Here are a few remaining clarifications and comforts, as well as a call for unity:
- On the Difference Between Adult and Infant Baptism: “Those who embrace faith in Christ as grown… [adults], since they were previous strangers to the covenant, are not to be given the badge of baptism unless they first have faith and repentance, which alone can give access to the society of the covenant. But those infants who derive their origin from Christians, as they have been born directly into the inheritance of the covenant, and are expected by God, are thus to be received into baptism.” (Calvin)
- On the Timing of Regeneration and Assurance of Salvation: “Infants can be born again, although the faith that they exercise cannot be as visible as that of adults. For many Christians, the moment that they were born again is clearly known; but for others, it may not be, especially if they received new life in childhood. We are responsible to know whether we are spiritually alive, not the time and place we were born again.”[1]
- On the Practical Comfort of Infant Baptism to Christian Parents: “For how sweet is it to the godly minds to be assured, not only by word, but by sight, that they obtain so much favor with the Heavenly Father that their offspring are within His care? For here we can see how he takes on toward us the role of the most provident Father, who even after our death maintains his care for us, providing for and looking after our children.” (Calvin)
- On How Infant Baptism Can Be Used by Parents as a Challenge and Encouragement to Children and Teens as They Grow in Faith: Philip Henry, the father of the famous commentator Matthew, said in regard to dealing with his children concerning their spiritual state, that he would lay hold of them by the handle of their infant baptism, “and frequently inculcated that upon them, that they were born in God’s house, and were betimes dedicated and given up to him, and, therefore, were obliged to be his servants. Psalm cxvi. 16. ‘I am thy servant, because the son of thine handmaid.’”[2] His son, Matthew Henry, would later testify, “I cannot but take occasion to express my gratitude to God for my infant baptism; not only as it was an early admission into the visible body of Christ, but as it furnished my pious parents with a good argument (and I trust, through grace a prevailing argument) for an early dedication of my own self to God in my childhood. If God has wrought any good work upon my soul, I desire, with humble thankfulness, to acknowledge the moral influence of my infant baptism upon it.”[3]
- Why Baptism Need Not Be a Serious Point of Division: I don’t believe that a person’s position on the mode of baptism or infant baptism should be a barrier to church membership.[4] Adult church membership should be based solely upon a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and a lifestyle that does not blatantly contradict that profession. In other words, those who’ve made a legitimate profession of faith and desire to unite with the church should be welcomed to join regardless of the form of Christian baptism they’ve received. For example, if I pastored a small seasonal church down by the shore—one of the only churches in that area, and the late R.C Sproul (a Presbyterian) and John Piper (a Baptist) were both regular attenders, I would desire both of them as elders. Although there are denominational distinctives that might prohibit one or the other of them from serving formally in this capacity, there is certainly nothing in the Scripture that warrants this.[5] Wayne Grudem is helpful here: “Consider how much they [evangelical Baptists and paedobaptists] hold in common…Many Baptists do encourage and demonstrate a valued place for their children within their churches, and many paedobaptists do pray for the salvation of their baptized children with the same fervency with which many Baptist parents pray for the salvation of their unbaptized children. Regarding church membership, evangelical paedobaptists do require a believable profession of faith before children can become full members of the church (their term is ‘communicant members’; that is, those who take Communion). They also require a believable profession of faith before any adults are allowed to join the church.”[6]
[1] The Geneva Study Bible, 1664. See the note on “Regeneration: The New Birth” near John 3.
[2] J. B. Williams, The Life of Philip Henry, 85.
[3] Ibid., 129.
[4] I believe little good is accomplished through such a barrier; in fact, much harm can be accomplished in failure to demonstrate the unity of the church by barring from full participation in the church those whom the Lord has in fact brought into that fellowship.
[5] See 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9 for the requirements being a church leader. Nothing is said about one’s view of baptism.
[6] Wayne Gruden, Systematic Theology (IVP and Zondervan, 1994) 982.