As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I walked down the aisle, shook the preacher’s hand, and professed faith in Christ. A few weeks after that scary walk, I had the scarier experience of being baptized one Sunday morning with a bunch of other people. I was officially saved.” - 9 Marks
Fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit and led by Peter, ignited a gospel movement that spread from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world. Acts 2 records the riveting historical account of timid followers of Jesus leaving their hiding places and boldly preaching to crowds gathered from across the Roman Empire.
A natural reading of the text would uncover no references to the later practice of infant baptism. Yet, proponents of infant baptism cling to Acts 2:38–39 as biblical warrant for this tradition.
Nowhere in the New Testament do we find either a command to baptize infants or even an instance of babies being baptized. No verse hints at this practice in the first century church.1 So, Christians who hold to this ritual try to forge a link between Jewish circumcision and Christian baptism. The lone New Testament passage they can find that could possibly be read to make this connection is Colossians 2:11–12.
“Combined with the 26% increase in 2021, Southern Baptists have seen a 46% increase over the past two years emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite those recent jumps, the numbers are still part of a negative trend since the early 2000s.” - Lifeway
“When we question the legitimacy of our baptism experiences, we are essentially wondering whether we have crossed this boundary. Do we belong to the family of God?” - CToday
“Have we abandoned the understanding that the two ordinances that Christ has given His church are regular means of grace for our souls? The Scriptures teach it, the early Particular Baptists believed it, and we can benefit from it.” - London Lyceum
“My daughter calls me from the school and says, ‘Mama, can you bring me some dry clothes? I got baptized today,’” one parent told The Fayetteville Observer. “I said, ‘What?’” - CPost
“With the help of William Buell Sprague’s Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit, I can examine the accounts of 45 baptisms from 1700 to 1840. Hopefully, this will provide useful insights into how children relate to the church and, perhaps more to the point, when they should be put forward for baptism.” - 9 Marks
“The church is a mysterious monolith in the desert of this world. Its crisp edges are unmistakable, distinct, and visible to anyone with eyes to see. Baptism is no small part of that. In fact, as the sign of the new covenant, we could say that baptism makes the church visible. Baptism is the shape of the church.” - 9 Marks
“To baptize infants is to misunderstand more than the sign, but the nature of the new covenant and the people it creates. Circumcision and baptism are both covenant signs, but baptism is the sign of a new and better covenant.” - 9 Marks
Discussion