Presbyterian Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 8: Baptism of Believers and Their Children

Key Verse

"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." (Acts 2:39, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Define baptism as a sacrament and say what the Reformed confessions teach it signifies and seals.

2. Explain the covenant argument for baptizing the infants of believers, using the main biblical texts.

3. Explain what baptism does not do, and why Reformed churches deny baptismal regeneration.

4. State the Baptist objections to infant baptism fairly.

5. Give the Reformed answer to each objection, and explain how the Reformed churches treat the question of mode.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it or are studying it. It is theologically conservative, holds that Scripture is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and receives the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity as faithful summaries of Scripture. On the baptism of the children of believers, this specialization teaches the Reformed view as the tradition's own, although the general teaching of Chapala Theological Seminary may differ. Our Baptist brothers and sisters love the same Lord, and many hold the doctrines of grace as we do. We state their objections as they would state them, and then give our answer. Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

What Baptism Is

The Reformed churches teach that Christ appointed two sacraments for His church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. A sacrament is a holy sign and seal of the covenant of grace, given by Christ, in which the grace of the gospel is shown by an outward sign and pledged to those who receive it in faith. The Westminster Confession (27.1; 28.1) teaches that baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of the person's ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of the forgiveness of sins, and of a giving up of oneself to God to walk in newness of life.

Baptism was commanded by the risen Lord: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). The water shows cleansing (Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5), union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12), and belonging to Christ's people (Galatians 3:27). It is a sign because it pictures the gospel. It is a seal because God, who cannot lie, pledges Himself by it to all who believe. The Westminster Confession (28.2) says that baptism is to be administered by a lawfully ordained minister of the Word, and (28.7) that it is to be administered only once to any person.

The Baptism of Believers

All agree on one point. When an adult or older child comes to faith in Christ who has not been baptized, he is baptized on the credible profession of his faith. This is what we find in Acts. The three thousand "who gladly received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41). The Ethiopian official believed and was baptized (Acts 8:36-38). The Philippian jailer and his household were baptized after hearing the word (Acts 16:30-34). Reformed churches do this especially on mission fields where the gospel reaches adults for the first time.

The disagreement concerns the children of believers.

The Covenant Argument

The Reformed case for infant baptism is not mainly built on one text. It rests on the unity of God's covenant of grace, which Course 3 of this specialization teaches in the unit "The Covenant of Grace from Adam to Christ." There we saw that God has one way of saving, by grace through faith in Christ, under different administrations. The argument has several steps.

Step 1: God's covenant includes believers and their children. When God made the covenant with Abraham He said: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7). The sign of that covenant, circumcision, was to be given to Abraham, to all the males of his house, and to infants at eight days old (Genesis 17:10-14).

Step 2: The sign of the covenant meant spiritual things. Circumcision was not only a national mark. Paul says that Abraham "received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised" (Romans 4:11). The sign pointed to the cleansing of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4).

Step 3: Baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of entering the covenant. Paul joins the two in Colossians 2:11-12: "In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands... buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God." Blood has been shed once for all in Christ, so the sign is now water and not blood. We take Paul to teach that baptism now holds the place of circumcision.

Step 4: The children were never put out. If the Lord included children in the covenant sign for two thousand years, we should expect the New Testament to say so clearly if He had now excluded them. It does not. Instead, on the day of Pentecost Peter says, "For the promise is to you and to your children" (Acts 2:39), words which every Jew in the audience would have understood in the light of Genesis 17. Under the new covenant the blessings are greater, not smaller, and the Lord Jesus welcomed little children: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14).

Step 5: The New Testament shows households being baptized. Lydia "and her household" were baptized (Acts 16:15). The jailer was baptized "he and all his family" (Acts 16:33). Paul baptized "the household of Stephanas" (1 Corinthians 1:16). These texts do not prove that infants were baptized, but they fit the covenant pattern, in which the head of a household receives the sign for the family. Paul also writes to children in the church (Ephesians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:20) and calls the child of even one believing parent "holy" (1 Corinthians 7:14), meaning set apart within the sphere of the covenant.

The Westminster Confession (28.4) draws the conclusion: not only those who actually profess faith in Christ, but also the infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptized. The Larger Catechism (Question 166) says that such infants are within the covenant. The Heidelberg Catechism (Question 74) reasons that infants, no less than adults, belong to God's covenant and congregation, and that the Spirit who works faith is promised to them also. The Belgic Confession (article 34) agrees that baptism takes the place of circumcision. Calvin defends the practice in the Institutes, Book 4, chapter 16.

What Baptism Does Not Do

Reformed teachers are firm on this point. Baptism does not itself save. The Westminster Confession (28.5) says that it is a great sin to neglect the sacrament, but that grace and salvation are not so tied to baptism that no one can be saved without it, nor that all who are baptized are certainly saved. The efficacy of baptism (28.6) is not tied to the moment of its administration; the Spirit gives the grace promised to those, adults or infants, to whom it belongs, in His own time, according to the counsel of His own will.

The Scripture shows this in the experience of Israel. Paul says: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly... but he is a Jew who is one inwardly" (Romans 2:28-29; compare 9:6). Simon the magician was baptized, yet Peter told him his heart was not right with God (Acts 8:13, 20-23). In the same way, a baptized child must come to personal faith and repentance. The promise of the covenant is received by faith. Parents who bring a child for baptism therefore promise to teach the child the Word of God, to pray for him and to bring him up in the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). The congregation promises to help. Baptism begins covenant nurture; it does not end it. Faithful teaching and church discipline (Unit 5) guard the church against empty ritual.

