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Acts 2:38–39
“Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’”
One issue that no study of baptism should bypass is the question of who is to receive baptism. That adult converts to Christianity who have never been baptized before should receive baptism is clear enough from Scripture and historical church practice. Not every believer, however, agrees with the historic position of the Christian church that the children of believers are to be baptized as well, even before they profess faith in Christ.
Those who reject the baptism of children before they profess faith rightly point out that there is no clear command to baptize the children of believers apart from such a profession. Since Reformed theology is built on both what is “expressly set down in Scripture” and what is deduced from Scripture “by good and necessary consequence” (Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6), however, we do not need an unambiguous reference to the baptism of infants and children before they profess faith. All we need is a proper theological foundation that takes into account the full scope of Scripture.
The need to baptize believers and their children becomes clear in light of biblical covenant theology. We have noted in past studies that God administers salvation through a succession of covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Christ. The promises in each of these covenants are given not only to adult covenant members but also to their children (Gen. 9:8–11; 17:1–8; Lev. 26:44–45; 2 Sam. 7:12–13; Acts 2:38–39). Consequently, these children are members of the visible covenant community. It is not that everyone born to believing parents will automatically be saved. Instead, we recognize that God deals with individuals and corporate bodies, with each person uniquely and with families, nations, and churches collectively. Those who are born to believing parents are set apart to God in a special way, so they receive the sign of the covenant. This was true in the Abrahamic covenant, which has not passed away even if some of its outward forms have changed (Gen. 17:9–14; Gal. 3:29).
The status of the children of believers as holy, separated from the world unto God, has not changed under the new covenant (1 Cor. 7:14). Thus, we have no good reason not to apply the sign of the covenant, which today is baptism, to children who have at least one parent who professes faith in Christ. By baptizing our children, we set them apart unto God before others and vow to raise them in the truth of God’s Word.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Dr. R.C. Sproul notes that ceasing to give the covenant sign of initiation to the children of believers would be such a momentous change in the history of God’s people that the New Testament would almost certainly tell believers to stop giving the sign to their children. Since it does not, it is wise for us to continue applying the sign of initiation, baptism, to our children just as old covenant believers circumcised their sons.
For further study
- Genesis 17:9–14
- Psalm 145:4
- Colossians 2:11–14
- 1 Peter 3:18–22
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 31–32
- 1 Peter 1