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Sunday, 21 November 2010 08:20

November 21, 2010

“BAPTISM”

Acts 2:38,39

by Pastor Ole Lillestolen

Sin has serious consequences. This morning I’m going to respond to a “tough question” about the issue of the baptism of infants, specifically: “Are unbaptized infants saved?” But, and the reason I am responding to this question on a Sunday Morning is that the issue we are dealing with is actually sin, and not baptism. Baptism is not a problem here, it is part of the solution. I don’t think we can understand baptism until we understand about sin; that the wages of sin is death, and not that the wages of ‘unbaptism’ is death!

I also need to say that I do not know with certainty the answer to this question. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t respond to what I hear God saying about it.

To begin with, though, let’s deal with the question of why there even is a question here. Is baptism part of becoming a Christian and if so, even for an infant? To answer this we need to first understand more about what it means to be lost in sin and in need of salvation and I see two possible ways we can think of what it means to be lost. We might understand that because of Adam and Eve’s sin we are all condemned because we are a part of their human race. And, on the other hand, we might understand that we become condemned when we eventually follow in their footsteps and commit sins, and so earn our own condemnation. One obvious possibility in this second view is that infants are not lost until they start to sin.

One verse which might steer us to this second understanding is Romans 3:23 which says that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But this verse does not address the issue of being condemned for our sins. It merely talks about the fact that we fall short of what God created us to be because of sin. On the other hand Romans 5:18 tells us that, “through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men.” This seems to point to the idea that we are lost because we are descendants of Adam and Eve. Is that what the Apostle Paul is saying?

Supporting this understanding is the fact that the psalmist says that those who are wicked, who will end up in a lost eternity in hell, “are estranged (or out of fellowship with God) from the womb” (Psalm 58:3). Ephesians 2:3 adds to this picture of our being born lost and condemned by telling us that we are, “by nature children of wrath,” who are by nature (v. 5), “dead in our transgressions.”

Let’s wrap this little survey up by looking briefly at John 3:18. Jesus has just promised that however we become lost and condemned in our sins, God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross so that “Whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.” But verse 18 says that while, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

The shift of Greek verb tenses in John 3:18 highlight the fact that if we believe in Jesus, we “are not now being” judged or condemned, but that if we refuse to believe we have “already been” condemned in the past. In other words, the passage appears to say that God doesn’t wait to see if we will believe to see if He will condemn us. It appears to tell us that we are condemned until we accept Jesus Christ as our savior.

If we are understanding this right it looks like new born infants need salvation just as much as adults! Remember what we said in the beginning. Sin has consequences and God has told us in Exodus 20:5 that He is “a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.” I don’t know all that this means, but it makes me think that when someone rebels against God, his children end up suffering as a result! Sin always has consequences!

I haven’t found any passages of Scripture which tell me that this analysis is wrong. I don’t find any Scripture which tells me that “All are condemned except infants who have not had the opportunity to sin yet.” So, I have to go on the assumption that infants need salvation just as much as adults. The question is, what does this mean for me? What do I do with what I hear God say?

This brings us first to how baptism figures into our situation? We who are Lutherans believe that baptism is part of our faith response to God and that as such it has significance to our salvation. Other doctrinal traditions think of baptism as more of a testimony of faith which does not have significance to salvation itself. These are, as far as I can see, the two possibilities. Baptism is either part of what it means to become saved or it is not.

I’m not going to run through all of the Scripture passages which teach on the nature of baptism, but we are told in 1 Peter that baptism somehow saves, not by being a physical act of washing, but by being what we might think of as a physical part of a prayer of accepting Jesus as our savior. 1 Peter 3:21 says: “Corresponding to that (the way Noah was saved from the flood by building and entering the ark), baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Each passage which teaches regarding the nature and purpose of baptism indicates that something actually takes place when we baptize. As Lutherans, then, we call baptism a ‘means of grace’ because it is presented as a means by which we accept God’s grace.

We do not consider baptism to be any kind of meritorious accomplishment on our part by which we earn salvation. It is like cashing a check at a bank. If we showed up at a bank and said, “So and so wants to give me $1000 from his account” the teller would ask us for proof, like a check! Checks don’t earn anything. They are a simply a means of giving and accepting, and we think of baptism in this same way; as a means for God to give and for us to accept God’s grace.

Now we come to our text. On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus died and then rose again, crowds of devout Jews had come to Jerusalem from every nation to observe the Jewish feast of Pentecost. They were surprised to discover that something incredible had happened during the Passover when Jesus Christ had been hung on a cross and was killed, and then had risen again from the dead. Now they were hearing His disciples preaching to them in their own languages; people standing side by side hearing an apostle each in their own language without the benefit of translators and earphones! When they heard the gospel message they believed and they asked the disciples, “What should we do?”

Peter told them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.” Notice that there is a difference between believing, which they already did all of a sudden, and taking the action to actually become a member of Christ’s kingdom and family. In the asking this question they were already turning from their faulty contemporary Judaistic faith to follow Jesus, so Peter told them that as they proceeded with their turning to Christ, as they were “repenting”, the next step was to become baptized in Christ’s name to actually accept the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Notice, however, that Peter adds this statement that, “this promise is for you and your children.”

This was a very important addition for this audience because Jews were family people. In America we tend to be ‘every man for himself’, especially in terms of the way we think of salvation. But, Jews were family people, and fathers were responsible for the relationship of their whole family with God.

First of all, when God told Abraham to circumcise himself and his family he warned Abraham that those who did not circumcise their infant boys placed them in jeopardy because, God said in Genesis 17:14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” Fathers brought their infants into the Jewish covenant relationship with God through the Jewish ritual of circumcision.

Notice that when the Philippian jailor asked the Apostle Paul what he had to do to be saved, Paul told him in Acts 16:31: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household." We read that he jailor and his whole household were baptized into Christ that very night.

But, notice also that Peter’s statement to the Pentecost crowd is a promise! He said, “This promise is for you and for your children!” This is not a command! That doesn’t mean that this isn’t what we need to do any more than we need to cash a check to get money from someone else’s account. But, to think just of this as a requirement for salvation is to miss the point. Peter gave this as a promise to people who wanted their children saved as much as they themselves wanted to be saved! I didn’t baptize my boys because I had to. I baptized them because I could! I claimed this promise for my children.

But for our question, does this mean that if a child is not baptized he is not saved? Listen carefully to what I say. It could mean that. There is a passage in 1 Corinthians seven which makes me think that it does generally mean this for children in non-Christian homes, but I cannot say that it does mean this. In fact, I hope that it does not mean this.

I confidently understand that God does not expect the impossible. Just as in the case of the thief who was crucified next to Jesus, who was promised Paradise even though he could not have a baptismal service, I am confident that infants in Christian homes who die before they have had opportunity to be baptized will not suffer as a result.

Otherwise, God is going to do what He plans to do! But, while I may hope that God does not require baptism in a legal way, the way that He required circumcision in the Old Testament, I have to live as though He will. What that means is that I have to look at unbaptized children as children who need parents who believe in Christ because sin has consequences, not only for the parents but also for their children. I can’t do anything about what God is going to do, but I can do something about whether or not those parents know God and what He has promised! The innocent child of an unsaved neighbor is another reason I need to reach that neighbor for Christ! If the sin of our world teaches us anything it is that the innocents of this world often do suffer for the sins of others, let us do everything we can to rescue those innocents!