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A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §84

Faith and baptism are not equal necessities; John 3:5 is not yet the later rite of water, but Spirit-washing — and if baptism, adults only

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Third: they assume that faith and baptism are equally necessary for salvation. But Christ nowhere said — it is plain — that whoever has not been baptized will be damned.

Faith can stand without baptism: the converted thief, the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul, Cornelius, all before they were baptized. Baptism can also stand without faith: Simon Magus, for example — an outward washing without the inward (1 Peter 3:21), as fleshly circumcision without circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:28–29).

Fourth precarious claim: that John 3:5 is about baptism in bodily, outward water properly so called — a rite not yet instituted then, but only later (Matthew 28).

More truly it concerns the necessity of the thing signified: washing by the Holy Spirit, of which alone Christ speaks in the words that follow — and which alone Nicodemus needed, already circumcised long before, and now to be raised into a new life.

Add this: even if the text were about baptism, Christ's words could aim only at adults who could use this instrument of regeneration and refused to.

Latin

3. Sic supponunt, parem esse necessitatem fidei & baptismi, in negotio salutis: Quum nusquam dixerit Christus, ut liquet, qui non baptizatus fuerit, damnabitur. Ac possit esse fides sine Baptismo, ut in Latrone converso, in Eunucho, Saule, Cornelio, nondum baptizatis; quemadmodum & Baptismus sine fide, ex. gr. in Simone Mago, id est ablutio externa, sine interna 1. Pet. III.21. uti Circumcisio carnis, sine illa cordis, Rom. II.28.29. 4. Sic precaria Hypothesis, locum Joh. III.5. agere de Baptismo aquae corporeo, externo, proprie dicto, nondum tunc instituto, sed demum Matth. XXVIII. Non verius agere, de necessitate rei significatae, ablutionis per Spiritum S. de quo unice Christus verbis sequentibus; quae & unice necessaria erat Nicodemo pridem circumciso, jam vero ad novam vitam excitando. Adde, si vel de Baptismo, non potuisse Verba Christi respicere nisi adultos, qui possent uti hoc Regenerationis instrumento, & nollent.

About this text

Samuel Strimesius — Prefatio through Controversiae Post Lutherum Controv. III-XIII + XV Tolerantia, Hexades Annotationum Prooemium and Annotatio I through Decem Theses / Francus plus Annotatio II §.I-§.VI and Annotatio III §.I–§.VII (through Cassellanum 1661) from Ingenua in Controversias Evangelicorum (Frankfurt an der Oder, 1708). Honest partial; Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio III §.VIII+ fruits / §.IX+, Hexades theses body, deeper Controversiae / Part II remain.

English follows the locked 1708 Francofurti ad Viadrum Latin of Prefatio §I–II, Crimina defenses through III, Part I Protheoria through Controversiae Obices/Historia/Varii gradus, Formula Discord/Disparitas, Ulterius confirmatur / Classes / Formula protest / triplex differentia, Coena Domini Controversiae Priores through Precariae Hypotheses (Controv. print pp. 34–40), Controversiae Post Lutherum Natae Controv. III–XV tip (providence through De Tolerantia mutua; Controv. print pp. 40–78), Hexades Annotationum Prooemium H.I–§.III (Hexades print pp. 1–4 / PDF ~182–185), and Annotatio I De Augustana Confessione §.I–§.VIII tip (Hexades print pp. 5–24+ / PDF ~186–205+), reconstructed from Google Books PDF page images (ONB copy, id 3epYAAAAcAAJ) with pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Sister Halle digitization of Ingenua in Arminianismum (DOI 10.25673/65287) remains Anubis-blocked — skipped; Controversias only. Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio I §.IX+, Hexades theses body beyond §.VIII, and remainder of Controversiae / folio remain.

Witnesses

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