Many preachers in the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches attempt to distance themselves from their Roman Catholic counterparts during an infant baptism service by reassuring Baptist converts in their congregations that there is no remission of sins during the administration of God’s second sacrament, namely baptism. They go to great lengths to explain that the sign and seal of God’s covenant is merely an admission into God’s “visible” church and does not signify that the child is regenerated. They go on to indicate that the aging child will be able to look back to their baptism as assurance that they are in God’s family only after a confession of faith is made. However if one investigates the creeds and confessions on which these two great churches are based, one gets a very different interpretation.
The Westminster Confession and Catechisms are what is used by Presbyterians while the Three Forms of Unity (the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism) are used for the Reformed Church.
Below PRT has placed in bold those sections that particularly and necessarily state that baptism is an indication of salvation as purported by those confessions/catechisms highlighting what these churches actually believe contrary to what you may hear on Sunday.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. 94. What is Baptism?
A. Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
The Heidelberg Catechism
Q. 69. How does holy Baptism remind and assure you that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross avails for you?
A. In this way: Christ has instituted this external washing with water and by it has promised that I am as certainly washed with his blood and Spirit from the uncleanness of my soul and from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water which is used to remove the dirt from my body.
Q. 70. What does it mean to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?
A. It means to have the forgiveness of sins from God, through grace, for the sake of Christ’s blood which he shed for us in his sacrifice on the cross, and also to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified as members of Christ, so that we may more and more die unto sin and live in a consecrated and blameless way.
Q. 71. Where has Christ promised that we are as certainly washed with his blood and Spirit as with the water of baptism?
A. In the institution of Baptism which runs thus: “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.” “He who believes and is baptized will be saved: but he who does not believe will be condemned.” This promise is also repeated where the Scriptures call baptism “the water of rebirth” and the washing away of sins.
Q. 73. Then why does the Holy Spirit call baptism the water of rebirth and the washing away of sins?
A. God does not speak in this way except for a strong reason. Not only does he teach us by Baptism that just as the dirt of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are removed by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but more important still, by the divine pledge and sign he wishes to assure us that we are just as truly washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.
Q. 74. Are infants also to be baptized?
A. Yes, because they, as well as their parents, are included in the covenant and belong to the people of God. Since both redemption from sin through the blood of Christ and the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit are promised to these children no less than to their parents, infants are also by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Covenant by circumcision. In the New Covenant baptism has been instituted to take its place.
The Westminster Confession Of Faith
Chapter XXVIII
1. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world.
5. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.
6. The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of time where in it is administered; yet, notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time.
The tradition of baptizing infants can only be seen as an unfortunate carryover from Roman Catholicism. As many know, it was not Martin Luther's intention to create a new church, but to reform the old. Consequently, one can see there may have been certain aspects of the old that would remain in a new, "reformed" Roman church; infant baptism being one of them. Regardless of the reasons or history of the practice, infant baptism is reflected by the confessions and creeds of the church as being at least a sign and seal given to those who have been saved and redeemed.
However if you are saying to yourself that baptism is merely an outward expression of an inward reality and has nothing to do with the old testament rite of circumcision, then you would be missing a rich and true understanding of one of the most sacred actions a Christian can take. In Peterson's book, "The Christ of the Covenants", he states "the interconnection between the seal of circumcision and the seal of the Holy Spirit provides the formal basis by which the corresponding purification rites of the old and new covenants relate to one another. Circumcision under the old covenant is replaced by baptism in the new covenant. The cleansing rite of the one covenant is replaced by the cleaning rite of the other." (page 162). This book is an excellent and describes covenants as opposed to dispensations. However, the covenants must be sealed. This seal is circumcision in the old testament and baptism in the new. He continues, "baptism under the new covenant accomplishes all that was represented in circumcision under the old. By being baptized, the Christian believer has experienced the equivalent of the cleansing rite of circumcision." (page 166)
Yes. Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of God. Yes. It is the new covenant's replacement for circumcision given to the children of Israel and its converts. Yes. It should be given to infants; to new born babies; to those converts to Christ. However, it should only be given to those that are
born again; to those who are babes in Christ; to those who are infants in the Christian faith. No. There is no assurety that these babies in the faith will continue in the faith, but there is a stronger probability. We cannot be certain about anyone's faith today, but what we should not be doing is giving one of the sacred signs of that faith to those who cannot and probably will not ever confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. Let us not be so bold, but let us refuse to even take part in such ceremonies and unscriptural traditions of man.
Part II
