Many Members, One Body
Strong paedobaptist covenantalists frequently talk about the corporate nature of God's covenant(s) and the Bible's style. Unless the speaker/writer is directly addressing an individual (Ahab, Mary, Hezekiah, Philemon, or Yahweh for example), most of the "you's" in Scripture are plural. Paedobaptists argue that credobaptists overlook this corporate nature and read the Bible too individualistically: Credos just can't help it: it's wired into their theological DNA. If credobaptism only originated with the anabaptists, or the First and Second Great Awakenings (I know, that's a really broad swath of history) -- then maybe individualism is intertwined into the credo baptist position. That doesn't mean that it has to be. After all, we are learning that we can improve upon our physical genetic material -- say, diet and exercise can diminish a strong genetic tendency towards heart disease. I've been memorizing Psalm 139 and have just started verse 1...