Baptism and Your Junior Higher

September, 2007

by: Walt Robertson

Baptism is a symbolic gesture to identify with Christ. Baptism does not save; it is only a symbol for those who are already Christians. For example, Peter in Acts 2:38 tells the crowd to first repent and then to be baptized because their sins are forgiven. If someone were to die before being baptized they would still go to heaven. If someone were to be baptized, but wasn’t really a Christian, they would still go to Hell. In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” So we see that belief is what saves and unbelief what condemns, but baptism is expected to follow belief. Baptism is a public identification with Christ to tell everyone who may be watching, “I am a Christian”. It is only for people who have repented and believed the Gospel (Mark 1:15, I Cor 15:1-3). We have already seen that Jesus expects baptism to follow belief, but in Matthew 18:19 He commands that we baptize in the name (that is, “in authority of”) The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So, can junior high students be baptized? To answer that question, we have to ask if junior high students can really be Christians. Can a 10 to 14-year-old really understand what it means to repent and put their faith in Christ, that his death and resurrection paid their penalty of sin in their place? The reason the two are tied together is only because being a Christian is all that is required to qualify for baptism in the Bible and at Calvary Bible Church. The Bible places no age restriction on belief or faith.

But, we do want to be cautious that our junior higher who wants to be baptized is truly saved; we do not want to be giving him or her a false sense of security that they are saved, if they have not truly repented and put their trust in Christ. Even after repeatedly informing people that baptism doesn’t save, there are those that miss that point. Therefore, we ask them to attend the church’s baptism class, generally held for two consecutive weeks, together with the adult candidates for baptism (check the bulletin). In that class they will be carefully taught what the Bible says about baptism and asked to examine themselves to see if they really are in the faith or not. If they conclude they are saved based on the truths they have been taught from Scripture, then we will believe them and baptize them based on their profession of faith in accordance with Christ’s command.