp. 24-27, Leithart defends his view of justification and definitive sanctification. He uses several arguments, all of which are flawed. For instance, he says that a deliverance is perfectly consistent with the Reformed position on justification. Not so. Protestants have always said that justification and sanctification are inseparable. They have NEVER said, and indeed have explicitly denied saying that justification itself is a deliverance from the power of sin. Leithart's rhetoric here in rejecting the statement “You are righteous before me; but I'm going to leave you in prison” is not to the point. Who would say this? Who would say that a person is justified and never sanctified? But distinguishing between justification does not mean separating them. That isn't good enough for Leithart, though. He has to change the doctrine of justification in order to include definitive sanctification. The issue here is not whether the Scriptures use language in ways that the Confession does not. Leithart makes that claim here, as if that were the issue. It is not the issue. He argues that the Confession's doctrine has to be changed because of the broader uses of words in the Bible. This is the word-concept fallacy rearing its head again. He quotes Witsius out of context in order to prove his point. Witsius gives no support to his position. On page 394, Witsius says, “but we think it far more proper to comprise sanctification under glorification than to refer it to justification. And indeed, Witsius's position takes direct aim at Leithart by affirming the organic connection of definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification. On page 395, Witsius says, “For really, sanctification differs no otherways from the first regeneration and renovation than as the continuance of an act differs from the beginning of it.” He goes on to say that “the beginning of this renovation goes before justification strictly so called.” It is not at the same time as justification. There is no precedent for Leithart's views in the entire Reformed tradition. The material adduced in the defense exhibits to prove that there is precedent only prove that justification and sanctification are inseparable. They do not prove that justification includes definitive sanctification. How Leithart can conclude, in his defense brief, p. 10, that “The notion that justification is a 'deliverdict' is implicit in the classic Reformed doctrine of justification” is beyond me. Again Leithart goes on to say that the alternative is a separation of justification and sanctification, which no Reformed theologian says. But the deliverance from the power of sin belongs to sanctification, not to justification, as WCF 13 makes very clear, and as WLC 77 most clearly. What Leithart is claiming is that if we do not include definitive sanctification as the same act as justification, the alternative is to separate justification and sanctification. He claims that the only other possibility is God saying to a person, “You're justified, but I'm leaving you in prison.” This is quite the false dichotomy.

Leithart inherently agrees with those modern theologians who want to say “that justification involves not only a verdict but also a transforming act” (“Justification as Verdict and Deliverance,” p. 56). This in itself conflicts with WCF 11.1, which tells us that justification does NOT include anything wrought in us. Although Leithart protests that he believes that justification is not based on anything wrought in or done by us (see Frief od the Defense, pp. 10-11), this protest does not ring true when one takes into account all the other material Leithart has written on justification as including an act that is inherently wrought in us.

Leithart's theological objections in JVD do not hold any weight. He argues that “the sharp distinction of forensic justification and renewal of life runs into some significant theological problems” (JVD, p. 58). The first problem is that it leaves out the Holy Spirit, it being only a transaction between Father and Son. To this it can be replied, “But how does this justification apply to us without the Holy Spirit?” The Father plans, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies salvation to us, including justification. This objection falls to the ground. The second objection is that this sharp distinction cannot integrate Christ's resurrection into the doctrine of justification. Now, it is admitted that Christ's resurrection certainly factors in to our doctrine of justification. This is proven by Romans 4:25 and the whole of 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus was indeed raised for our justification. But there are several ways in which Christ's resurrection is related to justification, none of them involving a confusion of renewal and justification. For instance, without Christ's resurrection, the verdict on Jesus is still “guilty.” Sin results in condemnation, which results in death. This is the projection of the negative path of Romans 5:12-21, while obedience (Christ's!) leads to justification, which leads to life as the positive side of the equation. This is said in 1 Cor 15 as well, where Paul says that if Christ is not risen, then we are still in our sins. The guilt of our sins remains unless Christ's verdict can become ours. But the power and presence of sin is equally important in resurrection, which is dealt with in our sanctification. Secondly, justification is closely related to our union with Christ. Exactly how that relation is stated is a matter of debate (for instance, between WTS and WSC). And we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection by faith. So, the union we have with Christ is what makes justification not a legal fiction, but the imputation of a bridegroom's assets to the bride. There are two aspects right there about Christ's resurrection related to our justification, neither of which involve any mixing of justification and sanctification whatsoever.

