Why we are baptizing our children.

In the covenant of grace God promised that he would be God to both Abraham and to his children (Gen 17:7).  The sign and seal of this covenant was marked by the rite of circumcision (Gen 17:11; Romans 4:11). The cutting rite of circumcision indicated the need for cleansing in the hygienic act of the removal of the foreskin of the flesh (Col 2:11).  In the fulfillment of this covenant, called the New Covenant, the promises were no longer limited to the blood line of Abraham (John 3:16; Romans 11:15). Gentiles were grafted in as the people of God and made partakers of these promises as well (Romans 11:17; 1Pet 2:6-10).  The promises to the people of God and to their children were not revoked as some Christians teach today.

The book of Acts emphasizes the fulfillment of these promises and states, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself (Acts 2:39).”  The scriptures teach that households of believers are Holy (1 Cor 7:14; Acts 11:14; 16:15; 16:31; 18:8) and much like the seed of Abraham, also partake of the benefits of the covenant (Gal 3:29). In the new administration of the covenant, baptism replaces circumcision and pictures a literal cleansing (1Pet 3:21), “the putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism (Col 2:11-12).”  In the words of our Catechism- baptism is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, does signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.