I was talking to a close friend the other night when I mentioned that James, my two and a half month old son, was being baptized this Sunday.  I told him that he was more than welcome to attend the ceremony and a small get-together after the service at my parents’ house. 

“That’s funny,” he said. “I didn’t think you believed in baptizing babies.”

“Of course I do,” I replied.

“I thought we were at a Bible study once and you said that you didn’t believe in it.” 

“Well, I did believe in it. And then I didn’t. But now I do. It’s complicated.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry.  I’ll explain it all on my blog this week.”

And so, here I am.

I am a little nervous approaching this subject because there are several members of my family (immediate and extended) that are committed Baptists and do not believe in baptizing newborns.  My sister and brother-in-law serve on the ministerial staff at a Southern Baptist Church in northern Virginia and my father-in-law was a deacon at a Southern Baptist congregation for years. There are also quite a number of Baptists who I have learned a great deal from by studying their work ranging from Charles Spurgeon, the great 19^th century British preacher, to more modern teachers like John MacArthur, John Piper and Albert Mohler. So, when I say this, I want to say it with all due humility, respect, and love in my heart, but when it comes to the question of baptizing infants, I believe that they are wrong.

First, a little about myself: I grew up in a Presbyterian Church (PCA, not PCUSA, for those wondering) for the first part of my life and my family attended there until I was well into middle school.  During my middle school years, however, my family switched their membership to a local Southern Baptist Church because my parents liked their youth group ministry better. While there, I adopted most of the Southern Baptist theological beliefs and forsook much of my more Reformed upbringing.  I never really questioned a lot of these beliefs; I just kind of adopted them. I knew my parents’ beliefs were more in line with Presbyterian theology but I wavered on a lot of those suppositions, including infant baptism.  Eventually, as I studied and read more, I went back to most of my original professions that I had been taught as a child. One idea I struggled with for years, though, was the question of baptism. When Karen got pregnant last year, I knew that I finally had to settle the issue in my heart and mind once and for all. That is the personal dilemma Karen and I faced this past year. Eventually, we both came to the conclusion that infant baptism was commanded by God in Scripture.  This was a decision we both took seriously and only made after much praying and studying. Over the next few days Karen and I will share with you how we came to this conclusion and do our best to communicate the support for this important truth from Scripture.

As always, I welcome debate and disagreement in the comments, and this time I expect it!

Editor’s Note:  For the rest of this series please see: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8.