Defence of Baptism (Historio-Theological Approach)

One of the major sacraments of Christianity is baptism. The major controversies that revolve around this sacrament of baptism bother on who should be baptized? How should it be done? And what it means to be baptized? More generally the debate within the arena of baptism has to do with whether it is legitimate to baptize infants, and if so, what theological justification may be provided for the practice. This paper critically examines the various propositions for and against infant baptism and provides a justification for the doctrine. While the doctrine of baptism itself is still contested in many spheres, we attempt to operationalize it in order to put our discussion in proper perspective. We adopt the Westminster Catechism definition of baptism thus, ‘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”. By washing is meant any such application of water to the body as effects its purification, either by immersion, effusion, or sprinkling. The command, therefore to baptize is simply a command to immerse, to effuse, or to sprinkle.