Baptism Saves!

 

I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t trying to be provocative with this post.  Of course, that may unfortunately be my M.O.  A few Sundays back, I had the awesome opportunity to baptize my firstborn son, Josiah Jackson Wood.  Before baptizing him, I took a moment to talk a bit about baptism and what I believe the Scriptures teach about the sacrament.  Often, you will hear Christians say, “Baptism doesn’t save anybody–no, only Jesus saves.”  While I would certainly agree that Jesus saves, we have to be careful saying that baptism doesn’t.  Why?  Because the Apostle Peter says that baptism saves.  Click below to hear my comments from before J.J.’s baptism.  I’d love to have some interaction in the comment section below, so that we can have a better grasp on this difficult teaching from God’s Word.

[audio http://www.jasondwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130728-Josiah-Baptism.mp3 ]

In

5 responses

  1. Hey Jason,

    Good thoughts. Glad to see you writing more.

    I found it interesting that you say that anyone baptized at any age subjects themselves to judgment. I suppose I’d have to agree, though that would make me less likely to baptize my own infant son or daughter and place them, unwittingly, under that kind of judgment.

    1. Hey Mike! Thanks for the post, my man. Let me ask you: how did you see that this post was live? I put it up yesterday without sending any social media updates to see if my recent connection as a blogger for faithvillage.com gave me any traffic. But I digress…

      Keep in mind that I don’t know your view on paedobaptism. Regardless, I think your (well-chosen) adverb, “unwittingly,” really is the key word in your response. When we baptize our children (as when we baptize older professing believers), we are certainly “unwitting.” That is, we do not know all the facts. As a result, there is always some possibility that we are baptizing people who will not respond to their baptism with perseverance in faith and repentance (and thus, will prove to be apostate). But should our unwittingness make us hesitant to baptize any member of the covenant community, whether child or adult?

      I would argue no. Because our hope is neither in our personal knowledge of this person’s election, nor in the validity of that person’s faith/profession. Our hope is in the God who sustains. Thus, when we baptize, the focus is less on the person being baptized and more on the God who baptizes. As the waters of baptism are poured over the covenant child, the promises of God are spoken over them–promises to which they must respond continually with faith and repentance, not least at the communion table. As an aside, that is one distinction that I see between communion and baptism. Communion is our response to the grace shown in baptism. Baptism is passive on our part (clearly, I stand in opposition to the “baptism as profession” beliefs of my Zwinglian brothers and sisters here).

      As a result of God’s promises declared in baptism, a minister should remind the person baptized, their parents (if applicable), and the whole congregation of the promises of God, depicted in baptism. What you didn’t get to hear on that recording was the vows that Megan and I were asked–vows that reflect these promises. I’ve pasted them below:

      Obligation of the parents

      1. Jason and Megan, do you acknowledge Josiah’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit? Do you?

      2. Jason and Megan, do you claim God’s covenant promises and benefits for Josiah and by faith do you look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your child as you do your own? Do you?

      3. Jason and Megan, do you now unreservedly dedicate Josiah to God, and do you promise by relying on God’s power and grace through the Holy Spirit to live an exemplary life before him? Do you?

      4. Jason and Megan, do you commit yourself to pray with and for Josiah, to teach him the Scriptures and the great articles of our faith in Christ Jesus? Do you?

      5. Jason and Megan, do you promise to use every means provided by God, including faithful participation in the life of the Church, to bring Josiah up in the loving discipline of the Lord? Do you?

      Obligation of the congregation

      1. Faith Presbyterian, do you, the members of this congregation, acting for yourselves and in behalf of the whole Body of Christ, assume responsibility with these parents for the spiritual nurture of Josiah? Do you?

      2. Faith Presbyterian, do you commit yourselves to set a godly example before Josiah, to provide as far as you are able, all that is necessary to the end that he may one day confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Do you?

      As you can see, baptism is a time for declaring the promises of God and through faith hoping for the perseverance of the baptized. As a parent, it calls me to daily prayer for my son and it presses upon me an urgency to raise him to never know a day when he did not believe the Gospel and pursue the beauty of Jesus.

      So, all that said, yes, we are unwitting. But in our unwittingness, we trust the work of the Spirit to apply the promises signed and sealed in baptism to our children. And we pursue the realization of those promises through the Spirit working in our lives as parents and representatives/shepherds from God in our child’s life.

      Feel free to reply if this was confusing or too rambling. I recently got back from a 3 mile run and am chugging coffee.

      1. I found the post because jasondwood.com is in my RSS feed. Yes, I still use an RSS feed. I like seeing what you have to say because (1) I like and respect you, personally, and (2) whatever you say, you’re usually saying it well.

        I’m the furthest thing from a paedobaptist. The one and only time I visited Keller’s (whom I admire greatly) church, they were baptizing a host of babies and I was reminded, “THAT’S why I’m not a Presbyterian.” (Well, that and the whole Reformed theology thing.) That’s just to say, we’re already on opposite sides of the line, so there will be no polemics for me, just mutual understanding.

        I used “unwittingly” in reference, primarily, to the child. While none of us, at any age, know the fullness of what we’re doing when we commit to the Lord and declare our allegiance through baptism. That lack of understanding and will is exponential for the infant.

        I agree fully that our reliance for any one person’s salvation is in Christ and Christ alone. While I trust anyone’s profession of faith and her rationale for entering baptism at face value, I have no idea, ultimately, their status before God. (Although, I will say as an aside that I believe that Paul held out evidence of the fruit and gifts of the Spirit as the primary marker for a person’s inclusion in the covenant of Christ, just as circumcision, food laws, and temple worship had been under the Law.)

        That said, much of what you describe regarding your baptismal liturgy is identical to what our fellowship does in dedicating infants. We call on the promises of the Father and commission the parents and congregation to act as the Body of Christ for this newborn.

        Going back to the original question, among many reasons for a believer’s baptism, in my opinion, is precisely the level of understanding that any baptism candidate might carry. Whether that one is a child (our congregation is scheduled to celebrate the baptisms of five-year-old twins in a few weeks) or an adult, there is a significant value FOR the candidate in having experienced some personal knowledge of Christ and responding to that experience with a profession of faith in baptism. That believer will now have seared on his memory (1) the experienced interaction with the Lord and (2) his own acted response. For the individual believer, that process has exceptional value.

        Regardless, I refuse to fight anyone over paedobaptism, event if I’m equally adamant about refusing to practice it.

        1. Sure, I’m not a fighter on this issue either. So let me try to clarify your comment:

          Are you basically arguing that believer’s baptism is preferable, because of the value in the believer’s memory of it? [Not trying to oversimplify, just trying to boil it down.]

          1. It’s AN argument for believer’s baptism, but not the only one.

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