Theology Thursday
Q. 95. To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptised.
Ok. I’m going to take it that we all agree with the first statement. We don’t just drop water on whoever comes through the door - baptism is only for those who profess their belief in Christ. But what about infants?
At Village Church, we want to respect the conscience of believers who differ on secondary matters. Therefore we offer infant baptism and baby dedications (a modern option that acknowledges God’s gift of children without baptism).
I would say, however, that my preference would be for the baptising of infants. You might actually be surprised at that. The truth is the Baptist influence in Australia has meant that for many the default position of most Aussie Christians is that infants (babies) should not be baptised.
But I don’t think that’s the best response to the Biblical data. Now to be fair. Both sides (adult only baptism or infant baptism as well as adult) rely on the silence of the Bible. Believer only baptists say, look, only adults are baptised in the book of Acts and there is nothing to say infants should be baptised.
Infant baptists say well, actually, what if in passages like Acts 16:15 where whole households were baptised, why should we not assume that children were included? For me, the defining piece of evidence is continuity between the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
The first converts to Christianity were Jews. As these Jewish Christians had children, what would have been normal to them? Circumcising their children. Because that’s the symbol of being God’s people. But now, the symbol for being God’s people has changed to baptism. So what is most likely? They would have started baptising their children.
Now, if this was wrong. What should we expect? Teaching in the New Testament telling these first Christians not to. But we don’t get that. There is every reason to believe that since the time of the Apostles, Christians have been baptising their children.
We do this because we want to acknowledge that they have been born into the teachings of Jesus and rather than having a ‘conversion experience’, they will hopefully never know a day when they aren’t trusting in Jesus.
For Today:
Pray:
Passages: Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:19, Acts 18:8 & 16:33, 1 Corinthians 10:2
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptised.
Ok. I’m going to take it that we all agree with the first statement. We don’t just drop water on whoever comes through the door - baptism is only for those who profess their belief in Christ. But what about infants?
At Village Church, we want to respect the conscience of believers who differ on secondary matters. Therefore we offer infant baptism and baby dedications (a modern option that acknowledges God’s gift of children without baptism).
I would say, however, that my preference would be for the baptising of infants. You might actually be surprised at that. The truth is the Baptist influence in Australia has meant that for many the default position of most Aussie Christians is that infants (babies) should not be baptised.
But I don’t think that’s the best response to the Biblical data. Now to be fair. Both sides (adult only baptism or infant baptism as well as adult) rely on the silence of the Bible. Believer only baptists say, look, only adults are baptised in the book of Acts and there is nothing to say infants should be baptised.
Infant baptists say well, actually, what if in passages like Acts 16:15 where whole households were baptised, why should we not assume that children were included? For me, the defining piece of evidence is continuity between the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
The first converts to Christianity were Jews. As these Jewish Christians had children, what would have been normal to them? Circumcising their children. Because that’s the symbol of being God’s people. But now, the symbol for being God’s people has changed to baptism. So what is most likely? They would have started baptising their children.
Now, if this was wrong. What should we expect? Teaching in the New Testament telling these first Christians not to. But we don’t get that. There is every reason to believe that since the time of the Apostles, Christians have been baptising their children.
We do this because we want to acknowledge that they have been born into the teachings of Jesus and rather than having a ‘conversion experience’, they will hopefully never know a day when they aren’t trusting in Jesus.
For Today:
- What do you believe about baptism?
- Have you been baptised? Do you need to be?
- Have you baptised your kids or will you? Let me know if you want to!
Pray:
- Praise the Father for all the people He will bring to salvation through Jesus.
- Give thanks for Jesus who baptises us in His forgiving blood, washing us clean.
- Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help us and others rejoice in the baptism of God’s people.
Passages: Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:19, Acts 18:8 & 16:33, 1 Corinthians 10:2
Posted in Theology Thursday
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