Development of Doctrine

A remarkable statement from Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics on the necessary, incessant development of doctrine:

“We need to overcome our astonishment over the fact that the New Testament nowhere explicitly mentions infant baptism . . . .The validity of infant baptism does not lapse on that account . . . For also that which can be deduced from Scripture by legitimate inference is as binding as that which is expressly stated in it. This is how the church acts every minute of the day in the ministry of the Word, in the practice of life, in the development of doctrine . It never stops with the letter but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit deduces from the data of Scripture the inferences and applications that make possible and foster its life and development.”