Why Reformed churches baptize infants (and what that means for you)

If you come from a Baptist, Pentecostal or non-denominational church, infant baptism may be the first thing about a Reformed church that puzzles you. Nothing about it is meant to be a barrier. This article explains why Reformed churches baptize the children of believers, describes the Baptist view fairly, and then says what all of this means in practice for someone considering a visit.

What Baptists believe, and why

Baptists hold that baptism is for people who have personally repented and believed in Jesus Christ. The New Testament pattern, as they read it, is to believe and then be baptized (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36–38). Baptism is a public testimony to a faith the person already has, and it pictures union with Christ in his death and resurrection, which is why Baptists baptize by immersion (Romans 6:3–4).

On this view, an infant cannot believe and so cannot be baptized. The church is understood as a gathered body of professing believers, and baptism is the door into it. Many Baptist churches instead hold a service of dedication, in which parents give thanks for a child and promise to raise them in the faith, following the example of Hannah with Samuel (1 Samuel 1:27–28) and of Jesus blessing the children (Mark 10:13–16).

This position is held with real seriousness. It grows out of a desire that the church be made up of people who actually know the Lord, and that baptism not become an empty ritual. Reformed Christians share both concerns.

What Reformed churches believe

Reformed churches baptize the infants of believers because of the way they understand God’s covenant. When God called Abraham, he made a promise that included Abraham’s children, and he gave a sign of that promise, circumcision, to infants (Genesis 17:7–12). Children were inside God’s people from the start, not because of anything they had done, but because of God’s promise.

Reformed Christians believe that promise did not shrink when Jesus came. Peter, preaching at Pentecost, said the promise was for his hearers and for their children (Acts 2:39). Jesus welcomed little children and said the kingdom belonged to such as these (Mark 10:14). Paul connected baptism with circumcision (Colossians 2:11–12), and the book of Acts records whole households being baptized (Acts 16:15, 33). The Heidelberg Catechism draws the conclusion: infants, as well as adults, belong to God’s covenant and church, and so they should be baptized as a sign of it (Q&A 74).

Two things follow. First, Reformed churches do not teach that the water saves the child or that a baptized child is automatically a believer. Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s promise; the child is called to grow up trusting that promise, and will one day be asked to profess faith publicly for themselves. Second, baptism is never a private family matter. Parents make promises before the congregation to teach the child, and the congregation takes on a share of the responsibility.

Reformed churches baptize by sprinkling or pouring, because they do not find the amount of water to be the point. They accept baptism by immersion as fully valid.

Where the two views meet

It is easy to overstate the distance. Both Baptists and Reformed Christians believe that Christ commanded baptism (Matthew 28:19), that it is done once, with water, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both believe that children need to be taught the faith and to come to a personal trust in Christ. Both reject the idea that anyone is saved by a ceremony. Reformed Baptists and Reformed churches even share most of their theology: the Baptist confession of 1689 follows the older Reformed confessions closely on nearly everything except baptism and church membership.

The disagreement is about who the sign is for, and it is an honest one. Careful Christians on both sides have read the same passages for four hundred years and reached different conclusions. A Reformed church will not treat a Baptist as less of a Christian for that, and it expects the same in return.

Adults who come to faith

Reformed churches baptize adults, too, and it happens more often than outsiders assume. Someone who comes to faith as an adult and has never been baptized receives instruction in the faith, professes it publicly before the congregation and is baptized in the same service. Whenever baptism is received, it is received once; the Belgic Confession insists on this (Article 34).

If you were baptized as a believer in a Baptist or non-denominational church, that baptism is honoured. A Reformed church accepts any baptism done with water in the name of the Trinity by a Christian church, whatever the person’s age at the time. You would never be asked to be baptized again.

What this means for you

If you visit a Reformed church, nothing about baptism will be asked of you. If you eventually join, the church would want to talk with you about baptizing any children you have who are not yet baptized, since it believes God’s promise is for them. That conversation happens with the minister and elders, at your pace, and it is a conversation, not a condition of being welcomed.

You may come away persuaded, or you may not. Either way, you will have heard the reasoning first-hand rather than second-hand. The local Reformed church listed on this site would be glad to explain it further.