Baptism is the rite of Christian initiation. It is a public witness, giving testimony to the commitment of one’s life in faith to Jesus Christ as Lord. In the history of Christianity, baptism has been the act that noted the identity of a believing Christian with the community of believers. Early Christian converts were noted as being baptized by immersion and in baptism expressing their intention to renounce sin and turn to Christ. In other words, baptism was a public affirmation of personal repentance and faith. Later, some Christian bodies implemented a pattern of baptizing infants. This was encouraged under the pretext that baptism was necessary for salvation, and thus important to have carried out in the event of an early death. Thus, infants were frequently baptized, long before the capacity for their own understanding of personal commitment to Christ. Later “confirmations” or “adult confession” was added to the earlier event as a connection to clearly identify Christian discipleship. With infant baptism came the adoption of baptismal practice with less water. While the Greek Orthodox community retained immersion, even of infants, the Roman Catholic Church adopted only a marking of the infant with water sprinkled and did the same for adult converts. Other communities of Christians have adopted variations of sprinkling, pouring, or “christening,” and some offer immersion as an “optional form.”
Baptists have largely held to a practice of “believer’s baptism” on the basis of practice as noted in the New Testament. Baptism is carried out in conjunction with or following one’s coming to faith. That expression of baptism then is believer’s baptism by immersion. The New Testament Greek word for baptism means “to immerse” as was clearly the practice of early believers.
Baptists do not believe that baptism is a necessity for salvation. We believe that while baptism is a witness of Christian faith and a testimony to one’s new life in Christ, its importance lies in the clear sense of new beginnings that come with one’s decision to follow Jesus, who himself was baptized and said it is “proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” (See Matthew 3:13-17)
Baptism allows us to give public witness to our faith. It allows us to identify with Jesus in both his baptism and his resurrection. It is an act of obedience. Today, there are some Baptist churches that welcome professing Christians who have not been immersed, but which have given testimony to their prior baptism and public commitment to faith in Jesus Christ. Other Baptist church’s request individuals requesting membership be “rebaptized” if they were not believers when they were first baptized or if they were not baptized by immersion.
As I said before, Baptists do not go so far as to suggest that baptism is necessary for salvation; we can turn to the circumstances of the thief on the cross (See Luke 23:39-43) and recognize that the promise of being with Jesus in Paradise was certainly the clear promise for his future, though no opportunity of baptism before death was possible.
In similar fashion, Baptists likewise hold to the assurance of God’s grace for those who are not yet able in maturity or mental capacity to acknowledge Christ in faith. Infants and children are blessed by Christ and loved by him and welcomed by him. When one reaches an age of understanding and is aware of the Holy Spirit’s leading in regard to repentance and faith, then it is the appropriate time to publicly declare one’s faith and commitment to Christ, and in turn to be baptized and to share evidence of that testimony of faith in the daily actions and responses of following Jesus.
