42. Is baptism sufficient for salvation?
No. Baptized children should be nurtured and led to personal acceptance of Christ, and by profession of faith confirm their baptism.
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The parallel between baptizing infants under the new covenant and the circumcision of children under the old covenant continues here. Circumcision of the male infant was followed with careful instruction in the way of life laid out in the Torah, into which the infant had been initiated by virtue of his birth into a family of people who observed the covenant. Such instruction was itself a covenant obligation (Deut. 6:20–25)! Circumcision positioned the male infant for covenant obedience; living in obedience to the covenant validated the prior act of circumcision. Similarly, among the people of the new covenant, it is vitally important that we invest ourselves in the discipleship of our children and youth, not only in our own immediate families but throughout the household of God. In many baptismal liturgies, we make promises to this effect at every baptism and the newly baptized depend upon us to keep those promises.
“Personal acceptance of Christ” and “profession of faith” are, of course, essential steps for those baptized as children to take. But these, too, merely represent next steps on the path to salvation. Baptism initiates us into the baptismal life, the journey of dying increasingly to the old person and making room increasingly for the new person that the Spirit is bringing to life; dying to all that the Scriptures call “sin” and coming alive more fully to all that the Scriptures call righteousness and holiness. Baptism is a garment that we are privileged—and summoned—to put on every day, both in response to God’s promise that a rebirth into a new life happens by “water and Spirit” ( John 3:5) and in consequence of our pledge that we will live the new life that God has made possible for us, so that we will also arrive at the good end that God sets before us as the assured result of living this new life (Rom. 6:1–23).
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He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11–13)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Rom. 10:9–11 NIV)
See also Deut. 6:20–25; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 16:29–34; CoF VI
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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