Children are born in sin and need to be redeemed.

“Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)

“As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’” (Romans 3:10)

Faith is a gift. Baptism creates faith in the heart of a child. Children can believe.

“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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

“At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them to his house and set a meal before them, and the whole family was filled with joy because they had come to believe in God.” (Acts 16:33-34)

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”(Titus 3:5-7)

“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

Baptism is the beginning of a life lived in relationship with and for Jesus Christ.

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life … For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because any one who has died to sin has been freed from sin … in this way count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:3-4, 6-7, 11)

Baptism is not an act on our part but an act on God’s part. It is not an act of human obedience to a divine command, but an act of divine grace for a sinful human. It is not an outward confession by us but an inward resurrection by God. Baptism is not a symbol (representing something not really there) but a sacrament (the working of God’s grace to us in Christ). Baptism makes it possible to live a lifestyle of daily dying to our old sinful self and rising to live with and for Jesus Christ.