LETTER TO A
BAPTIST PASTOR’S WIFE
ABOUT INFANT BAPTISM
A few years ago the wife of a Baptist pastor wrote to Christian News, asking why Lutherans baptize infants. In that letter she also said that it looked to her like Lutherans were teaching two ways of salvation, one for adults and another for infants. What follows is a reply to her letter.
Dear Mrs. XXXXX
Let me begin by pointing out that both Lutherans and Baptists believe that we are justified and saved by what Christ did, not by what we do. We are justified and saved by grace alone, through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Furthermore, just as we are brought to salvation by the grace of God alone, we are kept by the grace of God alone (1Peter 1:5). As Luther puts it in his Small Catechism, “The Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith”.
However,
if we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, and faith comes by
hearing
(Romans
Romans
6:23, “The wages of sin is death,” is one of many passages that tell us
that
infants are sinners, for if they were not sinners they would not die.
Likewise,
the words, “The wicked are estranged from the womb” (Psalm 58:3), tell
us that
infants need to be saved. However, the words, “Allow little children to
come to
me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of heaven,”
indicate
that the infant children of believers are saved (Matthew
Now, from
these passages we learn that, 1- infants need to be saved, and can only
be
saved through faith in Christ, and 2- that God is able to give infants
His gift
of faith in Christ. Then, on the basis of Christ’s words, “Allow little
children to come to me,” Lutherans allow little children to be brought
to
Christ in baptism, trusting in His promise, “of such is the kingdom of
heaven”.
Or, as the Augsburg Confession puts it, “Children, too, should be
baptized, for
in Baptism they are committed to God and become acceptable to Him. (Book of
Lutherans, do not see infant baptism as a second way of salvation because they believe that both infants and adults are saved through faith in Christ alone. However, they do believe that infant baptism is a second way in which God gives people His gift of faith. Now, in understanding this, I believe that it is important to realize that the Bible nowhere explicitly says that God will give the gift of faith to an infant simply because it is baptized, that is being assumed. For that reason, the promise of forgiveness in Christ that is connected with baptism should never be construed as joining “to the water a spiritual power which, through the water, washes away sin.” (Smalcald Articles, Tappert edition, page 310.)
Now, let us
look at how Baptists deal with the question of infant salvation. While
there
are differences among Baptists, it is generally assumed that infants do
not need
to be saved. Because of this view, Lutherans see Baptists as teaching
two ways
of salvation – adults, through faith in Christ, infants without faith
in
Christ. Since Baptists usually hold that this is true for all infants,
including the children of the heathen, Lutherans see Baptists as
teaching that
all of the people in hell were once saved (because they were under the
age of
accountability) but lost that salvation. Lutherans reject that view
because the
words, “If there had been a law given that could have given life,
righteousness
truly would have been by the law,” tell us that if it was possible for
anyone
to be saved without faith in Christ, God would have never sent Christ
to the
cross (Galatians
Christ’s servant
Gary Ray Branscome