I did read the Stott article, although it doesn’t really get to the point I was questioning.

I linked to this article on my blog, I’ve been contemplating creeds for quite some time, and wanted to write something on that.

John Stott has an excellent article entitled The Evangelical Doctrine of Baptism which addresses your question quite well.

If I was to summarize one of his key ideas: 1 Peter 3:21 states that “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

How does baptism save us according to this verse, it is not the water. It is our faith in God for the forgiveness of sins through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The water is our way of showing what has already happened in our hearts.

Read John Stott though, he can explain it so much better than I can.

I will respond further by email later today.

So how does a Baptist conclude the Nicene Creed is part of “a framework for defining essential Christian doctrine”?

I really want to know.

I like the words used in Ephesians 4 where it talks about unity.

Ephesians 4:2-3

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

These, by the way, are all adjectives that I would use to describe Mitch.

The question is how do we teach them to do that without upsettting them so much that they want to throw you off a cliff for trying to remove their hand holds?

– Steve M.