Q. Does Christening make you a christian
It sounds good, 'christening' After all it has the word 'christ' embedded in it but is there any spiritual merit in this ritual? Thousands of babies every year are christened, sprinkled with a few drops of water and grow up telling people they were baptised and maybe later confirmed. Let us begin with the word 'baptize.' The greek word used throughout the New Testament is 'baptizō.' The word always means to immerse or submerge. It nowhere means to sprinkle. There is a word translated sprinkling in Hebrews 11:28 'proschysis' - it means literally to pour or sprinkle. So if God had wanted us to understand baptism as pouring water over someone He would have used 'proschysis' not 'baptizo'. While infant baptism is not found in the bible it may be worth understanding a little of the misconception that led to this wrong practice. For the first 300 years in the church up to Constantine baptism was practiced biblically after conversion and it was immersion under the water and coming out of the water it publicly was a declaration of a person having placed faith in Jesus Christ and dying to sin (buried under the water in baptism) and rising to walk in newness of life (coming up out of the water). However two things at least led to infants being sprinkled:
1) The emphasis on original sin from birth. To baptize a baby was actually seen as admitting the child was born with a sinful nature and needed cleansed. The former of course was true, every child is conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) but water has no cleansing power only the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin and a child must be able to understand that before it is accountable for sin.
2) The second reason was owing to the fact that baptsim upon conversion was seen rightfully as a public confession of the fact that you now belonged to the family of the faithful through faith in Christ. While that was true the error that crept in was some actually began to teach that baptism was what brought you into the family of God and therefore a child born into a 'christian family' should only need to have baptism administered at birth to bring them into the family of God. It is called 'baptismal regeneration.' In John 3 however Jesus did not say to the religious Nicodemus, 'ye must be baptised' He said 'ye must be born again.' Some appeal to the fact that Jesus Christ said ye must be born of water and of the Spirit meaning 'literal water.' But that doesn't make sense because the birth he is talking about is not literal but spiritual and the bible clearly teaches that water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the rest of the chapter emphasis is laid not on baptising but 'believing on the Son' to have everlasting life. (John 3:36) To say baptism makes you a christian is also claiming that something we can do has an atoning value which devalues the work of Christ on the cross.
But some will argue Infant baptism is just an act of consecration, and looks to subsequent instruction and personal conversion, as a condition to full membership of the church. This is why confirmation came in as a supplement to infant baptism. But neither infant baptism or confirmation are found in the bible and therefore are wrong though they may have good intent. How can a person claim to be converted because they have been confirmed in something they were totally unaware of as a child. Conversion is real and makes a real change in the heart which cannot come through a man-made ceremony in the church. The jailor in Acts 16:31 cried out 'what must I do to be saved?' The reply was not 'be confirmed or baptised' He was baptised later but first Paul and Silas answered, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.'
Who then should be baptised?
In Acts 8:36 the Ethiopian Euncuh asks Phillip ' See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?' Phillip first of all ensures the man is saved and a believer in Jesus Christ. 'Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' Then look at how baptism is done. Phillip doesn't sprinkle him with a few drops of water. 'he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.' Notice they 'went down INTO the water.' Why? Because baptism is by immersion. If you are reading this and thinking infant baptism is enough to take you to Heaven, think again because it is not! You must be born again and that means born from above, repenting from your sin and placing faith in Jesus Christ to save you. Nothing else will do!
1) The emphasis on original sin from birth. To baptize a baby was actually seen as admitting the child was born with a sinful nature and needed cleansed. The former of course was true, every child is conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) but water has no cleansing power only the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin and a child must be able to understand that before it is accountable for sin.
2) The second reason was owing to the fact that baptsim upon conversion was seen rightfully as a public confession of the fact that you now belonged to the family of the faithful through faith in Christ. While that was true the error that crept in was some actually began to teach that baptism was what brought you into the family of God and therefore a child born into a 'christian family' should only need to have baptism administered at birth to bring them into the family of God. It is called 'baptismal regeneration.' In John 3 however Jesus did not say to the religious Nicodemus, 'ye must be baptised' He said 'ye must be born again.' Some appeal to the fact that Jesus Christ said ye must be born of water and of the Spirit meaning 'literal water.' But that doesn't make sense because the birth he is talking about is not literal but spiritual and the bible clearly teaches that water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the rest of the chapter emphasis is laid not on baptising but 'believing on the Son' to have everlasting life. (John 3:36) To say baptism makes you a christian is also claiming that something we can do has an atoning value which devalues the work of Christ on the cross.
But some will argue Infant baptism is just an act of consecration, and looks to subsequent instruction and personal conversion, as a condition to full membership of the church. This is why confirmation came in as a supplement to infant baptism. But neither infant baptism or confirmation are found in the bible and therefore are wrong though they may have good intent. How can a person claim to be converted because they have been confirmed in something they were totally unaware of as a child. Conversion is real and makes a real change in the heart which cannot come through a man-made ceremony in the church. The jailor in Acts 16:31 cried out 'what must I do to be saved?' The reply was not 'be confirmed or baptised' He was baptised later but first Paul and Silas answered, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.'
Who then should be baptised?
In Acts 8:36 the Ethiopian Euncuh asks Phillip ' See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?' Phillip first of all ensures the man is saved and a believer in Jesus Christ. 'Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' Then look at how baptism is done. Phillip doesn't sprinkle him with a few drops of water. 'he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.' Notice they 'went down INTO the water.' Why? Because baptism is by immersion. If you are reading this and thinking infant baptism is enough to take you to Heaven, think again because it is not! You must be born again and that means born from above, repenting from your sin and placing faith in Jesus Christ to save you. Nothing else will do!