The Christian church has been baptizing new disciples for more than two millennia. As Christianity expanded through the centuries, spread across continents, and permeated new societies, it is no exaggeration to say that several billion souls, from diverse tribes and in different tongues, have felt the waters and heard the precious words, “I baptize you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Yet as this wonderful history has unfolded, much confusion and sharp controversy have arisen within the church as to how we are to understand baptism. It is therefore worth taking some time to consider: What is the meaning of Christian baptism? Who is to be baptized? And why is baptism so important, so beautiful?

The Meaning of Baptism

To understand the meaning of Christian baptism we should first remember its context. What other practices existed in ancient culture that provided early Christians with a framework to understand it?

The Old Testament law included situations where believers washed with water for ceremonial purification (Num. 19:11–12). By the first century, the Pharisees had extended this to cups, pots, and even furniture (Mark 7:3–4). Shortly before Jesus began his own ministry, John the Baptist appeared, “baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).

With such practices in the background, it’s not difficult to see how the early church would have seen baptism as both sacred and spiritual. It was sacred because it involved the relationship between God and man. It was spiritual because the washing with water, while not magical or mechanical, signified deeper spiritual realities.

Yet the specifically Christian form of baptism originated with Jesus himself. When he met his apostles in Galilee after his resurrection, he gave them the following command:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:18–20)

In this great commission we see three important things regarding Christian baptism. First, we see its formula. The church is to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Christian baptism is “Trinitarian”: There is only one God (“the name”), but this one God is three Persons (“the Father . . . the Son . . . the Holy Spirit”). Second, we see the responsibility that comes with Christian baptism. The church must teach those it baptizes all the commands of Jesus: “Teaching them . . . all that I have commanded you.” We who receive baptism must learn to believe and obey Jesus: “To observe all that I have commanded.” The third thing we see here is the central meaning of Christian baptism: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. . . .” What is baptism? According to Jesus, baptism is a mark of discipleship. This is its basic definition.

Careful attention to this definition helps us to avoid a serious error that has plagued the Christian church for centuries—the error of thinking that baptism automatically changes human hearts. Discipleship is a lifelong process, not a onetime event. As a mark of discipleship, baptism is likewise a beginning. Like raindrops of a better world, baptism calls us to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). But this newness of life involves gradual growth, not an instantaneous transformation. Indeed, the New Testament shows us the tragic reality that a person can be baptized yet remain unconverted (1 John 2:18–19).

Understanding baptism as a mark of discipleship also helps us to clarify the connection that the New Testament makes between baptism and many spiritual realities experienced by Christians. For example, the Apostle Peter connected baptism with forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Similarly, the Apostle Paul wrote that baptism connects us to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom. 6:3–5)

We can understand these connections by considering the nature of Christian discipleship.

Discipleship is both a picture and a promise of life with Jesus. It is a picture because, as we learn to love and follow Jesus, our lives slowly become a picture of his life—and the life of the church gradually becomes a picture of the life of heaven. The life of discipleship is also a promise. It is a promise because we learn and follow Jesus by faith, not by sight. Even when we struggle to feel his blessings, we believe his promises.

Because baptism is a mark of discipleship, baptism is also a picture and a promise. It is a picture and promise of the gospel, a “sign and seal of the covenant of grace” (Westminster Confession of Faith 28.1). Through “washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” baptism pictures and promises “our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 94). As we see these blessings pictured in the washing, we believe that Jesus gives them to us.

This latter point must be emphasized: the blessings of baptism only become ours as we believe the gospel promises. The connection between baptism and the blessings it depicts is not automatic. Pictures and promises are powerful, but they are not mechanical. The link is real, but it is spiritual (WCF 27.2). The New Testament is clear that forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and every other blessing of being united with Christ, require personal faith in Jesus (John 3:36; Acts 16:31; Eph. 2.8–9; 1 John 1:9; see also WSC Q. 91).

All of this is just another way of circling back to our central definition. Baptism is a mark of discipleship. And the chief mark of a disciple is that we believe the promises of Jesus.

Who Is to Be Baptized?

