Baptism meditation, May 1

Why do we baptize babies? This seems to many Christians, especially in America, like a strange tradition, a leftover of the formalism and nominal Christianity of the medieval Roman Catholic church. And even to many of us who believe we should baptize our babies, it seems like a somewhat extraneous custom. Why do we baptize babies? That question can really be answered only by a story.

The Triune God has existed in perfect fullness of joy and life from all eternity. He needs nothing, but is perfectly content and infinitely happy in the fellowship of Father, Son and Spirit. And yet, out of sheer goodness, love, and delight in His creative power, God created a world to display His glory. At the crown of this creation, God made man, a creature made to share in His glory and life forever. God created man so that He would bestow His glory and life on Him. That was God�s plan for the human race.

Adam sinned, and instead of life and glory, humanity plunged into death and shame. Yet, God did not give up on His original plan to form a human race that would share in His glory and life. He called Abraham to be the father of this race, and Israel became the new humanity. Israel was not merely a �religious�Egroup among other religious groups. Israel was the nation called to live in the presence of the Creator, in communion with the Creator, as all humanity was called to live. Yahweh intended for Israel to be the seed of a new human race. To show that Israel was a new human race and not merely a club for religious people, the infants of Israel, the males, were formally incorporated into Israel. Israel included all sorts and conditions of men �Einfants, toddlers, teenagers, adults, the elderly �Ebecause the human race included all sorts and conditions of men. And Israel was the human race renewed.

Like Adam, Israel failed to be what the Creator called her to be. And yet God the Creator did not give up on His plan to form a human race that would share in His glory and life. What Israel could not go, weak as she was in the flesh, God did. God sent His Son to become Israel, to do what Israel had not done, to recapitulate the life and history of Israel but to reverse it by living the history of Israel righteously. God�s intention in Jesus was His original intention with Adam, to form a new Israel, the truly new human race, through and in the Son of God. And, like Israel, this new Israel includes all sorts and conditions of men �Einfants, toddlers, teenagers, adults, the elderly �Ebecause it is the human race renewed. The church, marked out by the water-boundary of baptism, is, theoretically if not actually, coextensive with the human race.

You see, if you refuse to baptize infants, then you are saying that God�s plans have changed. Once upon a time, God intended to form a new human race that would share His life and glory. But that plan failed, so He has now decided to gather together adults who will share in that life and glory.

Infant baptism, then, is not some extraneous and odd practice of the church. It is bound up with the whole plan and purpose of God. In baptism, we are retelling the story of the human race, and of God�s redemption, which is a fulfillment of creation.

As your child is baptized today, remember the breadth of this event. Her baptism is taking place in a corner of the world, but her baptism is telling the story of the world. And as she grows, remind her of this. And when she asks, why did I get baptized, Daddy, tell her this story, the story of creation and new creation.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, May 01, 2005 at 07:40 AM

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