The Evangelical Covenant Church has a fairly unique practice when it comes to baptism. Covenant Churches practice both believer and infant baptism. (The Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals also has the practice, but they are quite small.) Local churches may prefer to operate in one mode or the other but Covenant pastors are required to baptize an infant if requested to do so by parent(s). Thus, the burden for unity in the church falls to the pastor. They may have a personal preference in belief for believer baptism over infant baptism, but if requested are required to baptize the infant.
This webpage has a well developed explanation of infant baptism. The author was a former believer in adult baptism so his arguments are towards those who hold to adult baptism only. It’s worth a read even if you hold to adult baptism since these are some of the best arguments out there. At least you will understand why infant baptism is so widely held.
The author of the page prefers to use the terms paedobaptism and credobaptism to describe the terms infant and believer baptism. These terms are helpful in the dialog since “infant” and “believer” tend to obscure the issues.
As the author of the paper correctly points out, it is a mistake to think that in churches where paedobaptism is practiced that adults are not also baptized. If there is a conversion, adults are baptized. Thus, the question is not believer baptism, since both sides hold to believer baptism.
There are two real issues at play here. The first issue is whether or not we should re-baptize someone as an adult believer who had been baptized as an infant and later came to faith. The second issue is if we withhold baptism of young children until they reach some particular age.
Ultimately, there is no way to be neutral in the question, but the Covenant Church has a workable way of handling the question of re-baptism. The Covenant Book of Worship (2003 edition) describes a service called the “Affirmation of the Baptismal Covenant” (pages 150-155). This service is recommended for those who come to faith as adults. They may want to be baptized and have been told that their infant baptism was meaningless since they didn’t consent. Per the Book of Worship, they are not to be re-baptized but to be given the opportunity to reaffirm their earlier baptism. Water may be used in this service at a point in the service. This service acknowledges the previous baptism as a part of the service and calls the person to remember their baptism.
Why does the Covenant Church do it this way? This, in effect, says that infant baptism is a legitimate baptism. To do otherwise would be to say that the first baptism was not legitimate. The Scripture that is being preserved is:
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,…
Preserving this “one baptism” is the goal of this service. This is sure to be a controversial point, but in the end, the Covenant Church is an paedobaptist church.
The difference is that while the Covenant is a paedobaptist church there is to be no force or compulsion with parents who want dedication rather than baptism for their children. It may be that after instruction, the parent chooses to not have one and switches to the other. This should not be a smorgasboard choice, but a reasoned choice based on reflection on the Scriptures.
The second issue relates to several other issues such as the idea of an age of accountability. Some people find an argument for an age of accountability in Scripture and argue that children should not be baptized until they reach the age where they can make a decision for themselves. The idea here is that the sequence of events matters. Believe then be baptized. The complication is for young children who have come to believe. In some cases, they might even ask to be baptized. For adults to say that they can’t be baptized until they reach a certain age does a disservice to their child-like faith. Even as adults, we never will understand the full scope of what our baptism means. Even young children can be instructed in baptism. They can be questioned about their faith and even testify as to who Jesus is to them.
The Book of Worship also has the service of dedication of children (pages 145-149). Many pastors simply steer the person wanting baptism for their child towards dedication instead. This usually happens when the normal practice of that local church is adult baptism. This is a workable solution in many places and contexts. In Latin America, evangelical means the same thing as adult baptizing. The identification of paedobaptism with the Catholic Church is the reason for the contrast. They don’t baptize infants because that’s what the Catholics do.
In any event, baptism is best done after some teaching. If a young child is being baptized the parents should be instructed as well. They need to understand their responsibilities in raising their children in the faith. Both the Service of Dedication and the Service of Infant Baptism have the same charge to sponsors and the congregations to instruct the child in the faith as the child grows up.
Leave a Reply