The Doctrine of Definitive Sanctification: In this section, I will attempt to show that definitive sanctification is part of sanctification, not part of justification. The connection between definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification is made even in Leithart's own work, as we will see. Undoubtedly, the definitive (!) treatment of definitive sanctification is Murray. Murray hints at the connection between definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification several times. In the defense exhibit, at the bottom of page 6, he says “It would be, therefore, a deflection from biblical patterns of language and conception to think of sanctification exclusively in terms of a progressive work.” In other words, sanctification should be thought of in two ways: definitive and progressive. As other scholars have noted (most notably Horton and Reymond), definitive sanctification is related most tightly to progressive sanctification. This can be shown from Colossians 3, which tells us that because our live is hidden with Christ above (definitive sanctification), therefore we should seek the things that are above (progressive sanctification). Horton even goes so far as to call definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification two aspects of the same doctrine in the ordo salutis. The initial setting apart galvanizes us to keep setting ourselves apart by the grace of God. At the top of page 7 of the defense exhibit, Murray continues to connect definitive and progressive sanctification together by saying “What is this sanctification?” What kind of sanctification is it? Murray's position is that definitive and progressive sanctification are two species of the same genus. In the bolded section on page 11, Murray's position on Romans 6:7 is quite clear: Paul uses the forensic signification of “dikaioo” without speaking of justification! He says explicitly, “Paul is not treating of justification but dealing with what is properly in the sphere of sanctification.” In other words, definitive sanctification lies within the sphere of sanctification, not of justification. Murray makes the point that the language of justification is used here without the presence of the doctrine. Even Leithart hints that definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification are part of the same sphere when he says “The Protestant has been too rigid in separating justification and sanctification (notice this is NOT definitive sanctification in this instance, LK), more rigid certainly than Scripture itself (see below). I argue below that, when examined under a military-conflictual metaphor rather than solely under the imagery of the 'courtroom,' justification and definitive sanctification are not merely simultaneous, nor merely twin effects of the single event of union with Christ (though I believe that is the case). Rather, they are the same act. God's declaration that we are justified takes the form of deliverance from sin, death, and Satan” (JMOG, pp. 211-212). Comment: notice that Leithart accuses the Reformation of too rigidly separating justification and regular sanctification, and as an instance of how this might be corrected, he propounds his project of combining justification and definitive sanctification into the same act. This inherently admits the organic connection between definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification. This is confirmed in a somewhat off-handed comment in Daddy, p. 23, where he says, “In practical reality as well, regeneration is not separable from sanctification.” Of course, regeneration may or may not be the same thing as definitive sanctification. However, it does reveal the continuity of the process from beginning to end. But in his article “Justification as Verdict and Deliverance: a Biblical Perspective,” Leithart is much less guarded. He does not even mention definitive sanctification but castigates Reformed scholars for what he calls “hedging” in maintaining the distinction between justification and sanctification. He writes “Murray still hedges here; he maintains the traditional Protestant distinction of justification and sanctification by saying that the 'justification' in view here is the 'basis' of sanctification, rather than an act of sanctification” (p. 68, fn 27; note the lack of the qualifying adjective “definitive”, LK). One gets the distinct impression that Leithart would prefer if there were no hedging on the distinction between justification and sanctification in Murray and Moo, whom he castigates a little later in the same footnote. Leithart's treatment of the text itself clearly implies a work inside the believer: “He is talking about life, not merely about legal status, but he can describe the transition from life under sin to life under grace as a 'justification'” (p. 68). Previous to that, he had said that it operates through baptism, which is the deliverance from sin's power. But if any of that deliverance from sin consists of a freeing from sin's power, that requires a work inside of us, a work that our Confession says is NOT part of justification (WCF 11.1 “not for anything wrought in them”). In the Confession, deliverance from the power and presence of sin is specifically a function of progressive sanctification (see WCF 13). The start of that process is of a piece with the continuance of that process. In fact, it is the same process that has a definitive start. The upshot of the problem is this: if Leithart includes definitive sanctification under the rubric of justification, what is to prevent him from including progressive sanctification under justification as well? Remember that definitive sanctificaion and progressive sanctification are organically and inseparably related as the start and continuance of the freeing of the Christian from the power and presence of sin. How could justification include the start of that process without also including, even if only in seed-form, the entirety of that process? In which case we are indeed back to Rome, and certainly contrary to the Standards, which tell us that justification happens outside of us (WCF 11.1).

