One of my grandfather's best friends was a Presbyterian. My brothers and I called him Uncle Dan. When I was in high school, I went to visit Uncle Dan to talk to him about receiving real baptism before he died. As best as I can remember, I broached the subject just enough to learn that Uncle Dan was not open to my message. I had been raised in the Baptist church, and I then sincerely believed that Uncle Dan's Presbyterian baptism had no validity at all. The irony is that now I am a Presbyterian minister. Just before the beginning of my senior year at Dallas Theological Seminary, I learned that a good friend of mine was seriously considering becoming a Presbyterian. I began studying Presbyterian theology in an effort to show my friend the error of his ways. Within about six months, I was a member of a Presbyterian church.
During that transition period, the subject which required the most study and thought was the question of who should be baptized. The Presbyterian practice is to baptize the unbaptized adult who has a credible profession of faith in Jesus, and to baptize the children of the church, normally as infants. What I want to do is to explain why we baptize the children of the church before they are old enough to have a profession of faith. I also want to contrast our position on baptism and covenant children with two other positions, one that goes too far regarding baptism and covenant children and one that doesn't go far enough. Many who disagree with our practice hold to the position which doesn't go far enough and also wrongly assume that we hold to the position that goes too far. So examining all three positions should prove most helpful.
Let me begin by acknowledging that the Bible never directly addresses the question of the baptism of the young children of believers. The New Testament does refer to whole households that were baptized, but never specifically says these households included any children too young to profess their faith. The New Testament also never gives a specific example of a young child in a believing household whose baptism was delayed until he was old enough to profess his faith for himself. The Bible does not directly address the question one way or the other either by teaching or by example.
Because the Bible does not address this issue directly, people come to their convictions on this issue based on other considerations. One very important consideration is one's understanding of the basic purpose of water baptism. Is it a visual profession of faith, a literal application of grace, or a sign and seal of God's covenant?
Some people view baptism as primarily a dramatization of a person's profession, a visual public statement regarding his new faith. If that is the correct understanding of baptism, then baptism has no possible validity apart from this essential and defining human element. According to this view, a person can have his name on a church roll, regularly receive the Lord's Supper and vote in congregational meetings, and yet not really be a baptized member of the visible church. A person's baptism is valid only if it occurred after his first genuine exercise of saving faith in Christ. If that is one's view of baptism, then baptizing children too young to have a profession of faith makes no sense at all. This is the view of baptism which doesn't go far enough regarding covenant children.
Now let's contrast that with the opposite view, one that goes too far. This opposite view is that water baptism is an actual and literal application of God's saving grace. When the minister applies the water of baptism to an infant, the minister believes that the baptismal water is literally washing away original sin, literally putting the child into a saving union with Jesus, literally regenerating that child's soul and giving him spiritual life.
Here we have two opposite views. One says that water baptism is a mere human profession, and the other says that water baptism is an actual application of divine grace. Both of these views misunderstand the relationship between the outward visible aspects of baptism and the inward invisible aspects of baptism. Both of these views are saying that everyone who is validly baptized with water has also truly experienced regenerating grace. The profession of faith view says that if one doesn't have the inward, then the outward has no validity. The application of grace view says that if one has the outward, then he automatically has the inward. These two views have different starting points but they both end up with the same final position: everyone who is validly baptized with water has received regenerating grace.
Now let's look at our view. Baptism is not a literal application of saving grace to the one being baptized. Neither is it merely a human profession of faith. It is instead the sign and seal of God's covenant of grace. In this view, water baptism is always valid if administered by a true church in the name of the true God. Water baptism is a visual preaching of the gospel message. As such, it is primarily not a human statement but a divine statement. It is a picture and pledge of God's covenant with his covenant people. The visual message of water baptism is true whether we believe it or not. What makes water baptism valid is not the faith of the recipient but the faithfulness of God to His covenant promises pictured in the baptism. The message of water baptism is that God will give spiritual life and cleansing to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
When a person is validly baptized with water, God's covenant promises do belong to him in a special way, a way in which they do not belong to the world. To use the language of Ephesians two, he is no longer a stranger from the covenants of promise. However, just because a person is validly baptized and outwardly a member of the visible church doesn't guarantee that person is going to heaven. Apart from the special case of covenant children who die before they reach the age of discretion, only those members of the visible church who meet the obligations of the covenant are going to heaven. Those who do not meet the obligations of the covenant will eventually be cut off from God's covenant community in judgment, in this life or in the next (Romans 11:16-22; John 15:2).
The obligations of the covenant are repentance, faith and obedience. That is just another way of saying that a person must have true saving faith. True saving faith turns to Christ for both forgiveness of sin and deliverance from sin. Salvation is from sin and unto good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). This saving faith is not a legalistic work that earns salvation. Saving faith is rather a gift from God and an instrument God uses in saving a person by grace.
