It is a paedobaptist charge that Baptists refuse to baptise children. They sometimes throw around the misnomer ‘adult baptism’. It is true that all Baptists refuse to baptise infants and it is similarly true that Baptists will also baptise adults (as, incidentally, do paedobaptists). It is certainly true that some Baptists will refuse to baptise children. But this is a point of Baptist contention. Are the true candidates for baptism professing believers who have reached some ‘age of responsibility’, professing believers who are completely free of parental authority or simply those who have credibly professed faith in Christ?
This past Sunday, we baptised two young ladies who are around the age of 10. You can read about it here. Clearly not infants but evidently not adults free of parental authority yet and plausibly (if you are inclined to believe in one) beyond any mythical, arbitrary age of responsibility. All of which is to say, you can probably have a stab at guessing which of the Baptist positions I tend toward.
But a little while ago now, I explored this question. In fact, I have done so a couple of times. In light of the baptisms we undertook on Sunday, I thought it might be worth reviving this post on whether it is legit to baptise professing children. As you can probably deduce, I reckon it is entirely legitimate. The questions is, based on my Baptist principles, why is that?
Click the link below and you can see how I work it out. I hope it is some help to you.