The Basics of Baptism

Baptism is clearly commanded by Christ. Among his very last instructions to his disciples was the order, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

 

The water of baptism has no power to save. The forgiveness of sins is accomplished by Christ on the cross and received by faith alone. This faith is made possible through the Word of God alone and not through baptism (Romans 10:17).

 

a. A Sign of God's Grace

 

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace. It represents what takes place in the soul of one who believes in Jesus Christ.

 

The first and the most important thing that baptism represents is the believer's union with Christ. Baptism represents and seals to us the fact that we have been united to Christ by faith. The Lord's command to baptize, literally “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Paul speaks of being "baptized into his death" (Romans 6:3) and "baptized into Christ" (Galatians 3:27). By faith we are truly united to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

The outward sign used in baptism is water. Water in the Scriptures is most frequently associated with cleansing. The inward grace that water signifies is purification from both the guilt and the pollution of sin. Baptism pictures the fact that we have been cleansed from the guilt of our sins through the atoning blood of Christ. Ananias declared to Paul, "Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16).

 

Baptism also represents the fact that we have been cleansed from the pollution or defilement of sin. We enter the kingdom only by being born again by the Spirit of God. Jesus said, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). Our Lord found water an appropriate symbol to represent cleansing from the defilement of sin that takes place in the new birth. He said: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5). Baptism represents our entrance into the kingdom. To enter the kingdom of God we must be cleansed from the guilt of our sins through the redeeming blood of Christ, and cleansed from the pollution of our sins through the operation of the Spirit of God. As the outward representation of this inward cleansing from the guilt and pollution of our sins (Titus 3:5, 6), baptism is given to help you grow up as a Christian. It dispels false assurance as it calls you to ask, "Do I have the inner reality that is represented?" It helps you come to full assurance as you look in faith to Christ and his cleansing. And it also urges you to live for Christ. You have been baptized! Your sins have been washed away! Will you now go on living in your sin? (see Romans 6:1-11).

 

b. A Seal of God's Promise

 

Baptism is also a seal; it confirms and establishes to us the blessings pictured. Just as a seal on a diploma confirms the testimony contained in it, so baptism confirms and establishes to us the benefits of God's covenant of grace. Circumcision in the Old Testament was God's external seal of his spiritual covenant promises to Abraham. "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith" (Romans 4 :11). Baptism in the New Testament, as we will see more clearly below, simply takes the place of circumcision in the Old Testament (Colossians 2:11,12); therefore baptism is now God's seal of his covenant promises to us. God has promised that we will be his, and he ours, in all the blessings of his saving grace. He has promised that our sins are really washed away when we trust in Christ alone. To confirm and establish these promises of grace, he gives us the seal of baptism.

 

INFANT BAPTISM

 

A fundamental difference exists among Protestants on the question of who should be baptized. Some hold that baptism is for believers only. Most Protestants hold that baptism is not only for believers but for their children as well. What do the Scriptures teach about this?

 

Clearly, children of believers in the Old Testament received the sign of God's covenant of grace. God's promises were for the believer and his household. All who received the covenant promise, including eight-day-old boys, were to receive circumcision as a sign of God's promise (Genesis 17:7-10). If children of believers are now, in the New Testament period, to be excluded from God's covenant of grace, we would need some clear statement in Scripture that this is the case. We have no such statement. In fact, we have clear teaching that they are to be included.

 

The Lord promised that when the Messiah came, his everlasting covenant would continue to be with believers and their children (Jeremiah 32:38-40; Isaiah 59:20, 21). The fulfillment of this promise came at Pentecost when Peter declared, "The promise is for you and your children" (Acts 2:39). When parents who believed brought their infants to Jesus, he took them up in his arms and blessed them, saying, "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14). Paul affirmed that even if only one parent is a believer, the children are declared holy (1 Corinthians 7:14), and set apart for God, just as the covenant children of the Old Testament were (Ezekiel 16:20, 21).

 

There is only one covenant of grace, only one way of salvation, in both the Old and the New Testaments. "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day," said Jesus. "He saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). "Abraham believed God," wrote Paul, "and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3).

 

The oneness of God's plan of redemption in both the Old and the New Testament periods demands consistency. If children were included in the covenant of grace in the Old Testament period, they must be included in the New Testament period as well. Thus baptism in the New Testament has the same meaning as circumcision in the Old Testament and simply replaces it (Colossians 2:11, 12).

 

If baptism has the same meaning as circumcision—which involved children—how can we exclude children from baptism? Lydia "and the members of her household were baptized" (Acts 16:15); the Philippian jailer "and all his family were baptized" (Acts 16:33); Paul "baptized the household of Stephanas" (1 Corinthians 1:16). While such passages can't prove that children were present in these households, only sheer prejudice would affirm that none were. The principle still stands that every member in the family's household should receive the sign of God's promise.

 

This doesn't mean, and never has meant, that the children of believers are automatically saved. In the Old Testament, those who received the sign of the covenant were called to repent and experience the inward reality that the sacrament represented. "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskins of your heart....Wash your heart from evil, Oh Jerusalem, that you may be saved" (Jeremiah 4:4,14). In the same way, we must call our covenant children to repentance and to trust in the promises represented in their baptism. Only such children as truly trust in the promises of God enjoy God's salvation (Romans 9:8; Psalm 103:17, 18).

 

God promises grace to the children of believing parents. Believing parents claim that promise. They also recognize God's claim upon their children; they are the Lord's. Therefore, parents present their children to receive the sign and seal of God's covenant of grace.

 

At baptism, Christian parents respond to questions concerning their children. First, the believing parent claims God's promise to regard the child as His. Second, they promise God to instruct the child in the Christian faith. The questions are worded in the following or a similar way:

 

(1) Do you acknowledge that, although our children are conceived and born in sin and therefore are subject to condemnation, they are holy in Christ, and as members of his church ought to be baptized?

 

(2) Do you promise to instruct your child in the principles of our Christian faith as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism; and do you promise to pray with and for your child, to set an example of piety and godliness before him and to endeavor by all the means of God’s appointment to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

 

In claiming God's promise of grace, parents are expressing confidence in their child's inheritance and security in Christ. Parents may confidently expect that God will fulfill his promise of grace to their child. Much of the child's spiritual good, however, will depend on the parents' keeping these vows. As with Abraham, your own example and instruction are God's means to bring about the blessing of salvation he has promised your children (Genesis 18:18, 19). As Christian parents, we must pray intensely that the Holy Spirit will produce in our children the inward cleansing and regeneration represented in their baptism. Pray that your children will, as David, learn to trust in the Lord from their earliest days (Psalm 22:9, 10).