So everyone who is baptized is an outward member of the visible church, but only those who meet the obligations of the covenant are true inward members of the invisible church. The visible church is like an olive tree with natural branches and grafted on branches. The natural branches are the baptized children of the church who have been a part of the church all their lives. The grafted on branches are those baptized as adults after making a credible profession of faith. On judgment day, the branches which have never borne the genuine fruit of saving faith will be cut off in judgment.
What we need to do now is to look at Scripture and see if there are indications that this covenant model of water baptism and the visible church is correct. To begin with, we know this covenant model was used under the old covenant. In Genesis 17, God gave the promise to Abraham, "I will be your God and the God of your seed." Then God commanded Abraham to circumcise every male child born in his family. Circumcision, of course, was the sign and seal of the covenant in the Old Testament (Romans 4:11). It was the sacrament of initiation into the Old Testament covenant community. There was also a provision under the old covenant for the circumcision of pagan adults who wanted to worship God through keeping the Passover (Exodus 12:48). And outward membership in old covenant Israel did not guarantee inward, spiritual membership (Romans 2:28-3:4).
Joel 2:15-16 is a call to the old covenant congregation in Israel to gather for a sacred assembly. What is interesting about this passage is that it defines the old covenant congregation. The passage specifically says, "Gather the children and the nursing babes." These were considered part of the covenant community under the old covenant.
In the gospels, some covenant children were once brought to our Lord for a blessing. By comparing the three accounts of this event, we know that our Lord embraced, blessed and prayed for these children, and then stated, "Of such is the kingdom of God." From Luke's account, we know that some of these children were babes in arm who would have had no understanding of Christ's words of blessing (Luke 18:15).
Now some say that when our Lord here said "of such is the kingdom of God," Jesus meant only professing Christians with childlike faith, and that the clause has no direct reference to very young children. However, this same word translated "of such" in all three synoptic accounts of Christ's blessing the children is also found in Acts 22:22 where the Jewish mob said concerning the apostle Paul, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!" Was the mob referring only to people such as Paul, or were they referring specifically to Paul? Obviously the word included Paul. And when Jesus said regarding the covenant children brought to him, "Of such is the kingdom of God," His reference included the covenant children.
Our Lord during His public ministry sometimes gave indications of changes that would take effect under the new covenant. In Matthew 8:11, our Lord indicated that Gentiles would soon become full members of the covenant people. In Mark 7:19, He indicated that Jewish ceremonial laws would be set aside under the new covenant. In contrast, our Lord in blessing these children gave evidence that the children of believers would continue to be members of God's kingdom under the new covenant.
On the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church in its new covenant form, Peter cried out,
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of 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."Peter was here still speaking in terms of the covenant model when he proclaimed, "The promise is to you..." Peter was there addressing the Jews as God's covenant people and referring to the promise of the Holy Spirit poured out in new covenant fullness, a promise given in Old Testament prophecies. Peter told these Jews that the promise already belonged to them, yet he exhorted them to repent. They needed to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and to submit to water baptism in Jesus' name. The promise may have belonged to them as the covenant community, but they would never actually receive what had been promised unless they met the obligations of the covenant. Those who did not would be cut off from the covenant community in judgment in this life or the next. This passage certainly points to the covenant model of the visible church.Some might argue that Peter used the covenant model here only because he was addressing Jews. The problem with that argument is that Paul applied the same model to the church at Rome. In Romans 11, written years after Peter's sermon in Acts 2, Paul spoke of the Jews who had rejected Jesus as branches already broken off from the olive tree of spiritual Israel. In Romans 11:20-22, Paul warned that what had happened to the unbelieving Jews would also happen to outward members of the Christian church if they too fell into unbelief (Romans 11:20-22).
Peter then went on to say that the promise of the new covenant belonged also to the children of the covenant people: "the promise is to you and to your children." Peter was here confirming that the theology of children rooted in the Abrahamic covenant continued to apply under the new covenant. The "children and nursing babes" were still regarded as part of the covenant community, as they had been in the time of Joel.
Peter then stated the Old Testament proselyte principle: "the promise is also to those afar off, as many as the Lord will call." In the Old Testament, adult believers from pagan backgrounds were circumcised and became a part of old covenant Israel (Exodus 12:48). So in the New Testament, believing adult pagans were baptized and became members of new covenant Israel. As it says in Ephesians 2:13 concerning pagan converts to Christianity: "Now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
In his Acts 2 sermon, Peter affirmed the continuing validity of the covenant model even as he exhorted submission to the covenant's new sign and seal. The continuing relevance of the covenant model implies that just as there was household and proselyte circumcision under the old covenant, there is household and proselyte baptism under the new covenant. Water baptism may have replaced circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant, but certain basic principles of covenant administration remained the same.