One of the greatest controversies among Protestant Christians today is this question: Who is to be baptized? In other words, is it okay to baptize infants, or should the church only baptize adults?

If we remember that baptism is a mark of discipleship, then a clear principle follows: We should baptize a person as soon as they become a disciple of Jesus. This principle adjusts the question to: Who is considered a disciple of Jesus, and when does one become a disciple?

Adults become disciples of Jesus as soon as they believe and confess their faith. At the day of Pentecost, those who were “cut to the heart” and believed the gospel were immediately baptized: “Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:37–41). The same practice was followed in the conversion of Lydia (16:14–15) and the Philippian jailer (16:25–34).

But adult converts are not the only persons described in the New Testament as disciples of Jesus. The Apostle Paul is very clear that the children of Christians are also to be seen as Christian disciples: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). If the children of Christians are disciples, then should they not also receive baptism as the mark of their discipleship?

This is in fact what we see in the rest of the New Testament: the “households” of adult converts were baptized along with the head of the household. Lydia’s household was baptized when she believed (Acts 16:15). The household of the Philippian jailer was baptized when he believed (Acts 16:33). The Apostle Paul later writes of baptizing the “household of Stephanas” (1 Cor. 1:16).

Can we be sure that “households” in the New Testament included children? The answer is yes. When the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to describe the qualifications for church overseers, he explicitly included children as part of an overseer’s household: “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Tim. 3:4–5). The Greek word translated “household,” used twice in these verses in a way that clearly includes children (“keeping his children submissive”), is the exact same word (oikos) that is used when households were baptized (Acts 16:15; 1 Cor. 1:16).

It is worth noting that this New Testament pattern of household discipleship is not new at all. We see the same concept in the Old Testament. When the book of Genesis described the household of Abraham, it included both children and servants (Gen. 17:27). When Joseph cared for his father’s and brothers’ households, he included their dependents (Gen. 47:12). Furthermore, the Old Testament commanded that children be raised as disciples: “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:6–7). “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).

Christians can disagree on the significance of the parallels between the Old and New Testaments. However, even without parallels from the Old Testament, the New Testament alone answers the question of whether we should baptize children. The New Testament clearly includes children as part of households. The New Testament clearly describes households being baptized. The New Testament clearly commands Christians to raise our children as disciples of Jesus. Therefore, it is appropriate and necessary to conclude that the children of Christians should receive baptism, the mark of discipleship.

The Beauty of Christian Baptism

Jesus had beautiful purposes in commanding us to baptize both adult believers and their children. Baptism is beautiful because it is the promise of the gospel in a form we can see and feel. As a “sign and seal,” it calls us to remember and believe many truths essential to our Christian lives. What are these truths, and how should they affect us?

We have already seen baptism does not automatically change our hearts. However, baptism does permanently change our team: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). As a mark of discipleship, baptism is a mark of our new allegiance.

As a mark of new allegiance, baptism is a mark of our new destiny. Consider again the verses just quoted. Can any of us imagine what it means, both for the present and for the future, to be joined to the body of Christ that transcends every nation, tribe, people, and language? Can any of us fathom the full goodness of what it means to “put on Christ”—to be made fully and forever clean in his righteousness, to the very bottom of our being?

As a mark of new destiny, baptism promises God’s power to change us even now. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). “Newness of life” means Christians must “no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15). How? “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). As we walk by the Spirit, we begin to experience and grow into the life of heaven and the new creation. Baptism is thus a mark of new life.

Finally, as a mark of new life, baptism reminds us that we are part of a better story—a journey which, however dark the path, ends in pleasures unfading: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11); “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Baptism is beautiful because it reminds us of the gospel. Every time we witness a baptism or recall our own, we should refresh and reassure our souls with the goodness and promises of God in Jesus Christ. As we do this, our lives will bear new fruit. “By serious and thankful consideration” of our baptism and its benefits, “by being humbled for our sinful defilement” yet “drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized” and “endeavoring to live by faith,” we will grow up “in holiness and righteousness . . . and . . . walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body” (Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 167).

The author is general secretary of the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension. New Horizons, January 2025.