Very prolific writing that inspires and engages. Just wondering if you are speaking of infant baptism and if you are, what is the significance of it in light of Mark 16:16, which requires the act of believing before the act of baptism but the person being baptized?
Thank you, Ria, for your thoughtful engagement and kind words. You're raising an important and often-discussed question.
Yes, I am speaking of infant baptism, rooted not in isolated texts, but in the broader sweep of covenant theology that runs from Genesis to Revelation. The key is this: baptism is not first and foremost a declaration of our faith, but a sign and seal of God's covenant promise.
Mark 16:16 says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned", emphasizes the necessity of faith for salvation, which no true believer denies. But it does not say that baptism must 'only' follow personal belief in every case. It simply states the order in the case of those who are hearing the gospel and responding to it in adulthood.
The children of believers stand in a different position. They are addressed in Scripture not as outsiders, but as part of the visible church (cf. Acts 2:39; 1 Cor. 7:14). Under both the Old and New Covenants, God includes children in His visible dealings with His people. Circumcision was given to infants as a sign of the same righteousness of faith (Romans 4:11), and baptism now stands in its place as the covenant sign (Colossians 2:11–12). So, we do not baptize infants because they believe, but because God commands us to mark them out as belonging to Him.
Their baptism does not presume regeneration. It does, however, call the child to personally posses the grace signified. It obligates both parents and church to carefully instruct them, pray for them, and call them to faith in the very Christ into whose Name they were baptized. And when, by God's grace, that child comes to saving faith, the sign God gave them is fulfilled in reality.
So Mark 16:16 speaks truth: faith is required for salvation. But baptism, in the case of infants, is not a testimony to their faith, it is God's mark upon them, pointing them forward to the day when, by grace, they may say, “This God is my God forever and ever.”
Very prolific writing that inspires and engages. Just wondering if you are speaking of infant baptism and if you are, what is the significance of it in light of Mark 16:16, which requires the act of believing before the act of baptism but the person being baptized?
Thank you, Ria, for your thoughtful engagement and kind words. You're raising an important and often-discussed question.
Yes, I am speaking of infant baptism, rooted not in isolated texts, but in the broader sweep of covenant theology that runs from Genesis to Revelation. The key is this: baptism is not first and foremost a declaration of our faith, but a sign and seal of God's covenant promise.
Mark 16:16 says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned", emphasizes the necessity of faith for salvation, which no true believer denies. But it does not say that baptism must 'only' follow personal belief in every case. It simply states the order in the case of those who are hearing the gospel and responding to it in adulthood.
The children of believers stand in a different position. They are addressed in Scripture not as outsiders, but as part of the visible church (cf. Acts 2:39; 1 Cor. 7:14). Under both the Old and New Covenants, God includes children in His visible dealings with His people. Circumcision was given to infants as a sign of the same righteousness of faith (Romans 4:11), and baptism now stands in its place as the covenant sign (Colossians 2:11–12). So, we do not baptize infants because they believe, but because God commands us to mark them out as belonging to Him.
Their baptism does not presume regeneration. It does, however, call the child to personally posses the grace signified. It obligates both parents and church to carefully instruct them, pray for them, and call them to faith in the very Christ into whose Name they were baptized. And when, by God's grace, that child comes to saving faith, the sign God gave them is fulfilled in reality.
So Mark 16:16 speaks truth: faith is required for salvation. But baptism, in the case of infants, is not a testimony to their faith, it is God's mark upon them, pointing them forward to the day when, by grace, they may say, “This God is my God forever and ever.”