In Acts 16:31, Paul the Apostle said to the Philippian jailer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household." When Paul said that to the jailer, he was restating in terms of the new covenant the age old promise that God had given to Abraham: "I will be your God and the God of your children" (Genesis 17). When the jailer believed, Paul baptized the entire household. This passage does not specifically say that this household included any children too young to have a profession of faith, nor does it deny that possibility. The latter part of verse 34 says that the jailer "rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God." This is the word order found in the original Greek. The verb translated "having believed" is masculine singular, referring directly only to the jailer. The English Standard Version accurately translates this sentence, "And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." Luke tells us that all in the household rejoiced, but he does not say they all believed. This leaves open the possibility that household baptism can include children old enough to be caught up in the joy of the moment but not old enough to have their own profession of faith. If Luke believed only in proselyte baptism, I think he would have been careful to specify that all who were baptized that day were professing believers. He did not.
Another verse that relates to this issue is 1 Corinthians 7:14, where it says that the child of a believer is holy. There were apparently some married couples in the Corinthian church where one spouse had become a Christian and the other had remained in paganism. Some of these Christians in this situation feared that marriage to an unbeliever somehow defiled them spiritually. Paul's response to the query was that if the unbeliever was willing to stay married to the Christian, allowing the Christian to live true to Christ, then the Christian should stay in the marriage. Paul then defended his response by stating that rather than the unbelieving spouse defiling the believing spouse, the believing spouse sanctifies the unbelieving spouse. The holiness of the Christian spouse decisively affects the unbelieving spouse rather than vice versa. It influences his life style. It exposes him to divine blessings. It confronts him with the gospel.
Paul then gave his proof for this assessment of the situation. He needed some unquestioned fact to serve as his starting point for his argument. He found that starting point in the spiritual status of the children of these religiously diverse couples. Paul pointed out that the children are holy. This was Paul's foundational given, his axiomatic assumption. This was a fact everyone knew and accepted. This was the undisputed fact upon which he built his argument for maintaining these marriages. If the children of these marriages were holy in some sense, then this proved that the holiness of the believing spouse predominated over the defilement of the unbelieving spouse.
Now this raises the question as to how this fact was a settled point on which to build his case. The answer is obvious if the covenant children were already baptized members of the church. The children would be holy in the sense that they were members not of the pagan world but of God's covenant community. They had been set apart in that the promises of the covenant belonged to them as a birthright and were theirs to claim in faith. If this is not what Paul meant by the children being holy, then what did he mean? In what sense is the child of a believer and an unbeliever holy in such a way that it proves that the believer sanctifies the unbeliever as opposed to the unbeliever's defiling the believer?
There is also the fact that under the old covenant, God's people were called a flock, a house and a nation. Lambs are members of the flock from birth, children are members of a household from birth, and children are members of a nation from birth. Interestingly, all three of these metaphors are still used to describe the people of God under the new covenant (John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2; Ephesians 2:19; 3:15; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:9). It seems these metaphors would have been abandoned and new ones found if the covenant children were no longer members of the covenant community.
Also, in Ephesians, Paul addresses his letter to the saints, and then includes in that letter a section directly addressed to the children, as if they were a part of the community of the saints.
We believe that the Bible points toward the covenant model of water baptism and the visible church. This means that water baptism is more than a human statement but not a direct application of saving grace. It is instead God's picture and pledge of His covenant of grace. Baptism makes a person a part of God's covenant community, and the covenant of grace belongs to God's covenant community in a special way. But with the covenant comes an obligation to respond to the covenant with repentance, faith and obedience. Only those who bear this fruit are members of the covenant in a true inner and spiritual sense.
The responsibility for bearing this fruit is ours. Yet we must in faith and humility look to Christ for the enablement of grace. We must abide in Christ, fellowship with Christ, look to Christ. For apart from Him, we can do nothing.
Regarding our covenant children, we should rejoice that God has made them a part of His covenant community and that the benefits of the covenant belong to them in a special way. God has been sincerely and genuinely gracious to our children in a way not experienced by children raised outside the household of faith. The fact that a natural branch can be cut off does not make these promises worthless. The fact that a wild olive branch can be grafted in does not make these promises meaningless. To paraphrase Paul, "What advantage has the Christian, or what is the profit of infant baptism? Much in every way!" (cf. Romans 3:1,2).
What about the baptized covenant children who grow up and never meet the obligations of the covenant? Ultimately they are no different from the baptized adult professors who never meet the obligations of the covenant. Just because a person has a profession of faith that at some point in his life appears believable to us doesn't mean that he is truly a believer in his heart of hearts. Again, to paraphrase the language of Paul, "For what if some do not believe? Does their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar" (cf. Romans 3:4).
The covenant model encourages God's people to focus not on any one religious experience from their past but on a persevering faith and a continuing fulfillment of the obligations of the covenant. What is important is not whether they believed before they were baptized but whether they are believing today.
Also, the covenant promises should be a motivation to invest in the spiritual upbringing of our children after the example of Abraham (Genesis 18:19). We need to pray that God will give our covenant children the gift of faith, and that God will bless our efforts and use us as His instruments of grace in their lives.