The Spiritual Condition of Infants: A Biblical-Historical Survey and Systematic Proposal

by Adam Harwood, Paige Patterson (Foreword by)

Overview

What is the spiritual condition of infants? According to the Augustinian-Calvinist view, all people inherit from the first Adam both a sinful nature and his guilt. The result is that all infants are subject to the judgment of God against their nature before they knowingly commit any sinful actions. But is this the clear teaching of Scripture? In The Spiritual Condition of Infants, Adam Harwood examines ten relevant biblical texts and the writings of sixteen theologians in order to clarify the spiritual condition of infants. Although no passage explicitly states the spiritual condition of infants, each text makes contributions by addressing the doctrines of man, sin, the church, and salvation. If this biblical-historical analysis exposes the traditional Augustinian-Calvinist view to be inadequate, then is it possible to construct an alternate view of the spiritual condition of infants? Such a view should remain faithful to the biblical emphasis on humankind's connection to Adam and his sin but also recognize the guilt and condemnation of an individual only in the manner and time that God does in Scripture. That is the aim of this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621892984
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	03/15/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	196
File size:	659 KB

About the Author

Adam Harwood is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Truett-McConnell College at Cleveland, Georgia.
Adam Harwood (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of theology, McFarland Chair of Theology, and editor of Journal of Baptist Theology&Ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. His publications include The Spiritual Condition of Infants (2011) and Born Guilty? (2013).
Paige Patterson is President and Professor of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He previously served as President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, President of Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, and he was twice elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention. His passion is expressed as scholarship on fire with and manifested in missions and evangelism.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Acknowledgements xi

Abbreviations xiii

Introductory Section

1 Does It Matter if Infants Are Guilty of Sin? 3

2 What Are the Boundaries? 7

3 Grudem's Tentative Solution 13

Biblical Section

4 What Do Infants Receive from Adam?: (Romans 5:12 to 21) 31

5 Does God Judge Our Sinful Nature of Our Sinful Actions? (Psalm 51:25 and Ephesians 2:3) 41

6 Are Infant Deaths Due to the Guilt of Other People? (Genesis 6:5-6 and 2 Samuel 12:23 50

7 What is the Knowledge of Good and Evil?: (Genesis 2-3 and Deuteronomy 1:39) 56

8 John the Baptist: Salvation or Anointing: Luck 1:5 65

9 The Children with Jesus: Baptism or Blessing?: (Mark 10:13-16) 69

10 Hold Children: Covenant or Blessing?: (1 Corinthians 7:14) 74

Historical Section

11 The Eastern Church Fathers: (Irenaeus, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa 83

12 The Western Church Fathers: (Tertullian and Cyprian) 96

13 Augustine 105

14 The Magisterial Reformers: (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin) 113

15 The Anabaptist Reformers: (Hubmaier and Marpeck) 126

16 Nineteenth-Century Baptists: (Boyce, Strong, and Mullins) 135

17 Twentieth-Century Baptists: (Hendricks and Erickson 145

Conclusion 153

Bibliography 165

Name and Subject Index 177

Scripture Indeex 180