 

Romans 6:7 Here we must treat of the most significant verse for the discussion, and the one on which Leithart places the most weight. Everything hinges on the meaning of the term “justify” here. Some translations and commentators prefer the translation “freed” (Calvin falls in this camp). Leithart does not particularly object to that translation, as long as it is understood in a “deliverdict” fashion (p. 229 of “Judge Me, O God”). If, however, the term means “freed,” and not primarily “justified,” then it is difficult to understand why Leithart would want to combine justification and definitive sanctification on the basis of this verse. Wouldn't Paul then be using justification language in a metaphorical way? Another possibility of interpretation here is that Paul injects a statement about justification in order to prove how closely linked justification is to sanctification. In this case, Paul would be saying that “justified from sin” means “justified from the guilt of sin.” Several commentators take this route. Or, one could take the route of Hodge: “To be justified from sin means to be delivered from sin by justification. And that deliverance is twofold; judicial deliverance from its penalty, and subjective deliverance from it power. Both are secured by justification; the former directly, the other consequentially, as a necessary consequence” (p. 199). Shedd's position is more simple: “The apostle's meaning is, that he who has died with Christ for sin, is thereby justified, and delivered from the curse and condemnation of sin.” If it is objected that justification could not be in the picture, one could reply by saying that justification is inseparable from sanctification.  

 

Psalm 35:22-28

Leithart's main point here seems to be that, since the language of courtroom and battlefield are so mixed here, that therefore forensic language “is not always strictly tied to ‘forensic’ situations” (p. 219 of JMOG). However, he only cites verses 2-3 as evidence of a military setting. But this is no different from what we might say today, “I fought a courtroom battle today.” The question here is this: how is the language metaphorical? Which set of metaphors is more basic/more prevalent? I believe that the clear answer with regard to Psalm 35 is that the courtroom language is far more prevalent and controlling than the military language. Therefore, the military language is metaphorical of the courtroom. First of all, the Psalm starts with the courtroom imagery, as Leithart notes (p. 218). But surely, the idea that “coutroom language emerges now and then throughout the Psalm” is an understatement. Witness (!) the following data: “put to shame” (vs. 4); “malicious witnesses” (vs. 11); “look on” (vs. 17); “you have seen” (calls on God as witness, vs. 22); all of verses 23-26 are clearly determined by courtroom language, with such words as “vindication,” “righteousness,” “shame,” and “dishonor” occuring regularly. Through and through, this Psalm is riddled with courtroom imagery. It is certainly the most prominent set of images. Leithart’s argument here makes me feel that he is trying to jumble up all the metaphors so that everything describes one act. The language does not force that to be the case.

Two other things must therefore be argued: firstly, the other metaphors do not have to be interpreted in such a way that the courtroom imagery has to include the others within its own conceptual framework. Again, Leithart has not proven his point here by excluding all the alternatives. Even if his claim were true that the imagery was so mixed, that would not justify (!) us in saying that the metaphors have to be all jumbled together. For instance, an unfavorable verdict for David’s accusers results in deliverance from them. The text nowhere forces us to say that they are the same act. The one can be the perfectly logical and ordinary result of the other. This leads us to the second point: being vindicated in a courtroom results in dignity and honor commensurate with the confirmed status of being innocent. This is not the same thing as being delivered from sin. It is the same as being delivered from guilt. So, here, to a certain extent, I can use Leithart’s term “deliverdict,” as long as it is understood of deliverance from guilt, and not deliverance from power or presence.

