A UNITED METHODIST UNDERSTANDING OF BAPTISM
Who tells you who you are?
We receive our identity from others, from the expectations
of friends and colleagues, from the labels society puts
upon us, and from the influence of family.
To become Christian is to receive a new identity. You no
longer allow others to tell you who you are. Christ now
claims you and instructs you. A Christian is one who has
“put on Christ.”
Baptism celebrates becoming that new person. That is why
the church’s ritual begins with putting off the old,
renouncing sin and the evil powers of the world, and
pledging our loyalty to Christ.
God Initiates the Covenant
We also believe that in baptism God initiates a covenant
with us, announced with the words, “The Holy Spirit works
within you, that being born through water and the Spirit,
you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.” This is
followed by the sign-act of laying hands on the head, or
the signing of the cross on the forehead with oil. The
word covenant is a biblical word describing God’s
initiative in choosing Israel to be a people with a
special mission in the world, and Israel’s response in a
life of faithfulness. The baptismal covenant calls us to a
similar vocation.
God Has Chosen Us
Christians have also understood the baptismal covenant in
light of Jesus’ baptism. At Jesus’ baptism, God said:
“This is my son.” While Jesus’ relation to God as Son is
unique, for Christians baptism means that God has also
chosen us as daughters and sons, and knows us intimately
as a parent.
So the most important things about us, our true identity,
is that we are now sons and daughters of God. That is why
the introduction to the United Methodist Baptismal
Covenant states, “We are incorporated into God’s mighty
acts of salvation and given new birth through water and
the Spirit.”
The introduction also says, “Through the Sacrament of
Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy church.”
Baptism Is the Door
From the beginning, baptism has been the door through
which one enters the church. It was inconceivable to many
that one could respond to God’s grace by reciting the
renunciations, affirming one’s faith in Christ and loyalty
to the Kingdom, without joining the fellowship of those
who are committed to mature in that faith. As the “Body of
Christ” in the world, baptism commissions us to use our
gifts to strengthen the church and to transform the world.
Why Baptize Babies?
From the earliest times, children and infants were
baptized and included in the church. As scriptural
authority for this ancient tradition, some scholars cite
Jesus’ words, “Let the little children come to me…for it
is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark
10:14). However, a more consistent argument is that
baptism, as a means of grace, signifies God’s initiative
in the process of salvation. John Wesley preached
“prevenient grace,” the grace that works in our lives
before we are aware of it, bringing us to faith. The
baptism of children and their inclusion in the church
before they can respond with their own confirmation of
faith is a vivid and compelling witness to prevenient
grace.
Baptism Is Forever
Because baptism is a sacrament of God’s grace and a
covenant that God has initiated, it should not be
repeated. However, God’s continuing and patient
forgiveness, God’s prevenient grace, will prompt us to
renew the commitment first made at our baptism. At such a
time, instead of rebaptism, The United Methodist Church
offers the ritual for the reaffirmation of baptismal vows,
which implies that, while God remains faithful to God’s
half of the covenant, we are not always faithful to our
promises. Our half of the covenant is to confess Christ as
our Savior, trust in his grace, serve him as Lord in the
church, and carry out his mission against evil, injustice,
and oppression.
Baptism Is the Beginning, Not the End
You have heard people say, “I was baptized Methodist,” or
“I was baptized Presbyterian,” which could mean that in
baptism they got their identity papers and that was the
end of it. But baptism is not the end. It is the beginning
of a lifelong journey of faith. It makes no difference
whether you were baptized as an adult or as a child; we
all start on that journey at baptism. For the child, the
journey begins in the nurturing community of the church,
where he or she learns what it means that God loves you.
At the appropriate time, the child will make his or her
first confession of faith in the ritual the church
traditionally calls confirmation. Most often, this is at
adolescence or at the time when the person begins to take
responsibility for his or her own decisions.
If you experienced God’s grace and were baptized as an
adult or received baptism as a child and desire to
reaffirm your baptismal vows, baptism still marks the
beginning of a journey in the nurturing fellowship of the
caring, learning, worshipping, serving congregation.
What Is a Sacrament?
The word sacrament is the Latin translation of the Greek
word mysterion. From the early days of the church, baptism
was associated with the mystery that surrounds God’s
action in our lives. That means that at best our words can
only circumscribe what happens, but not define it. We
cannot rationally explain why God would love us “while we
were yet sinners” and give his only begotten Son that we
should not perish but have eternal life. That is the most
sacred and unfathomable mystery of all. We can experience
God’s grace at any time and in any place, but in the
sacrament of baptism we routinely experience that amazing
grace.
