On the Baptism of Young Children
In every “credo-baptist” church (i.e. a church that only baptizes those who profess personal belief/faith in Christ), pastors and parents have to wrestle with a significant and consequential question:
How old must a child be before he or she can be baptized?
It is a significant question, as it relates directly to a church’s understanding of the Gospel and of the way a person’s profession of faith in Jesus is deemed valid. And it is a consequential question, because if not answered wisely, false professions of faith in Jesus could be affirmed and true professions of faith could go unrecognized. Dealing with this issue then, is a bit like walking a tightrope.
What are the dangers?
One obvious risk of baptizing younger children is the potential it holds to affirm a child as a Christian who is not truly converted. Giving a child who does not possess true faith in Christ the assurance that he or she is right with God is a real danger. Spiritual hypocrites go to hell if they go unrepentant to their graves, and most of them go there blissfully ignorant of the judgment that awaits them on the other side. Therefore, no church in its right mind would ever want to contribute to a false assurance of salvation in any of the children God has entrusted to its ministry. We should rather take great pains to help our children come to an accurate understanding of the state of their souls, even when they eagerly profess faith in Jesus, given the very real danger that a false assurance of salvation would pose to them. Many kids who are raised in Gospel-preaching churches want to be forgiven of their sins and want to go to heaven when they die. Far fewer understand what Christ requires of those who believe in him and so are unable to count the cost of belief in him. All this should at least make a church approach the baptism of young children with some caution.
At the same time, there is also a danger that comes with prolonging baptism for some children, I believe. Namely, that of communicating to them that they must obey all of Jesus' other commands, before they are qualified to obey the first one (i.e. to be baptized – Acts 2:38). Salvation is by grace alone, after all. And justification in the sight of God is received by faith alone in Christ alone. Works of righteousness and obedience to God play no part at all in making a sinner right with God. It is the works of Christ alone that are deemed sufficient by God when he declares a sinner right with himself and righteous according to his law. Therefore, a Christian parent must be careful not to teach his children that they must do anything but trust in Christ as their only Savior and Lord to be saved.
Beyond these things, Christians believe and proclaim a Gospel that is clear and simple enough for even a young child to respond to it with faith in Christ. It was Jesus himself who said to his disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Though it doesn't seem like Jesus was declaring the young children who came to him in this instance to be believers, his reason for not keeping them from coming to him (“for such belongs to the kingdom of heaven”) would at least imply that it is possible for a child to look to him with saving faith. Any Gospel that is too complex, multifaceted, and complicated for a child to understand is no Gospel at all.
How do we handle this issue?
So then, what ought Christian parents and their churches do (assuming they are credo-baptist churches) with those young children who are professing faith in Christ and desire to be baptized?
Well, all I should probably do in this post is tell you how our church approaches this issue.
As far as our church goes, we will encourage the baptism of younger children (usually not much younger than 8 years old or so though, to be clear) in the event that a number of factors come together.
First, it is essential that the child professing faith in Christ is the one initiating and pressing the issue of baptism. Their desire to follow Jesus and go public as a Christian through baptism needs to be their desire. Children should not be pressured or forced to obey Jesus in baptism. Baptism should be their idea, and they should desire it strongly enough to raise the issue with their parents.
Second, the child desiring to be baptized needs to be able to articulate the Gospel, a clear sense of their personal sinfulness, that they are personally trusting in Christ alone for salvation, along with some understanding the fact that following Jesus is not easy – and all without the assistance or obvious leading of an adult. Since their faith in Christ is the only instrument of their justification, they must be able to express personal faith in him on their own.
Third, the child needs to clearly articulate an understanding of the fact that neither baptism nor any other work (whether a single work or a whole lifetime of works) of obedience to God will ever save him or make him right with God, and that baptism is merely a picture of the saving work of a crucified and risen Christ for sinners. While we want for their baptisms to remind them of the work of Christ in their lives, we don’t want to their baptisms to be confused with the work of Christ in their lives. We want them to find salvation and the assurance of salvation by looking at Christ himself.
Fourth, it is essential to us that the believing parents of the child are confident that their child understands the Gospel and are supportive of their child being baptized. Since Christian parents are the primary disciple-makers of their children, and since they are the ones who know their children best, it is crucial that they approve of their child’s baptism. If a parent feels hesitation about their child’s baptism, we do not believe pastoral authority should override that hesitation. If the parents want to wait, we will wait.
Fifth, the child must talk over all these things with a pastor of our church, and the pastors of the church must all be in agreement that baptism would be prudent in his or her case. Our pastors do not have to agree about everything all the time, but this is one of those cases where we see unanimous agreement to be a good thing.
To some believers, this may all seem like overkill. Though to others, it may very well seem haphazard and careless. So be it. This process is simply our attempt to walk the tightrope of encouraging our kids to come to Jesus on the one hand, while also protecting them from a false assurance of salvation on the other. We don’t want to baptize anyone who cannot make a credible profession of faith in Christ. And yet, we also don’t want to require any more than Jesus does of those who profess faith in him and want to identify with him in baptism. This is merely how we attempt to thread this very delicate needle.
Do you have a child wanting to be baptized?
Do you have a child then, who is professing faith in Christ and expressing a desire to be baptized? First of all, we encourage you to rejoice! This is a good thing. Praise God that their hearts are open to Christ and his good news.
And yet we’d also encourage you to respond to them carefully. Ask them what they believe about God, and about who Jesus is. Ask them what they believe about sin and grace and faith, and whether they believe they could do anything to save themselves from sin and death.
And as you wait for their answers to these questions, don’t feed them too many words. Let them articulate things on their own (even if it means they reveal themselves to be well-intentioned heretics). Also, read the Bible with them. Read through the 10 Commandments and ask them if they’ve kept or broken any of them. Go to John 3 and let them see for themselves the necessity of faith in Jesus for salvation. Encourage them to keep thinking about Jesus and about what makes him so great. And keep the conversation going over days and weeks.
Then, if it starts to become apparent to you that their profession of faith may very well be genuine, come and talk to one of the pastors of our church about some possible next steps with your child. While we aren’t just going to run with them to the nearest body of water to be baptized immediately, we would love to talk with them about Christ and the Gospel to discern whether it might be time to fill up the baptismal one more time on a Sunday in the not-so-distant future. As pastors it is our joy and privilege to help parents navigate this issue.
If you have any questions about these things, feel free to write the pastors at elders@shepherds-church.org. We would love to talk with you further about these things and more.
