Why We Believe in Baptizing Our Children...

(The following article draws heavily from G.I. Williamson's chapters on the Sacraments and Baptism from his commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith.).

We can’t help but acknowledge that this is a controversial topic. There have been many people who are willing to argue the rights and wrongs of baptism. But out of all those arguments that I know of, the one mistake that is continuously made is that people fail to see the meaning of baptism. The arguments are always over the “when” and “how” of baptism, but rarely the “what”  or “why” of baptism.

They will be quick to point out that the why, if it does surface, is because Christ said so. And that is the reason why we do it. But we are also to be those who think about our beliefs. So what does it mean?

In this lesson, we hope that you will see several things: what does baptism signify, who it is to be administered to, and how it is to be administered.

 The Significance of Baptism

 I.         Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in the newness of life. Which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in His Church until the end of the world.

 Baptism is a holy sign and seal of the covenant of grace instituted by Christ. It does not save us, but it is a “figure” of that which does save us and was given to us by Christ (Matthew 28:19).

But what is the meaning of baptism?

The confession teaches that the meaning of Baptist if found in a manifold concept of the doctrine. There is no one simple meaning, but it signifies the following:

1. admission into the visible church,

2. the grace of the covenant,

3. regeneration,

4. the remissions of sins, and

5. the duty of new obedience.

 “In other words, the meaning of baptism is rich. It is a sign and seal, not of this or that part of a certain great work of divine grace, but of the whole complex wonder of it. Baptism is, as it were a great ‘motion picture’ which shows forth that great work of God whereby dead sinners are brought into living union with Christ and with God.”[1]

Part of understanding baptism is the understanding that it is union with Christ. This can only take place once the defilement of sin has been removed. So in one sense, the remissions of sins must take place before union is accomplished. This is all a part of the gospel which is what the sacrament represents. Baptism represents what takes place when a person is converted. We know that the doctrines of grace include the following:

1. effectual calling,

2. regeneration,

3. conversion (which includes repentance and faith),

4. justification, and

5. adoption.

These things take place when a person is saved, and this is what baptism represents. This is what the visible picture shows us.

This is one reason why the baptism of an infant represents salvation so well. For the baby is completely passive in all that takes place. When the water is poured over the child’s head, it represents the grace that is poured out in the sinner’s life. The infant is completely passive in the entire event, yet the pastor pours the water on the child’s head. The same is true of grace. God pours out grace in our lives and we are saved, not because of anything in and of ourselves, but because of His grace alone.

“Thus baptism represents that in which man is essentially passive, and the apostles characteristically speak of it as such.” Romans 6:4 talks of us being buried with Him through baptism into death. We are not those who bury ourselves. We cannot do such a thing. So baptism is something in which we are wholly passive.

 From these two sets of statements we see once again the heart of the issue is who is at the center of that which is being discussed: man or God? And if the sign represents something greater, does not the common position seem to indicated that salvation is again, a sign of what man does as opposed to what God does?

Yet we know that God is able to extend grace even to a child. John the Baptist was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. We also know that when Mary entered the room, that John leapt in his own mother’s womb because the Messiah was there. This child did not have the cognitive ability to learn, understand and believe. But the grace of God was poured out in him so that he knew, even at that early age.

Belief is always dependent upon grace, not mental faculty or ability to reason. This is why the common views are faulty, they say that belief only comes about when man is capable of believing. But man is never capable of believing because all men are dead in their sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2). It is only when God’s Spirit moves in the lives of the dead that they can believe. Therefore this can take place in infants, adults or even the mentally retarded.

 The Recipients of Baptism

Baptism is a sign of the covenant of grace. In the garden of Eden, Adam was given a covenant of works whereby he was to fulfill the covenant that God had made with him by not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet Adam did not fulfill that covenant. Therefore, God in His grace, formed a new covenant that we call the covenant of grace.

The principles of this covenant are that we will realize our inability to be saved by our works and believe upon God to provide someone who will fulfill those aspects for us.  Abraham in Genesis 15 believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It was his faith that saved him, not all the other actions that he did. When Abraham left and followed God’s instructions, this was done merely as a result of his faith in the promises of God. So the key component of the covenant of grace is that it is by faith that we are saved, both for old and new testament believers.

In Genesis 15 we see the covenant being made with Abraham, and in Genesis 17 we are given the sign of the covenant. Genesis 17:7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendents after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. There is only one covenant of grace and this is it. All the other covenants that are made throughout Scripture, (the Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant), are merely extensions of this covenant.

