Methodist and Nazarene Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 7: Baptism in the Wesleyan Tradition: Infant Baptism, Believer's Baptism, and the Baptist Objections

Key Verse

"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, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

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

1. Explain what Wesleyans mean by a sacrament and why they keep only two, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

2. State the Wesleyan meaning of baptism as a sign and means of grace, and explain how it differs from the new birth.

3. Give the biblical and historical reasons Wesleyans give for baptizing infants.

4. Describe fairly the believer's-baptism view and the main Baptist objections, and answer each from the Wesleyan side.

5. Explain how Wesleyan churches treat the mode of baptism and the baptism of converts who were not baptized as children.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Wesleyan tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and evangelical. In this unit the tradition's own practice is taught: infants born to believing parents may be baptized, and converts who come to faith as adults are baptized on their profession. Our Baptist brothers and sisters hold that baptism belongs only to those who can profess faith. We state their view as they would state it and then give our answer. "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). This is one of the questions where honest Christians who love the Word differ, and a pastor should speak about it with gentleness.

What Is a Sacrament?

The word "sacrament" is not found in the Bible. The church has used it from early times for an outward sign that God has given to show and convey an inward grace. Wesleyans, like most Protestants, count two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, because Jesus Himself commanded both. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches count seven. We do not deny that other rites are holy; Christ commanded only these two.

The Methodist Articles of Religion, which Wesley adapted for America in 1784 from the Church of England, teach that the sacraments are not only badges of Christian profession but signs through which God works in us and strengthens our faith. John Wesley called them "means of grace," the subject of Unit 8. A means of grace is a channel the Lord has appointed, through which He gives His help to those who come in faith. It does not work by magic. The grace comes from God, and it is received by faith.

The Meaning of Baptism

Baptism is the sacrament of beginning. Jesus commands it in Matthew 28:19, and it is the church's regular act of entering. Several truths stand together.

First, baptism is a sign of cleansing. Ananias said to Saul, "Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).

Second, it is a sign of union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Paul writes in Romans 6:3-4 that we were "baptized into Christ Jesus" and "buried with Him through baptism into death," that we also should walk in newness of life.

Third, it is a sign of the Holy Spirit and of new life. Peter preached on Pentecost, "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" (Acts 2:38).

Fourth, it is entrance into the people of God. Paul says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Wesleyans therefore teach that baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, a means of grace, and the act of entering the visible church.

Baptism and the new birth

John Wesley held baptism in the highest honor. In his Treatise on Baptism of 1756, drawn from a work by his father, he taught that baptism is the ordinary way we enter the covenant with God. Historians debate how far Wesley held baptismal regeneration, the view that the new birth happens in baptism. In his later preaching, especially his sermon on the new birth, he insisted that the new birth is an inward change known by its fruit, and that a person baptized as a child who has lived in sin must still be born again.

Modern Wesleyan churches follow this later teaching. Baptism is a real means of grace, not an empty sign. But the water itself does not save, and not everyone baptized is therefore a Christian. Baptism is the sign and the promise; faith, repentance and the new birth are what it points to. So we stay faithful both to the sacrament and to the call of Jesus: "You must be born again" (John 3:7).

The Two Practices: Infant Baptism and Believer's Baptism

Wesleyan churches practice two kinds of baptism side by side.

Infant baptism. The children of believing parents are baptized in infancy, when the parents promise to raise them in the faith and the church promises to help. This was Wesley's own practice as an Anglican priest, and it is retained in the Methodist Articles of Religion. The Wesleyan Methodist, Free Methodist and Nazarene bodies also allow it, though in some of them parents may choose between baptism and a service of dedication.

Believer's baptism. When an older child or adult comes to faith in Christ and has not been baptized, he or she is baptized on a personal profession of faith, together with repentance. This is the practice of the New Testament accounts of the first missionary preaching, such as Acts 2:41 and Acts 8:12.

The question is not whether faith is needed, for faith is always needed, but whether the children of believers may receive the sign before they can profess.

The Wesleyan Case for Infant Baptism

Wesleyans give the following reasons. We present them as reasons from Scripture, not as an explicit command.

1. The covenant with Abraham and the sign of circumcision. God told Abraham that He would establish His covenant "between Me and you and your descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7), and the sign was given to infant boys at eight days old (Genesis 17:12). Paul links circumcision and baptism in Colossians 2:11-12, where he speaks of the "circumcision of Christ" and being "buried with Him in baptism." Wesleyans reason that, just as the covenant sign was given to the children of believers in the old covenant, so in the new covenant, which is larger and not smaller in grace, the children are not shut out.

2. The promise "to you and to your children." After calling the crowd to be baptized, Peter said, "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). Peter spoke to Jews who knew their children were in the covenant, and he did not say this had changed.

3. The household baptisms. Luke records that Lydia "and her household" were baptized (Acts 16:15), that the Philippian jailer was baptized, "he and all his family" (Acts 16:33), and that Paul baptized "the household of Stephanas" (1 Corinthians 1:16). These passages do not prove that infants were present, but whole households baptized on the faith of the head fits how a first-century family was understood.

4. Christ's welcome of children. "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14). Jesus blessed infants, and Luke 18:15 says they were brought to Him as "infants." If the kingdom belongs to such, we should not forbid the sign of the kingdom.

5. The holiness of the children of a believer. Paul says that the children of even one believing parent are "holy" (1 Corinthians 7:14). This does not mean they are saved automatically, but that they stand in a special place in God's household.

