Welcome to Defenders, the teaching class of Dr. William Lane Craig.

Today, the Doctrine of the Church, Part 4.

We've been talking about the nature of baptism.

Is it a sacrament or is it an ordinance? Last time, we looked at arguments in favor of the view that baptism is a sacrament, a means of grace,

by which one is born again spiritually, united with Christ in his death and resurrection, and incorporated into his body,

the church. Today, we want to look at an alternative understanding of baptism. The alternative

views baptism as an ordinance, not as a sacrament or special means of grace,

and we'll look at two arguments in support of the view of baptism as an ordinance.

First, those who think of baptism as an ordinance rather than a sacrament remind us that

Christian conversion and initiation in the New Testament is a process, a process that involved,

first of all, repentance and faith, then receiving the Holy Spirit, and finally, water baptism.

Conversion is inward. Initiation is outward. Initiation is the public identification of the believer with the Christian Church,

with the body of Christ. It is a sign, as it were, of the inner work that has taken place

in conversion. The key to conversion is baptism of the Holy Spirit. When a person is regenerated by

God, when the Holy Spirit comes into him, he is baptized in the Holy Spirit and is born anew to spiritual life and eternal life. So the key to conversion

will be the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The key to initiation into the Christian Church, however,

is water baptism. So spirit baptism is the key factor in conversion,

water baptism is the key factor in initiation into the Christian faith. So what makes a person a Christian on this view is not water baptism.

That is a matter of his public initiation. What makes him a Christian is that inner work of the Holy Spirit, that work of regeneration that has made him born anew

to eternal life. Let's look at some passages in support of this understanding. First, Second

Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14.

Here Paul is recalling his experience of sharing the gospel with the Thessalonian believers.

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