Further thoughts on baptism and the Federal Vision...

I see that at least one teaching elder in the PCA mentioned in Bryan Chapell's assessment of the New Perspective/Federal Vision movement has responded to Mr. Chapell's piece.

I suspect this was not an altogether-wise move. Chapell's piece was surprisingly astute and fair. If I'd been in the FV crowd, I'd have thanked him and moved on.

If, as this individual claims in his reaction to Chapell's piece, the Auburn Avenue/Federal Vision crowd has been principally defined and united by the attacks of their opponents, proponents of FV theology should be cautious not to accomplish the same in reverse.

Second, I read in Peter Leithart's comments on my post on 1 Peter 3:21 that he is concerned I may be a closet Baptist. He also noted, correctly, my concern that those in the "baptism-does-something-indescribable-but-amazing" camp are close to being closet Roman Catholics. I'm tempted, facetiously, to ask which is better: to be a closet Baptist or a closet Roman Catholic. The reason I don't, however, is that I'm afraid my facetious question would draw a disturbingly non-facetious answer.