Why Did You Baptize Your Children?: The Bible Tells Me So

Recently, we had the joy of bringing our four young children to be baptized in our church. And I have had people ask a variety of questions about why we did that. The answer is because we want to follow what God teaches us in the Bible. With Luther, we can say, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.”  So here is a very short overview of a few of the biblical truths that were influential to me regarding the baptism of my kids. If you'd like to talk more about it, I would be excited to do that!

In the New Testament, Paul’s letter to the Colossian church assumes that children in the church have already been baptized. 
In Colossians 2:12, we see that the recipients of the letter had been “buried… in baptism.” And in the next chapter, we see that children are included as part of Paul’s intended audience (3:20). The logic is clear:

Premise 1: Paul understood that the recipients of his letter had already been baptized.
Premise 2: Paul included children as recipients of his letter.
Conclusion: Paul understood that the children in that church had been baptized.

Paul was not afraid to confront inappropriate practices, so if baptizing the church’s children was not correct, he almost certainly would have addressed it. So we can be confident that in the New Testament church, it was normal for children of believers to be baptized.

Throughout biblical history, children of believers have been given the sign of the covenant, and the New Testament carries that pattern forward.
Children of believers are different from children of non-believers. 1 Corinthians 7:14, says that the children of at least one believing parent are not unclean, but are set apart as holy. This does not mean that they are saved, but that they are members of God’s covenant community—the visible church.

Starting with Abraham, covenant children were to be given the covenant sign: circumcision (Gen 17:10-11). This was not a national sign (there was no nation of Israel yet), but a family sign for Abraham and his children. The New Testament teaches that the covenant sign of circumcision has been replaced with baptism which is called “the circumcision of Christ”:

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (Col 2:11-12). 

Therefore, we should also obey God by applying the covenant sign—baptism—to those He has set apart as holy.

Faith is essential, but God has made it clear that He does not require that covenant children have faith before receiving the covenant sign.
In the Old Testament, circumcision was a sign of faith. Those born into God’s people were circumcised before being given faith and those who came into the covenant community from the outside needed to be circumcised after believing in the Lord. Abraham was circumcised after believing and his children were circumcised before believing, and circumcision remained a sign of faith for both groups.

The purpose [of Abraham being circumcised after believing God] was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised (Rom 4:11-12).

The Bible clearly shows that God designed his covenant signs to be connected with faith, but not always preceded by faith. Children of believers are called to walk in the “footsteps of faith” after receiving the covenant sign.

When we, as believers, baptize our children, we are exercising faith as children of Abraham because we believe God’s promise to be our God and the God of our children after us. We are called to trust Him for our children's salvation just like Abraham: the man of faith (Gal 3:9).

There is much more in Scripture that we can't explore here. Peter echoes Genesis 17 in calling new believers and their children to baptism in Acts 2. There are numerous household baptisms in the New Testament that deserve exploration. The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) was baptized in a place and manner that was not a public profession of faith. Moses was nearly killed by God for neglecting to give the covenant sign to his kids (Ex 4). John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit before being born (Luke 1:15) and leapt for joy in Christ in the womb (Luke 1:41) showing that there is much we don’t know about when or how God works in those He calls holy. All of the people of Israel (including children and babies) were baptized in the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:1-5). Peter's connects of baptism to God's pledge and to Noah's family (1 Pet 3). And so much more.

I understand that there are many theological differences present in this discussion. And it is good news that this is not a primary, salvation-level issue. Paul said that God sent him to preach rather than to baptize (1 Cor 1:17). And my goal here is not to argue, but to share some of our journey. These are some of the things that stood out to me in the Scriptures. Believers can’t really disagree about things like the Trinity, the authority and inspiration of the Bible, and the resurrection of Christ. Those are central things. However, Christians can disagree on baptism and still work together very closely. And I pray that everyone who reads this will do so with charity and with the desire to follow wherever God leads in his Book.

So to sum up: why did we bring our children to be baptized? Because in the Bible, we see that God has made a covenant with our family and has called us to mark our kids with his covenant sign. What He offers, we do not want to try to withhold. What He commands, we want to do. In other words, we joyfully brought our kids to be baptized because “the Bible tells me so.”