A Note on the Mode

The Greek word baptizo has been argued over for centuries. The Westminster Confession (28.3) teaches that the dipping of the person into the water is not necessary, and that baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water on the person. The Reformed churches give several reasons. The Old Testament speaks of cleansing by sprinkling (Ezekiel 36:25), the Spirit is poured out (Acts 2:17-18), and the New Testament uses words of the same family for ceremonial washings (Mark 7:4; Hebrews 9:10). Paul says Israel was "baptized into Moses" in the cloud and the sea (1 Corinthians 10:2), though they did not go under the water. The Confession does not forbid immersion, and Reformed churches recognize baptism by immersion as a valid baptism.

A Brief Historical Note

Course 1 of this specialization tells the history of the Reformation, so a brief note is enough. In the 1520s some in Zurich began to rebaptize adults and reject infant baptism. Zwingli and Bullinger answered with the covenant argument, which the Reformed confessions took up. In the seventeenth century English Baptists taught baptism of believers only, and the Baptist Confession of 1689 follows much of the Westminster Confession in other matters. Spurgeon, a Reformed Baptist, is noted as a voice from that stream.

Historians also debate how early the church baptized infants. Some argue that the practice is a later development. Others point to Tertullian around the year 200, who advised that the baptism of little children be delayed, which shows that it was already done, and to Origen in the third century, who said that the church had received the practice from the apostles. The evidence is not complete. We rest our case on Scripture first, and history is only a support.

The Baptist Objections and Our Answers

We state each objection as its holders would, and then answer.

Objection 1: The New Testament has no command and no clear example of infant baptism.

Baptists observe that every recorded baptism is of someone who believes, and that the household texts never name infants. They say a sacrament must rest on a clear command.

Our answer. The warrant is the covenant, not a single verse. The command to give the sign to the children of believers was given to Abraham and has never been withdrawn. The New Testament, written mostly about first-generation converts, naturally records adult baptisms. Silence about the children is better explained by continuity than by a change so great that Jewish believers would have objected. We admit that the household texts alone do not settle the matter. They fit the covenant pattern, which is the foundation.

Objection 2: In the New Testament, baptism follows faith.

Baptists point to the order of Matthew 28:19, "make disciples... baptizing them," and to Acts 2:41, where those who received the word were baptized. They conclude that faith must come first.

Our answer. We agree that adults who come to faith must profess it before baptism. But Abraham also believed first, and was circumcised as "a seal of the righteousness of the faith" (Romans 4:11); yet he gave the same sign to Isaac at eight days old. A sign can follow faith in the adult convert and be given to his children, as the covenant pattern shows. Faith is the way in which the promise is received, but the promise is made to the children also.

Objection 3: The new covenant is different. Jeremiah 31:31-34 says that all in the new covenant know the Lord, so its members are regenerate.

Baptists say that circumcision marked a physical people, but baptism marks a spiritual people, so the sign should be given only to those who give evidence of the new birth.

Our answer. We agree that the new covenant is better, and that it has real fulfillment in Christ. But the New Testament still speaks of a visible church in which not all are truly saved. Simon the magician was baptized. The branches in the vine that do not bear fruit are taken away (John 15:2), and Hebrews warns of those who have been sanctified by the blood of the covenant, yet fall away (Hebrews 10:29). Paul speaks of branches broken off from the olive tree (Romans 11:17-21). The covenant community still has believers and their children in it, as Acts 2:39 shows. The new covenant is better in its Mediator and its Spirit, not smaller in its reach to families.

Objection 4: Infant baptism leads to false security and nominal Christianity.

Baptists point out that in state churches whole nations were baptized as infants and many never believed, and that Roman Catholic teaching holds that baptism regenerates.

Our answer. We take this warning seriously. Reformed churches deny baptismal regeneration and teach that every baptized child needs to come to faith. False assurance appears wherever the church is careless, whether it baptizes infants or not. The remedy is faithful preaching, catechizing, parents' vows, and church discipline, which the Reformed churches have always taught.

Pastoral Application

A young couple joins a Presbyterian church. The husband grew up in a Baptist church, and his wife was raised in a Presbyterian home. Their baby has just been born. The wife wishes to present the child for baptism, but the husband is uneasy. "My family will say we are doing it like the Catholics," he says.

First, the pastor listens. The husband is not hostile, only honest.

Second, he explains what baptism is and is not. The water does not save, and the parents promise to teach the child the Word and pray for him. He shows the husband Genesis 17, Romans 4:11, Colossians 2:11-12 and Acts 2:39.

Third, he does not press. He invites the couple to study the matter, gives them the Westminster Confession chapter 28 and the Heidelberg Catechism, and asks them to pray. He tells them that the church will still welcome and pray for the child, and that the husband's conscience is respected.

Summary

Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, commanded by Christ. Believers who have not been baptized are baptized on credible profession. The Reformed churches also baptize the infants of believers on the grounds of the covenant: God's promise to Abraham included his children, circumcision was a sign and seal of the righteousness of faith, baptism now takes the place of circumcision (Colossians 2:11-12), Peter said that the promise is to you and your children (Acts 2:39), and households were baptized. Baptism does not itself save, and baptized children must come to faith. Pouring and sprinkling are the usual modes, and immersion is recognized as valid. Baptists object that there is no command or example, that baptism follows faith, that the new covenant community is regenerate, and that infant baptism breeds false security. The Reformed answer is that the covenant is one and the children were never put out, that Abraham also believed first and then gave the sign to his sons, that the new-covenant church is still visible and mixed, and that the cure for nominal religion is faithful teaching and discipline.

Further Reading

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-47), chapters 27 and 28.

• The Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 165-167.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Questions and Answers 69-74.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), article 34.

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), chapter 20.

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), Book 4, chapters 15 and 16.

• Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, on baptism.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), on baptism.

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