A Testimony from a former Lutheran
Infant Baptismal Regeneration
The Lutheranism I knew as a child seemed to know nothing about the need of being born again, or being born of God—as Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-7). This talk of being “born again” was for others, but not for the more “refined” Lutherans I knew. While it was true that Luther spoke of regeneration (being born again), the average Lutheran would never speak of being “born again” or born of God. We thought that this was something that only Fundamentalists could speak about. Lutherans believe in what is called “baptismal regeneration” which means that regeneration is effected by means of this water ritual. The baby is thought to be regenerated separate and apart from inner faith, repentance, or commitment of life—although as we earlier noticed, Luther ironically did teach that God mysteriously and miraculously gave the “gift of faith” even to the unconscious infant!
As a Lutheran, I had no conception of making a conscious, decisive choice to follow Jesus Christ. We simply assumed that a child was born into a Lutheran family, would be the partaker of a water ritual called “baptism,” and about age twelve or thirteen, the boy or girl would be confirmed to become a full member of the Lutheran denomination. One simply “grew up” as a Lutheran, lived as a Lutheran, and died as a Lutheran. There was no conscious point of time when one was “rescued from the domain of darkness, and transferred . . . to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).
As you can see, this doctrine of infant baptismal regeneration has an enormous implication for one’s spiritual life. Consider this: If one wronglyassumes that he has been regenerated and saved when a pastor sprinkled a few drops of water on his head as a baby, what is the result?
The result: Almost all of these “baptized” Lutherans will never—in all of their life—seek to come to Christ for salvation, of their own volition, by their own decision! They will depend on a religious “baptism” ceremony done to them by someone else when they were totally unaware of the meaning! Nearly all of them will go through life, thinking that they do not need to personally turn to Christ Jesus and commit their life to Him, submitting to His Lordship, and applying the benefits of His death to their own life—personally and actually.
They simply will have no interest in being truly baptized (immersed) into Christ and into His death for the forgiveness of sins, denoting their death to sin and resurrection to live a new life. In fact, they would call this a “rebaptism”—when, in fact, their first infant sprinkling or pouring was no baptism at all! It was an invalid or counterfeit baptism. Can you see—as I did—the disastrous results of accepting and defending an infant ritual and calling it baptism! (This has the same serious results in the life of those who received infant baptismal regeneration in the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church, the Orthodox Church, and others. Although the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church officially deny infant baptismal regeneration—although John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church did teach it—their practice of baby “baptism” has equally serious effects on their members.)
As Lutherans, we tended to believe that one merely became a good church member, attended services regularly, contributed financially, communed every six weeks, and lived a good moral life. We Lutherans could not point to a point of time when we actually were saved, forgiven, redeemed, sanctified, born again, and reconciled to God—something that is assumed throughout the New Testament. Those members more doctrinally inclined probably would say that all of this occurred in infant baptism. However, if baby baptism was invalid, as I had discovered, then when would salvation be? I continued to learn and become more and more concerned and dissatisfied with the denomination of my youth. Step by step, I came to see that Lutheranism differed markedly from the Biblical way. More and more, I was becoming convicted of my own defective and compromised religious experience!
I began to be burdened about my own sin. If I had never really been saved from sin as a baby, if I had never truly repented as a responsible person, if I had not even known the saving gospel of Christ and how it applied to me—personally—I asked just where this placed me. One morning, my mother awakened me with the news that a friend of mine had been killed in a horrible car wreck during the night. If that had been me, where would I have gone? Another friend had drowned a year or more earlier; if that had been me, what would have been my destiny? I began to fear driving in a car, lest I have an accident and I would be thrust out into eternity—unprepared to meet God because of my unforgiven sin.
Infant Baptismal Regeneration
The Lutheranism I knew as a child seemed to know nothing about the need of being born again, or being born of God—as Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-7). This talk of being “born again” was for others, but not for the more “refined” Lutherans I knew. While it was true that Luther spoke of regeneration (being born again), the average Lutheran would never speak of being “born again” or born of God. We thought that this was something that only Fundamentalists could speak about. Lutherans believe in what is called “baptismal regeneration” which means that regeneration is effected by means of this water ritual. The baby is thought to be regenerated separate and apart from inner faith, repentance, or commitment of life—although as we earlier noticed, Luther ironically did teach that God mysteriously and miraculously gave the “gift of faith” even to the unconscious infant!
As a Lutheran, I had no conception of making a conscious, decisive choice to follow Jesus Christ. We simply assumed that a child was born into a Lutheran family, would be the partaker of a water ritual called “baptism,” and about age twelve or thirteen, the boy or girl would be confirmed to become a full member of the Lutheran denomination. One simply “grew up” as a Lutheran, lived as a Lutheran, and died as a Lutheran. There was no conscious point of time when one was “rescued from the domain of darkness, and transferred . . . to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).
As you can see, this doctrine of infant baptismal regeneration has an enormous implication for one’s spiritual life. Consider this: If one wronglyassumes that he has been regenerated and saved when a pastor sprinkled a few drops of water on his head as a baby, what is the result?
The result: Almost all of these “baptized” Lutherans will never—in all of their life—seek to come to Christ for salvation, of their own volition, by their own decision! They will depend on a religious “baptism” ceremony done to them by someone else when they were totally unaware of the meaning! Nearly all of them will go through life, thinking that they do not need to personally turn to Christ Jesus and commit their life to Him, submitting to His Lordship, and applying the benefits of His death to their own life—personally and actually.
They simply will have no interest in being truly baptized (immersed) into Christ and into His death for the forgiveness of sins, denoting their death to sin and resurrection to live a new life. In fact, they would call this a “rebaptism”—when, in fact, their first infant sprinkling or pouring was no baptism at all! It was an invalid or counterfeit baptism. Can you see—as I did—the disastrous results of accepting and defending an infant ritual and calling it baptism! (This has the same serious results in the life of those who received infant baptismal regeneration in the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church, the Orthodox Church, and others. Although the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church officially deny infant baptismal regeneration—although John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church did teach it—their practice of baby “baptism” has equally serious effects on their members.)
As Lutherans, we tended to believe that one merely became a good church member, attended services regularly, contributed financially, communed every six weeks, and lived a good moral life. We Lutherans could not point to a point of time when we actually were saved, forgiven, redeemed, sanctified, born again, and reconciled to God—something that is assumed throughout the New Testament. Those members more doctrinally inclined probably would say that all of this occurred in infant baptism. However, if baby baptism was invalid, as I had discovered, then when would salvation be? I continued to learn and become more and more concerned and dissatisfied with the denomination of my youth. Step by step, I came to see that Lutheranism differed markedly from the Biblical way. More and more, I was becoming convicted of my own defective and compromised religious experience!
I began to be burdened about my own sin. If I had never really been saved from sin as a baby, if I had never truly repented as a responsible person, if I had not even known the saving gospel of Christ and how it applied to me—personally—I asked just where this placed me. One morning, my mother awakened me with the news that a friend of mine had been killed in a horrible car wreck during the night. If that had been me, where would I have gone? Another friend had drowned a year or more earlier; if that had been me, what would have been my destiny? I began to fear driving in a car, lest I have an accident and I would be thrust out into eternity—unprepared to meet God because of my unforgiven sin.