Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right?

Credobaptism vs paedobaptism is a common debate among Christians. Paedobaptism is also known as infant baptism or baby baptism. Credobaptism, which is the view, is known as believers’ baptism. Because I am a credobaptist, I would like to provide three evidences of salvation to look for in your children’s lives. This is part one of a three-part series. Here are parts two and three: What About Baptism for Children? Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart (Colossians 2:11-12 and Romans 2:28-2) https://youtu.be/kZ7jfcvQeKI Credobaptism vs paedobaptism is a common debate. Paedobaptism is infant baptism or baby baptism, and credobaptism is believers’ baptism. Table of ContentsSermon Lessons for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right?Family Worship Guide for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right?Sermon Notes for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right?Lesson one: at WCC fathers play a large part in shepherding their families.Lesson two: salvation is the requirement for baptism.Lesson three: evidence of salvation to look for in your children (part one) godly sorrow.Lesson three: evidences of salvation to look for in your children (part two) spiritual fruit.Lesson three: evidences of salvation to look for in your children (part three) spiritual hunger and thirst. Sermon Lessons for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right? Sermon Lessons for When Should Children Be Baptized? 03:38 Lesson 1: at ______ ______________ play a large part in shepherding their families. Lesson 2: __________________ ____ the requirement for baptism (Acts 2:41). Lesson 3: evidences of salvation to look for in your children: (Part 1) __________ ____________ (2 Corinthians 7:10). (Part 2) __________________ __________ (Matthew 3:8, 7:19, 13:23, Acts 26:20, James 2:17, 20, 26). (Part 3) spiritual ____________ and _____________ (John 4:13-15, 6:35, 66, Luke 6:21, 25, 1 John 2:15, John 3:19). Family Worship Guide for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right? Day 1: Read Acts 2:41, 2 Corinthians 7:10 and discuss: what is paedobaptism? What is credobaptism? What is godly sorrow, and what does it lead to/produce? What is worldly sorrow, and what does it produce? What is the difference between both? Day 2: Read Matthew 3:8, 7:19, 13:23, Acts 26:20, James 2:17, 20, 26 and discuss: why is genuine repentance accompanied by spiritual fruit? For a hint, think of the practice of putting off and putting on. What is the relationship between saving faith and works? What are works, or fruit, we can look for in our children’s lives to be confident in their faith? Day 3: Read John 4:13-15, 6:35, 66, Luke 6:21, 25, 1 John 2:15, John 3:19 and discuss: what does it mean to have a spiritual hunger and thirst? What spiritual truths were Jesus is trying to communicate to the woman at the well? What spiritual truths did Jesus want to communicate to the crowd that followed him after feeding the 5000? Sermon Notes for Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right? The title of this morning’s sermon is, “Credobaptism vs Paedobaptism: Which Is Right?” As you probably heard during the announcements we are having baptisms in a few weeks on Easter Sunday. With my children getting older we have been having many conversations about baptism, and when and if they should be baptized. I thought it would be good to help some of you think through your children being baptized too. So over the next couple weeks leading up to the baptisms I’m going to talk about when children should be baptized. Once I finish these sermons I am going to preach on the vision of our church. I try to do this every few years to help establish: Where we are Where we want to go How we do things The last time I preached on this was over seven years ago, January 2014, so I am probably overdue. The reason I mention this is I’d like to share something about our view of fathers in the church, that doesn’t just relate to our vision, but also baptism. This brings us to lesson 1… Lesson one: at WCC fathers play a large part in shepherding their families. In some churches the elders carry much of the responsibility for families. At WCC we try to put some of that responsibility back on the fathers’ shoulders, because that’s where we think it belongs. Here’s an example… At some churches: Only elders pray, read Scripture, or preach in the service Only elders administer the communion elements Only elders baptize people As you know if you have attended WCC for very long, or I could even say one Sunday, you can see that we try to involve men, including young men, frequently. We have men and young men: Pray, read Scripture, and preach in the service Provide the communion devotion, as well as distribute the elements Lead the music Share some of the teaching load Lead home fellowships And baptize their children We do this for two reasons: Most obviously, we don’t think it’s biblical that only the elders serve and/or use their gifts in the church Second, we believe God has called men to lead in the home and the church, so we want to provide opportunities, and even training, for them to do so So because of this view, we generally lean on husbands to lead their homes, versus taking that leadership from them. You could even say we look to husbands to help us in the shepherding of the church by asking them to shepherd their families. One such example took place last year when everything happened with COVID. You might remember when the four of us sat up front behind the table, and Andrew Criss said… “Husbands, as elders we need you – and your families need you – to lead them during this time. Your wives have questions. Please guide them. Shepherd your wives and children. Wives, please look to your husbands for leadership. We want to be completely available to your husbands, so that if they need help, we can help them, and then they can get back to you.” So I wouldn’t say that we don’t want to hear from wives. I would just say that we want to hear from wives through their husbands. We want wives to receive all the shepherding they need, but we hope most of it comes from their husbands. I mention this, because we take a similar approach with the children in the church. We look to fathers to deal with their children. This is one reason why when our church grew we didn’t entertain hiring a youth pastor. We think we already have many youth pastors and they are the fathers of the families. Along these lines we expect fathers to determine when their children: Should be baptized And should partake in communion The reason I wanted to lead with this lesson is regardless of what I share in these sermons it is still up to the fathers to decide when their children should be baptized. While we are happy to help in different ways, such as answering your questions, meeting with you, helping you think through things, it is still something the fathers must decide. Speaking of when children should be baptized, let’s move in to lesson 2… Lesson two: salvation is the requirement for baptism. Let me introduce two terms that are crucially important in this discussion. There are basically two views of baptism… One view is paedobaptism, or more commonly known as infant baptism. The word paedo means child. Think of a pediatrician, or doctor for babies, and you’ll be able to remember that paedobaptism is baby baptism. This is the view held by Catholics and those Protestant denominations that have the most similarities with Catholicism, such as Presbyterians and Lutherans…or those denominations that we would say didn’t break away from Catholicism far enough after the Reformation. We reject this view. We don’t believe it originated in the early church. Instead, we believe it originated with the Catholic Church, and is largely a holdover from Catholicism. The view we hold is credobaptism, or more commonly known as believers’ baptism. Think of the word creed, or confession, and you’ll be able to remember that credobaptism is believers’ baptism, because the idea is those people who have confessed Jesus as Lord, or who have a creed they believe in, can be baptized. As you might guess, creating sermons involves many choices, because it’s possible to go in so many different directions. In this sermon I had to decide how much attention to give to credobaptism versus paedobaptism. Because I believe this is such a settled issue in our church, I didn’t want to spend much time on it. But I do want you to be able to respond to paedobaptists, so I’ll draw your attention to some of their most common arguments when we reach them in the verses we look at. Also, I will add that if you have any questions about these two positions, please reach out to me so I can try to answer them. For now, just consider this one verse from Acts 2. Peter is preaching the gospel on the Day of Pentecost before the first Christian baptisms… Acts 2:41 So those WHO RECEIVED HIS WORD WERE BAPTIZED, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. The important thing to notice is it was only those who received his word, which is to say those who believed, who were baptized. Those who didn’t receive his word, or didn’t believe, such as babies, weren’t baptized. To think otherwise would be to speak into silence. Now because we believe our children must be saved before being baptized I would like to give you some evidences of salvation to look for in your children’s lives. While no parent can know for sure that their child is saved, I do believe this should be helpful in making that determination. Also, two other points before we jump into this lesson… First, these are the exact evidences that Katie and I consider when discussing whether we think our children are saved. I feel like we don’t have much alone time during the day,