Psalm 94:1-7 Leithart’s point here may be answered quite easily. He argues that “an appeal for God to judge the wicked is an appeal for Him to do something about the wicked, and an appeal to God to establish ‘righteous judgment’ is an appeal for Him to do something to save His people” (p. 220, emphasis original). His point here is that God does not pronounce a verdict without action being the result. We can agree with this in every particular. What is not clear is how this affects his argument. No redefinition of justification to include definitive sanctification is necessary as a result of this point. God’s declaration has results: we have a changed status.

Conclusion: if we have to include every definition of every word related to a particular doctrine in our definition of that doctrine, then we will have to define our doctrine of the Trinity using no words whatsoever; we will have to define our doctrine of saving faith using every verse that mentions faith, whether it is saving or not; we will have to define our doctrine of the church only using the words related to church and using no other passages. This is hermeneutical woodenness. The realm of systematics is a summarizing realm. It does not have to include every passage that uses a particular word, and it may use passages that don't use particular words.

This brings us to another point. Leithart wants to be judged on exegesis. He writes in the defense brief, quoting the Book of Church Order, that nothing really ought to be judged by the Westminster Standards, but only by Scripture. The problem here is that the question is about the interpretation of Scripture. To claim that the entire issue is about the broadness of word definitions is a complete red herring. Everyone acknowledges that words can be used in different ways. Everyone acknowledges that words can mean more in Scripture than they do in the Confession. The Prosecution acknowledges this. And it is NOT the issue. The issue is whether Leithart's exegesis of Scripture contradicts the Standards' exegesis of Scripture. Related to this is the relationship of the Standards to Scripture. The Standards tell us that the whole counsel of God consists not only of the words of Scripture themselves, but also what can by good and necessary consequence be deduced from Scripture. We all take an oath whereby we agree that the Confession is the system of doctrine taught in Holy Scripture, that it is good and necessary consequence. A lot of people will react in horror to my saying this, but yet those same people will say that the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. And yet something far more carefully prepared, far more vetted, changed, refined, and argued over in the courts of the church, has almost no relationship to Scripture. The Confession teaches that God does not change His mind, and that His plan never changes. If someone were to come along and say that they believe the Westminter Standards, but they also believe that Scripture says that when God repents, He is changing His mind, going to plan B, and is open to the future, would we not have a right to complain that this person says they are holding to the Standards, and yet their exegesis of the text puts them at odds with the Standards? That is what is happening by analogy here. Leithart affirms in words the Confession. And yet, his exegesis of texts puts him at odds with the Confession at a number of key points: the position of children in the visible church before they are baptized, tying baptism's efficacy to the time-point of its administration, and confusing justification with sanctification by confusing justification with definitive sanctification. That is the burden of my testimony.

 

Conclusions

Critics of the Federal Vision have so often been criticized because they don't understand that the Federal Vision is operating with a different paradigm than they have. If I've heard that once, I've heard it a thousand times. We are always being encouraged to step inside their paradigm so that we can understand it. But this simply proves our point: the Federal Vision is a different paradigm from the Westminster Standards. Many admit it even while they're trying to get the critics to understand it. It's a different system than the Westminster Standards. Furthermore, as I have tried to show, it is not merely different than the Westminster Standards, but it is opposed to the Westminster Standards.

One final word: it is not unjust, uncharitable, or unloving to suggest to TE Leithart that he belongs in another denomination. In fact, it would add to the peace and purity of the PCA by suggesting that a very controversial theologian would be more comfortable, and less likely to make waves, if he moved to another denomination. You could vote to encourage Leithart to do that even if you disagree with every single point the Prosecution and its witnesses have brought up. It will NOT be conducive to the peace or purity of the PCA if you vote to have him stay where he is. It is your duty to your vows as Presbyters to find him guilty of these charges.

Lane Keister