6. The practice of the early church. Historians disagree about how early infant baptism began. The scholar Joachim Jeremias argued that it goes back to the apostles' time. Kurt Aland argued that the evidence is weak before about the end of the second century. The Latin writer Tertullian, about the year 200, advised that baptism of little children be delayed, which shows that infant baptism was already known. Origen, in the third century, wrote that the church had received from the apostles the practice of baptizing even infants. In the middle of the third century, bishops in North Africa under Cyprian discussed when infants should be baptized. By the fourth century the practice was common everywhere. History alone cannot prove what the first generation did, but the practice is very old.

7. Prevenient grace. This reason is distinctly Wesleyan. We have learned in Course 2 that God's grace comes before our response. The grace that goes before us works in infants too. Baptism is the visible sign that God has first loved the child, before the child can answer.

The Believer's-Baptism View and the Baptist Objections

Baptists and many other evangelicals hold that baptism belongs only to those who profess faith.

Objection 1: The New Testament has no clear command or example of baptizing an infant.

Every clear case in Acts is of a person who heard and believed. "Those who gladly received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41). Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). The household passages say that the household heard the word and rejoiced (Acts 16:34) or believed (Acts 18:8), and no infant is named.

Our answer. We agree that the accounts describe adult converts, as we would expect in the first missionary generation. Where the gospel came to a household, the household was baptized. Silence about infants is not proof that they were excluded, when the family was understood as a unit. The question is which practice best fits the whole Bible, and we believe the unity of the two covenants answers it.

Objection 2: Baptism follows faith, so a baby who cannot believe should not be baptized.

Mark 16:16 puts belief first.

Our answer. We agree that when a person is old enough to believe, faith must come first. We apply this to every convert. But infants are included in God's promise, as circumcision shows, and we do not say that the baby has believed. We say that the child is claimed by God and given into the care of the believing family and church, and that in time the child must personally accept the grace offered. A child who is baptized and then grows up without faith has not yet received what the sign points to. This is why we call parents and church to teach and pray, and why we preach the new birth to baptized young people just as we do to the unbaptized.

Objection 3: The word baptizo means immerse, and the sign of burial and resurrection in Romans 6 requires going under the water.

Baptists argue that immersion alone fits the picture.

Our answer. The Greek word can mean to wash as well as to dip (see Mark 7:4 and Luke 11:38, where it is used of washing). The early Christian manual known as the Didache, from the end of the first or the second century, allows pouring water on the head when running or sufficient water is not available. The Wesleyan tradition therefore leaves the mode to the conscience of the person being baptized. Wesley himself accepted sprinkling and pouring as well as dipping. Immersion is a fine picture of Romans 6, and we respect those who choose it.

Objection 4: A church of believers must have only regenerate members, and infant baptism fills the church with unconverted people.

This objection is strong in practice, and honest Wesleyans admit the danger.

Our answer. The danger is real, and it is exactly why Wesley created the class meeting and the society, so that the baptized would be nurtured and tested (see Unit 5). Wesley urged that baptized persons who live in sin be called to repent and be born again. A church can be mixed with the unconverted under any practice, and Simon the magician was baptized as an adult (Acts 8:13). The remedy is discipline, teaching and preaching.

Converts, Rebaptism and Dedication

How should a pastor handle three common cases?

A convert who has never been baptized. The pastor teaches the meaning of baptism and baptizes on profession, by the mode the person chooses, with joy and a public testimony.

A person who was baptized as an infant and now asks for believer's baptism. This is delicate. Practice varies. Many Wesleyan bodies discourage repeating baptism, because baptism is God's act of claiming a person and not only a mark of our own faith, while others allow a believer who sincerely needs it to receive immersion. The pastor should follow the church's manual, pray with the person, and gently teach that God's promise in the first baptism has not been lost.

Parents who prefer dedication. Some Wesleyan churches, such as the Nazarene, allow parents to dedicate a child to God instead of baptizing the child, and the child may be baptized later on a profession of faith. A pastor respects the parents' conscience and makes neither choice a test of fellowship.

Pastoral Application

A young couple in a Wesleyan church in a Mexican town has just had their first child. The husband's family attends a Baptist church. His mother says, "Baptism is only for those who believe. If you baptize the baby, it means nothing." The couple comes to the pastor to ask whether they are doing the right thing.

First, the pastor listens and thanks them for taking the question seriously.

Second, he opens Genesis 17, Acts 2:38-39, Acts 16 and Mark 10 with them and explains why the Wesleyan church baptizes the children of believers.

Third, he explains what baptism does not do. It does not make the child a Christian without faith. It places the child within the promise and gives the parents a duty to teach and pray.

Fourth, he tells them that the Baptist family loves the Lord, that they may choose dedication if their conscience requires it and the church allows it, and that the child will be taught to receive Christ personally one day. He offers to speak kindly with the grandmother.

Summary

Wesleyans keep two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, as means of grace, and teach that baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant and an entrance into the church. It is not the same as the new birth, which must be personally received by faith. Infant baptism is the Wesleyan church's regular practice, supported by the covenant with Abraham, Peter's promise "to you and to your children," the household baptisms, Jesus' welcome of children, and the long history of the church, while historians still debate the earliest evidence. Believer's baptism is practiced for converts. Baptist objections about the lack of a clear command, the priority of faith, the meaning of the word baptizo, and the danger of a mixed church are serious, and we answer them from the unity of the covenants and from our teaching on the new birth. Mode is left to conscience, and pastors should handle the questions of rebaptism and dedication with patience.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, A Treatise on Baptism (1756), and his sermon "The New Birth" (public domain).

• John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament, on Matthew 28, Acts 2 and Romans 6 (public domain).

• The Methodist Articles of Religion (1784), on baptism and the Lord's Supper.

• John Wesley, The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (1784), the order for baptism.

• Tertullian, On Baptism, and Origen, Commentary on Romans (early church sources, public domain).

• The Didache (early Christian manual, public domain).

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