Common Questions
Our Statement of Faith says that baptism by immersion is an outward testimony to an inward change God has already worked in the heart of a believer — and that every believer should obey Christ’s command to be baptized.
Two things follow from that, and we want to hold both. Baptism does not save anyone. And no Christian should treat it as optional.
It is a public picture of something that has already happened.
When a person trusts Christ, God works a real change in the heart. Baptism is how that change is announced. Going down into the water pictures burial with Christ; coming up out of it pictures His resurrection and the new life that now belongs to the believer. Paul draws exactly this picture in Romans 6.
Baptism identifies a person with three things at once: the message of the Gospel, the Person of Jesus Christ, and the company of other believers. It is a testimony, not a transaction.
Supporting ScripturesRomans 6:1–8; Colossians 2:12; Romans 10:8–10; 2 Corinthians 5:17
No. We want to say that as plainly as we can, because a great deal rests on it.
Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith, not by anything we do. To require any act in addition to faith is to teach a works-based salvation. It says, in effect, that what Jesus accomplished at the cross was not quite enough and needs our obedience added to it to be sufficient. We reject that. His death alone paid for sin, and that payment is credited to a person by faith.
Scripture itself points the same direction. The thief crucified beside Jesus had no opportunity to be baptized, and Jesus promised him Paradise that same day. There is no record of Jesus baptizing anyone — a strange silence if it were the doorway to salvation. And Paul told the Corinthians that Christ sent him to preach the Gospel rather than to baptize, which he could not have written if baptism were the means of salvation.
The view that baptism itself brings about salvation is usually called baptismal regeneration. Sincere Christians hold it. We do not.
Supporting ScripturesEphesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5; Luke 23:39–43; 1 Corinthians 1:17; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21
Because Jesus commanded it, and because we love Him.
That is the whole answer, and it is enough. Jesus said that those who love Him keep His commandments. He gave baptism to His Church in the Great Commission. Treating it as optional because it is not the means of salvation gets the logic backwards — obedience is the response of a saved person, not the price of becoming one.
The early church clearly understood it that way. Read through the book of Acts and baptism follows belief again and again, immediately and without hesitation, in every kind of circumstance.
Supporting ScripturesMatthew 28:19; Mark 16:15–16; John 14:15; Acts 2:41; Acts 10:47–48; Acts 16:33
Believers — and only believers.
There is one requirement, and it has nothing to do with age. A person must be able to understand the Gospel message and to say for themselves that they have received Jesus Christ as Savior. Nothing else is asked. Not a waiting period, not a class, not a certain level of spiritual maturity.
Every account in Acts follows the same order: the Word is heard, it is believed, and then the believer is baptized.
Supporting ScripturesActs 8:12; Acts 8:36–38; Acts 16:31–33; Acts 18:8
Children may be baptized once they can receive God’s Word and understand it for themselves. Infants cannot, and so we do not baptize them.
At Pentecost, those who gladly received Peter’s word were baptized. Receiving comes first. Wherever the New Testament names the person being baptized, that person is old enough to have heard, understood, and believed. An infant cannot do any of the three, and baptism performed before belief pictures nothing that has yet happened.
That does not leave families without anything to do. Scripture gives a beautiful pattern for infants in Hannah’s dedication of Samuel to the Lord — a parent bringing a child before God and committing that child to Him. Dedication is the right step for an infant. Baptism is the right step later, when the child believes.
We say this with genuine respect for Christian families and churches that practice infant baptism sincerely. We simply do not follow that tradition.
Supporting ScripturesActs 2:41; 1 Samuel 1:26–28; Mark 10:13–16
We would encourage it — and we would not call it being baptized again.
Baptism is meant to testify to a faith the person already holds. If that faith came later, then the testimony still lies ahead. This is not a judgment on your parents, who almost certainly acted out of love, or on the church that taught them. It is simply an invitation to do now, as a believer, what Scripture describes believers doing.
Supporting ScripturesActs 19:1–5; Acts 8:36–37
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus instructed His disciples in the Great Commission.
Supporting ScripturesMatthew 28:19
If they trusted Christ, it does not mean what you may be afraid it means.
Salvation has never rested on the water. It rests on what Jesus did at the cross, received by faith. The thief beside Him was promised Paradise with no opportunity to be baptized, no church membership, and no time to prove anything. That promise is the clearest word Scripture gives on exactly this question.
If you are carrying this, please talk to a pastor who can sit with you rather than leaving it with a web page. Some things need a person.
Supporting ScripturesLuke 23:39–43; Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 10:9–10
If you have believed in Jesus Christ and have never been baptized as a believer, take the step. Fun In Faith Ministry is an online ministry and cannot baptize anyone; find a Bible-teaching church near you and ask. Most are glad to be asked.
And if you have not yet trusted Christ, baptism is not where to begin. Begin with Him.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15