What’s the purpose of baptizing infants and little children? (pt 2)
Question: Do you believe that the baptism of a little child means that child will be saved? And,
if not, what’s the purpose of baptizing infants and little children? Aren’t only those who profess
faith in Jesus Christ to be baptized? Infants can’t do that.
Pastor Bill responds (pt. 2):
In last week’s Haven Heart to Heart, I presented the case for the baptism of whole households in which there is at least one believing parent. Certainly if a family member e.g. a spouse or an older child, rejects the Christian faith it would be inconsistent (and it would send a very wrong message) to baptize that person. (Although when there is at least one believing parent, faithful pastors and elders will do everything possible to minister to the entire family with a goal of seeing each member profess faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord). Baptism is a sign of identification with God; and if one has no desire to be identified with God baptism becomes a mockery.
But Jesus took little children and infants to himself and said “Of such is the Kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 18:15-17). He even uses child-likeness as a pattern for a Christian’s faith (probably referring to a child’s total dependence on a parent for everything). Because baptism is associated with the Kingdom that has come with the coming of Jesus the King, cf. Matt. 3:1-16, Mark 1:1-11, Luke 3:1-22, it is certainly fitting that little children of at least one believing parent be baptized. Now does that mean that each child who is baptized is or will be saved? Of course not! Water baptism itself doesn’t give a person a new heart. We learn that from the example of Simon the Magician (you can read the story in Acts 8:9-24). He was baptized, but., in no uncertain terms, the Apostle Peter makes clear that Simon was hardly a saved man (see Acts 8:2-23 - what an example of a bold preacher!).
And water baptism doesn’t guarantee that a person (of whatever age) is a saved person. Water baptism marks out a person as a saint. i.e. one separated unto God, but these saints are still called to “examine themselves as to whether (they:) are in the faith”, cf. II Cor. 1:1, 13:5.
And people who are regarded as followers of Christ are still told to “beware lest there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12) This does not mean that a truly saved person can lose his or her salvation, cf. John 10:28,29, Rom. 8:29,30; but it means that water baptism (or church membership) is no indicator of the state of a person’s heart. (This is why communicant church membership in a Presbyterian church - membership that permits a person to come to the Lord’s Supper - is not based on whether or not a person is regenerated or “saved”, but whether a person has a credible profession of faith, i.e. an informed confession of faith in Christ and a life that, at least outwardly, does not contradict that profession).
Water baptism is a mark identifying the person baptized with the true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. cf. Matt. 28:18-20. It is part of the external administration of the Kingdom of God - an administration that brings warnings as well as promises. You cannot read the New Testament in any other way.
But the questioner asks, “What’s the purpose of baptizing infants and little children”, and anyone else, for that matter? What purpose does water baptism serve if it’s not an indicator that a person is “truly saved?”
That’s a good question! We’ll look into it next week...