Jeffrey Meyers – Justifed by Means of Their Baptism

Concerning the presumed relationship between Jeffrey Meyers told the investigative committee of the Missouri Presbytery: 

The decretal status of the one being baptized is not one of the things that baptism signifies, and whether or not the baptized individual is truly justified and saved is dependent upon the presence or absence of saving faith somewhere in the course of his life.

As we continue to consider the’ “full corpus”  of what Meyers has written and taught, we now attempt to reconcile what Meyers said above to the committee that exonerated him with what he said on the  Wrightsaid Yahoo Group in Message # 101.  Again, all emphasis below is mine.   All heretical teaching is Meyers.

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Re: [Wrightsaid] Re: Intro and a few notes

edistobum wrote:

> Sorry Mark, I was thinking of Jeff’s post (#48 I think) where he
> says: If you are baptized you are a disciple and if a disciple then
> a Christian.
>
> It seems to me that that is saying the same thing as if someone in
> OT said: “If you are circumcised you are a Jew no matter what but it
> is clear from OT and NT that there is an outward circumcision and a
> circumcision of the heart. It seems pretty clear to me that the same
> is true of baptism.

Hold on. I would not deny that one has to take one’s baptism to heart. A male Israelite was incorporated into the priestly covenantal community by means of circumcision. His membership in the company of God’s people was quite objective and independent of any inward disposition. But once a member of God’s priestly people, that individual man had to be faithful. He had to trust Yahweh. He had to life as one who had been given a new life (the old cut away, the new emerging). If, as time went on, he did not trust Yahweh and did not live faithfully, then he would be warned: “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart! You ARE a Jew! You have been delivered and live by the grace of Yahweh. You are by grace a member of God’s people. Now live appropriately!”

So what’s the difference between this and what we ought to say to our baptized children, friends, and neighbors? Everyone who is baptized must strive to “improve” their baptism, as our WLC says. Everyone who is baptized is a Christian. They are all graciously marked out by God as disciples. They are mercifully given a new name and incorporated into the body of Christ. They therefore ought trust in God’s promise made to them, indeed, *sealed* to them at Baptism. But not everyone does. And some that do early on will waver later during times of temptation in their life. Then we say, “Trust in Jesus! You are a baptized Christian! God loves you and Jesus has died for you!”

I thought we all made this clear in the past. One can be a faith-full or a faith-less Christian.

And maybe more important to our discussion: one can be a child-like Christian and still be faithful. Baptized children are Christians. They are disciples. They belong to Jesus. They are members of his body, of his Church. They don’t grow up and “become” Christians in high school or college when they have a particularly powerful experience of God’s love or grace. They can and should have these experiences as they mature. But for baptized Christian children these experiences are not “conversion.” Baptism seals to our children all the promises of God in Christ. They are forgiven, justified, adopted, etc. by means of their baptism into the church. They are called Christians. They ARE Christians.

How is this not historic, Reformation theology?

Jeff

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