A Bombshell!⤒🔗

“Dad, Mom, please sit down. I have to tell you something. I’ve decided that I want to get baptized again.”

Now there was a time when such an announcement was unheard of in our homes, or, at least, very rare. Not any longer. As members of Reformed homes more and more come into contact with those who belong to various Anabaptist homes or have joined an adult-only Baptist church, it happens more often.

Reasons←⤒🔗

And why is that? Sometimes it begins with a person being dissatisfied with the Reformed church of which he or she is a member. Perhaps they are not happy with the liturgy and would like to sing different songs, hear more practical sermons, experience a less formal worship setting. Or it may have something to do with boyfriends and girlfriends who come from churches with such a background and who want them to switch and join them. It may even have something to do with other issues or with not really feeling at home any longer in the church in which one was raised.

Rationale←⤒🔗

In any case, whatever the reason may be, they are now of the conviction that God calls on them to be baptized again. More often than not they will say to their parents and others, “But the Bible teaches that we have to make a choice for God and that after we make that choice we need to be baptized. Does Christ not say in Mark 16:16, ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved’? Does this not prove that believing comes first and that baptism comes right after it? So really the fact that I was baptized as a baby does not count. Then I could not believe and did not believe and should not have been baptized at all. All you should have done for me is to have had me dedicated and then waited to see what would happen with me. Once I was old enough and really believed, then you should have told me to get baptized.”

Reaction←⤒🔗

Now to be told this as a parent of Reformed persuasion is quite something. No doubt the first reaction is one of shock. Thereafter follows deep disappointment. And then there is often anger and frustration.

Of course I realize that not all who consider themselves Reformed react in this way. Some of them, who have what are called “evangelical sympathies,” would take it all much more in stride. Nevertheless, even among them there will often be this real sense of hurt. After all, if together as husband and wife you have decided to raise your children in a certain way, a way that you deemed to be biblical and best, it is hard to be told by one of your own children, either directly or indirectly, that you have missed the boat and gotten it all wrong.

But there is more. For after the announcement often comes the invitation. The son or daughter wants their parents to be present at their re-baptism and so invite them to come to the ceremony and witness it.

What to do? Some parents go, often with pain in their soul. Others just cannot bring themselves to attend, knowing full well that in so doing they run the risk of estrangement. And besides, there are often more children in the family, and they are watching, watching to see what mom and dad will do.

In short, then, there is often a lot of hurt here. Hurt on the part of the parents. Hurt on the part of the son or daughter who has decided to take this step. As well as hurt on the part of siblings, grandparents, other family members, and friends. There is no easy way to handle any of this. It takes a lot of prayer and wisdom from above.

And, I might add, it takes a lot of charity too. Hurt parents can so easily lash out and say and do things that they will later regret. After all, a son or daughter who decides to go this route is still a son or daughter. In addition, it is unwise to burn all the bridges when you never know what time, prayer, love, and the Lord will do in the future. Affected parents need to proceed carefully.

At the same time fellow church members need to do the same. Do not be too quick to express your opinion to such parents. Do not rush to judgment. Especially, if you have never had to deal with this sort of a situation, be careful and try to walk a few miles in the shoes of the afflicted.

Reflection←⤒🔗

Still, whenever something like this happens there needs to be more than reaction, there also needs to be reflection. In particular, there needs to be reflection on the nature of the sacrament of holy baptism.

Why do we have our children baptized? Is this a mere matter of tradition? Is this due to some sort of community consensus? Is this a way of dispensing early and special grace?

To all of these reasons, and more, we would say “No! We baptize our children because this is God’s command, because this is the historic, covenantal, redeeming way of God with his people.”

And in saying this we have strong biblical support. For look at what the Bible teaches. It teaches that ever since the beginning of time God has been busy calling to Himself a people, one people, one church. Later on the Apostle Paul speaks about this in Ephesians 4:4-6 and stresses that there is “one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God is one; his work is one; his people are one.

So how does this one God approach his one people? Does He come to Abraham, the father of all believers, and say, “You belong to me, but your children will have to wait. They need to make a choice for me first before I will accept them and embrace them”? No, instead the sovereign God comes to Abram and says, “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7). Thereafter God adds, “You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised...” (Genesis 17:11, 12).

Rejoinder←⤒🔗

So what does this tell us? It tells us first that God is the God of the covenant, that He enters into a living, binding, everlasting relationship with his people. Second, it tells us that God is sovereign. We people do not initiate this relationship. No, it comes from God. It comes from God to us. Third, we are told here as well that this relationship of covenant is marked with a sign: circumcision in the Old Testament and baptism in the New Testament (see: Colossians 2:11, 12). Finally, we are told that this sign is to be given to believers and their seed (Acts 2:39). It is not just a case that only the confessing adults belong. No, all believers and their offspring belong to Him as well.

God claims them all. He claims the adults and He claims their children. And, lest we forget, He also claims their children who die in infancy, as well as those who are mentally handicapped, demented, or comatose. His sovereign claim is on them all.

How well the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism understood this too and declared “infants, as well as adults, belong to God’s covenant and congregation” (LD 27, Q/A 74). The Belgic Confession says much the same thing when it declares, “Indeed, Christ shed His blood to wash the children of believers just as much as He shed it for adults.”

You see in the Old Testament the children of believers were claimed by God and belonged to God. He even calls the little children of the Israelites “my children” (Ezekiel 16:21). They all have status and standing with Him.

But do they still have it, or have they lost it? When we come to the New Testament are the children of believers suddenly set aside and given a different set of rules to believe and live by? Does God take a step back there and say that from now on we have to claim Him first or that his hands are tied until such a time as we claim Him?

And this is important. For according to the opinion of those who are of baptistic conviction, the sacrament of baptism is in the first place about us, about our faith or about our profession of faith. Wrong! The sacrament is first about God, about his rights, his prerogatives, and his promises. In this sacrament God is coming to us and placing his stamp of ownership on us.

Yes, and it is this fact too that gives such surety and stability to our hearts and lives. Thankfully the Christian faith is not in the first place about our choices, our feelings, our experiences, or our desires. All of these actions and reactions of ours have their ups and downs. How fragile and vulnerable we are. How pathetic a foundation we make. On the other hand, how great and firm a foundation He makes. What a marvelous certainty and faithfulness there is in God’s covenant promises.

Resolve←⤒🔗

Surely the realization of all this should also fill us with the resolve, not to repeat or re-do our baptism, but to work more with it and to remind our children to work more with theirs as well. For contrary to what others may say, the truly biblical and Reformed position is that God’s children need to work with their baptism every day. It is not a ticket to glory. It is not a passport to heaven. It is not a gate to easy believism. It is a call to faith, to hope, to love, and to a new obedience (see the Form for the Baptism of Infants).

Let me conclude with some more words from the Belgic Confession, “We believe, therefore, that anyone who aspires to eternal life ought to be baptized only once. Baptism should never be repeated, for we cannot be born twice. Moreover, baptism benefits us not only when the water is on us and when we receive it, but throughout our whole life” (Art 33).

Take your baptism to heart; take its promises and embrace them; take its demands and strive to meet them with God’s help. Do not doubt it or reject it. Live it!