baptism: Credo/pedo/non-

[Josepus86]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

 

[Deuteronomy]

Hello @Josepus86, baptism continues to be a controversial topic within the Christian church as a whole, so why not start with what your church/denomination teaches/believes about baptism, and make sure, then, that you fully understand why it teaches/believes what it does (if you do not already know).

For what it's worth, I (like you) was baptized as an infant, but when I finally became a Christian (30 years later), I chose to be baptized again, this time as a believer. Of course, I'm sure that my desire to be baptized again was due, in large part, to the denomination that I joined in 1986 after finally becoming a Christian (The Evangelical Free Church of America), because Presbyterians do not (typically) rebaptize their congregants. The EFCA, on the other hand, allows for both credobaptism and pedobaptism, with the sole understanding that water baptism is NOT salvific in either case .. though MOST of our local churches hold to believer's baptism and dedicate infants, instead of baptizing them).

In the end, I believe that the choice to do so or not is up to you and what you believe the Lord is leading you to do (IOW, I don't believe that you would be sinning in either case), so keep on studying baptism and asking the Lord for His guidance until what you feel that you should do becomes clear.

There is certainly plenty of material out there to look at For instance,

~https://www.gotquestions.org/search-results.html?q=baptism#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=baptism&gsc.page=1​

~https://learn.ligonier.org/series/baptism-debate/credobaptist-position​

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy

 

[Blade]

You know sometimes I watch this older Jewish man .. he lives in Israel born again and spirit field. Always talking about Yeshua.. Hes coming soon and this part.. how you must be born again and baptized fully under water.. I like it and makes me laugh. I just never heard anyone say it like that.

 

[tablet123]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

Infant baptism does not apply for a person has to have an understanding, and a conscious decision to repent and accept Christ.

Also their angels always beholds the face of the Father for the little ones.

So they are innocent and have no sin on their record.

Also being in Christ does not mean water baptism does not apply.

Infant baptism does not do anything and does not cover them for the future.

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Some people say baptism is for Church identification or to confess your faith in Christ.

But baptism is to identify with Christ's death.

We have to identify with the man Christ Jesus which He died, was buried, and rose again, which we repent die out to sin, and are baptized laying down those sins, and rising to newness of life.

You cannot cut out the middle man.

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Water baptism does now save us.

Also Jesus said He came in the Father's name.

The Son inherited the name.

The Holy Spirit comes in the name of Jesus.

Jesus said baptize in the name of the the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but those are titles not names and name is singular.

Jesus is the name.

Which Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans, were all baptized in Jesus' name.

And everything we do in word and deed do all in the name of Jesus.

So why would we baptize in the titles.

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Remission
aphesis
af'-es-is
From G863; freedom; (figuratively) pardon: - deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission.

Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Also water baptism is when our sins is washed away.

 

[OMC]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

Brother, baptism is not a second justification nor a booster for sanctification, but the God‑ordained sign of publicly identifying with Christ’s death and resurrection, and Scripture never treats it as something repeated once a person is already united to Christ; your infant baptism did not regenerate you, but it did mark you outwardly as belonging to the covenant community, and now that you stand as a confessing believer, the question is simply whether you desire the public, conscious, obedient confession of that inward reality — because baptism is always the outward sign of an already existing union with Christ (Rom. 6:3–4), never the cause of it; and as for children, the pattern of Scripture is that the sign belongs to the household of faith (Acts 2:39), yet the substance belongs only to those who believe, so the issue is not whether baptism saves, but whether it visibly marks the family as belonging to the Lord, while waiting for God to grant them the inward reality in His time.

 

[Gideon300]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

It's pretty straightforward. Baptism in the Bible is always for believers. It has a spiritual aspect that transcends the outward. Sinners don't get saved by being baptised. But baptism always accompanies salvation in God's word.

To be born again means to die and rise again with Christ. We are born dead spiritually and, through the cross, our dead spirit is removed. Through the resurrection of Christ, we are born again. We receive a new, live spirit that is of God. So what do you do with the dead? You bury them. (Colossians 2:12).

When people die physically, they are buried in a grave and the date recorded. We can look back at ourselves and remember that we are also dad and buried. A funeral advises the world that the individual has passed away. Baptism is a declaration that our old self has passed away.

It does not have to be a big deal. My wife and I baptised a friend in the nearby bay. There were a handful of people on the beach. We baptised another woman in the local swimming pool. Again there was not much of a crowd.​

 

[Bible_Locket]

If you feel led to be Baptized,do so.

That's God speaking to your heart.

 

[NightTwister]

You can take a bath if you want, but that doesn't make it a baptism. You're already baptized. Baptism is for believers and their household.

 

[GRACE_ambassador]

It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,

Precious friend, This Is Correct, Under Grace, God Has Only One Baptism Today!

----------------
And, precious friend(s), Please Be Very Richly Encouraged and Edified
In The Lord Jesus Christ and In His Precious Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided:

The Bible: The BIG Picture

Amen.

 

[wattie]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

Real baptism is by immersion in water, of a person who is already saved.

In scripture, it occurs very soon after conversion because in that time, people committed right from get go.

It cannot save a soul eternally, but is part of a 'salvaged life' to God.

It's also not something anyone can just do.. those who baptized in the Bible had the right authority.

Acts 2:38 gets used to attach it to salvation, but that is being baptized 'for' the fact you already have conversion.

Also 1 Corinthians 12 baptism isn't Spirit baptism making someone converted. By context it is water baptism for the converted as a pre requirement to join a local body of believers.

 

[ResidentAlien]

I am evaluating whether I want to be baptized as an adult?
I have heard both arguments for baptism as a confessing believer and familial member of Christ;s body.
Both have valid points and both have shortcomings
I was baptized as an infant, but I wonder now if that was correct or the most beneficial?
It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,
but I wonder if it would help my sanctification as an adult?
If I had children I would raise them in the faith,
but I wonder if I would baptize them as infants?

I am writing this to better understand the subject and to better understand the reasoning of it?

You could ponder and evaluate till the cows come home, or you could just do it. What do you have to lose but a few minutes of your time?

 

[timf]

It seems to me unnecessary to be baptized because I am already in Christ,

The word baptize is a transliteration of the Greek baptizo which means to immerse. The translator knew this but in an age where everyone thought they had bought a ticket to heaven for their children by having them baptized,it would be unhealthy for them to use the English word immerse.

Baptism in water was a Jewish practice and the Acts 2"38 has this in mind. For Christians there is "one" immersion and that is by the holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

Eph_4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

1Co_12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

 

[Deuteronomy]

"Making Pickles" - Stong's lexicon makes an interesting point or two in the "additional information" ending of its definition.

907 βαπτίζω [baptizo /bap·tid·zo/] verb. From a derivative of 911 (ῥαίνω/bapto); TDNT 1:529; TDNTA 92; GK 966; 80 occurrences; AV translates as “baptize” 76 times, “wash” twice, “baptist” once, and “baptized + 2258” once. 1 to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk). 2 to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe. 3 to overwhelm.​

​

Additional Information: Not to be confused with 911, bapto. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words.​

​

Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (bapto) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptizing the vegetable, produces a permanent change.​

​

When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. Mark 16:16. ‘He that believes and is baptised shall be saved’. Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle! ~Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.​

~Strong's Enhanced Lexicon​

~Deuteronomy
p.s. - the following passage is an interesting one to consider too, in regard to some of the above.

Ezekiel 36​

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ​

26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ​

27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ​

.