Three Things to Consider Before Baptizing Your Child

When our Son Ben started asking if he could be baptized I didn’t quite know what to say. When he first asked he was only 6 years old and I felt he was too young to understand exactly what that meant. I was baptized when I was 6 and then again when I was 18. After that, I fell away from the Lord and didn’t return to the faith until I was 30. My personal experience made me hesitant to baptize Ben at such a young age. 

I did end up baptizing my son, but not until he was 9. Even this felt young, but we had talked at length about what that meant and why he was doing it. I know that if I was having reservations about baptizing my son, others certainly have reservations about their children as well. There are a ton of questions about baptizing children. Is there a certain age that is appropriate? Do they need to fully understand theology before they are baptized? What does this mean in terms of community inclusion? What if I baptized my child as an infant? Or should I baptize my child as an infant? The list could go but let’s try to focus on several key points. Before we look at the three things to consider before baptizing your child, I’ll give a quick note on infant baptism. 

Infant Baptism

The debate over infant baptism is one that has raged for hundreds of years. I am not here to settle that debate for you, and my best advice is to ask your pastor about infant baptism. With that said, I will tell you that I do not believe in infant baptism, here’s why. 

First, there is literally nowhere in the Bible that talks about infant baptism. In every case, a person “believes” and is baptized. 

Second, I do not believe baptism replaced circumcision. These two acts represent two very different things. 

Third, I do not believe that any covenant can be done away with, but rather, believe all the covenants work together. So the sign of the New Covenant does not replace the sign of the Mosaic covenant.  

I will leave it there for now, but for the rest of this post, I will approach baptism from a “believers baptism” perspective. 

Is My Child Too Young to be Baptized? 

Here are three things to consider before baptizing your child. 

1. Does my child have a good understanding of the Gospel? Do they actually understand the basics of the “good news?” 

One of the things I did when Ben asked to be baptized was to have several discussions where I walked him through the Gospel message. He could ask questions (which he did) and I would go as deep as possible into answers without losing him in the conversation. After this took place several times I asked him to tell me why we needed Christ. The first time he explained it, but the second time I asked this questions I would stop him and ask secondary questions as well. “You said Jesus died for my sins, could anyone die for my sins?” or “Why is it important that Jesus is God in the flesh? Couldn’t He just be a man God created that is perfect?” 

2. Does my child understand that faith in Christ can bring persecution? 

Let’s be honest, no parent wants to think of their child being persecuted. What’s more, children tend to think they can fight entire armies when they are young. But having honest conversations about meeting people that won’t like them because of their faith, or losing friends because they love Jesus, are important conversations to have. 

3. Do you as a parent understand what comes with baptizing your child? Are you ready to hold your child to that standard? 

This is one that I don’t think many parents consider when they baptize their children. I remember hearing the story of Abraham Piper, John Piper’s son. Abraham had professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the Church. Later in life, Abraham began to fall away. I am not part of that Church nor do I know the details, but eventually the elders at Bethlehem Baptist (along with John Piper) excommunicated Abraham. There are a lot of people online who couldn’t believe that John Piper would be involved in excommunicating his son from the Church he pastored, but I totally get it. Abraham had been baptized, which means he publicly stated he would follow Christ and would accept the consequences of not submitting to Jesus. When Abraham did this, he became more than John’s son. He became a member of the Church and a brother in the Lord that John was responsible for holding accountable. 

Right before I baptized my son, I read an article by Caleb Morell on 9Marks. In it, he looks at the ages of those baptized from 1700-1840 within the credo-baptist tradition. What is interesting is that most of the evidence points to individuals being older when baptized. In the end, Morell suggests that we should not baptize someone we would not be willing to excommunicate from the Church. The act of baptism shows a person is willing and ready to live a life unto Christ, and this includes accepting the consequences of turning from this commitment. 

Conclusion

There is no age in Scripture that is given for a person to be baptized. The requirement is that they have faith that Jesus is Lord and that they are willing to dedicate their lives to Him. If you are considering baptizing your child, you should simply ask if they understand the Gospel message, are willing to stand for Jesus even when faced with persecution, and if you as a parent believe your child is old enough to take on the responsibilities of being a baptized member of a community, which could include excommunication.

Read “Why You Need a Church” next

Photo by Vince Fleming