Half Baptized in Water?

The readings for Sunday, January 11 were about Jesus’ baptism, which marked the beginning of his public ministry. Our baptism marks the beginning of our ministry, where we share in Christ’s mission. As many of you know not all Christian denominations practice baptism in the same way. Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed (including the Presbyterian Church), Anglican and Methodist churches, among others, practice infant baptism, linking the practice of baptism to the practice of infant circumcision in Israel. For these churches baptism is a sacrament, where God does something in the life of a person (even an infant), cleansing them from sin and giving them the Holy Spirit.

Other denominations, the Baptists being the most prominent, practice “believer’s baptism,” where an individual is required to make an explicit profession of faith before they can be baptized. Baptism is not a divine action as much as it is a human response to God’s grace. In these traditions baptism is not a sacrament in which God acts, but an ordinance, something done because it is commanded by God.

But from the Reformed camp a prominent voice has called into question the practice of infant baptism. Karl Barth, arguably the most prominent Reformed theologian since the reformation, was a Swiss pastor and theologian who witnessed both world wars and the failure of the Church to prevent or oppose these wars. Barth also knew that many, if not most, of the German leaders who advocated war and the Holocaust were baptized as infants. Barth believed too many Christians were “half baptized,” never taught by the Church what it means that God has claimed them to be a distinct presence in the world. In his later years Barth became a critic of infant baptism because of its failure to create disciples who could renounce and resist the presence of evil in the world (click here for a summary of Barth’s view).

TCPC has been blessed to have celebrated many infant baptisms in 2008. How can we teach and train these infants to renounce evil and embody Christ’s presence? How can we prevent producing children, youth and adults who live as those who are “half baptized,” who instead embrace a full life of discipleship? How do these texts below enrich our understanding of baptism?

Monday 1/12
Genesis 17:1-13
Romans 4:1-12

Tuesday 1/13
Exodus 30:22-38
Acts 22:2-16

Wednesday 1/14
Isaiah 41:14-20
John 1:29-34

Read these verses from Psalm 69 each of these three days.