God makes the covenant with Abraham, tells him who it will include and then gives us a sign of this covenant.  Genesis 17:10-14 Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money form any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

We need to see several things from this passage. The first is that the children of the covenant were included in that covenant. It was very clear that they were not to wait and grow up in order to believe. They were to be given the sign of the covenant before they believed. The reason for this is that they were to be brought up as covenant children, being taught the truths and the principles of God and the covenant as they grew.

This is why the Shema was so important, it taught that it was the father’s responsibility to teach his children the truths of God, because they were members of the covenant. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The importance of knowing the truth and teaching it to the children is evident. The truth of God was to be everywhere and covenant children were to be diligently taught.

We also see from Joel 2:12-17, which was a call to repentance, that the children were to be included as members of the covenant and in the call to repentance. Vv. 15-16 “Call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babes.” Even young children were to be seen as members of the covenant and therefore, the sign applied to them as well.

We also see from Genesis 17 that the servants were to be included in the covenant. Once they were brought into the community, they were to be given the sign of the covenant. The sign did represent something greater, and they were acting on faith that God would move in the servants life and bring him to faith as well. But the burden was on those who did believe to carry out the requirements of the covenant, regardless of the beliefs of the servant.

So we see from all of this that the covenant was for the community of believers, all of them. This is who it applied to.

But what about the New Testament? For we no longer circumcise as a sign of the covenant, but we do baptize. How is it that we see baptism as a replacement of circumcision?

Our understanding of this sign being replaced comes from the apostle Paul and the way he interchanges baptism and circumcision. “The apostle Paul sometimes uses the name of an Old Testament sacrament when speaking of those who have literally received only the New Testament sacrament, and vice versa. He says that the Israelites were baptized (1 Cor. 10:1), whereas, of course, they were actually circumcised. He also speaks of the Colossians as circumcised (Col. 2:11), though in actual fact they were baptized. He speaks of the Passover as belonging to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:7), though we know that it was the Lord’s Supper, and not the Passover, that was observed among them.”[2]

There is a correlation between the Old Testament and New Testament signs. The signs of the New Testament mean the same thing as the signs of the Old Testament, but they are different and more complete in what they represent. In other words, the bloody signs were replaced by two bloodless signs because the blood of the Lamb of God had been shed. The perfect sacrifice was made, therefore the outward appearance of the signs changed. No longer were the signs looking forward to the coming of the Messiah and His sacrifice, they are now looking back saying: “It is finished.”

 We can see from the above table that baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of the covenant. Since circumcision is a sign of the covenant, to be administered to males at the age of eight-days old, why would a First Century Jew who has come to know Christ, expect a change in the administration of the sign unless specific instructions were given otherwise?

In other words, the Jews expected that since the sign had changed to baptism, it would also apply to children as well unless one of the apostles specifically said: “do not give baptism to your children unless they can confess their faith.”

In fact we see evidence that the signs and the covenant still applied to the children. On the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the Covenant of Grace still applied to children of  believers as well when he proclaimed: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins; and you shall receive the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

The promises of God are for our children as well, not just for those of us who can actively profess faith in Christ. Therefore the sign of the covenant applies to them as well. In Luke 18:15 we see that the kingdom of God is for children as well as adults. Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Again, another spiritual truth given to us in a physical reality. Christ is saying that His kingdom is made up of children. This is typical for those who believe, for it requires humility on the part of those entering into His kingdom. But the point of this is to show that the children are to be given the sign of the kingdom as well.

We see this also in Acts 16:15, 33. In both cases, that of Lydia and the Philippian jailer, we see the two individuals believing, yet their entire households were baptized.

In fact, in verse 34, it is the jailer, (masculine singular to believe) who believes even though the entire household rejoices. It can be safely assumed that in both houses there were servants and children who had not yet come to belief, but were baptized because this is what would have been expected. Had this practice been wrong, then the writer of Acts would have written such.

All this to say that we believe that children of covenant families should be baptized as well as those within the covenant family. We also believe that when an adult comes to faith later in life and has not been baptized then they should be baptized. But if they were baptized as a child in a Trinitarian baptism, we do not believe that they should be re-baptized.

 The Way of Baptism

Our confession reads: Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person.

The idea of baptism from the Greek word is to wash something. That can include dipping, or pouring water over an object. The strongest passage that we see in reference to this is Hebrews 9:20-22 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood,  and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Earlier we said that the water coming down on the recipient represented grace pouring out into the lives of the one being baptized. But how is this done? By the remission of sins through the shed blood of Christ. Grace comes through His sacrifice and the pouring of water on the recipient signifies his sin being washed away. Therefore water is used and represents the cleansing that is taking place during baptism.