Can I Baptize My Child?

Name: Billy
Question: I’ve recently been blessed with a baby boy. There’s a lot of talk about ‘making sure you get those good ole vaccines ASAP or else this or that ‘ I want to get my son baptized. What I consider the vaccine for his soul. Can I baptize my own son? Should I? I live in a small town and reaching out to churches always ends up with me finding it’s a Catholic Church who tries to put me through the ringer with applications, back and forth emails and other nonsense. I feel as a Christian, my baptism is as good as any so called priests. Is this true?

Answer: Congratulations Billy! Thank you for the question as well.

Can I Baptize My Child?

Absolutely.

Generally speaking, a Christian can baptize a non-Christian, but not the other way around. One must already be a believer in Jesus Christ to baptize someone else.

Please turn your Bible and listen to the Words of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:19
19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

Jesus Christ was speaking to His Disciples. This is the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:20
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Jesus Christ told the Disciples to go spread the Gospel message to the world. It is important to note the word “disciples(Strong’s: G3101) from Matthew 28:16 means, “a learner, that is, pupil“.

Today that means you and I, not just pastors of various congregations. We as Christians are to teach all nations, the people of the world to observe the things written in the Scriptures.

When the individual understands that Jesus Christ brings us salvation, when they understand that His Blood washes away our sins, then we baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, (Romans 10:9).

We are going to document that statement from an actual account, aside from Romans 10:9 and John 3:16.

Philip And The Eunuch

To set the stage “the angel of the Lord” told Philip who was one of the Twelve Disciples to go to Gaza. Philip did as the “angel of the Lord” commanded and saw “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,” (Acts 8:26-27).

This eunuch had authority and came to worship our Father in Jerusalem. Then the Holy Spirit told Philip to go the chariot, Philip did and found the eunuch reading the book of Isaiah. Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading, the eunuchs reply was simply, “how can I, except some man should guide me,” (Acts 8:28-35)?

The eunuch needed assistance, he needed direction and he asked Philip to join him which he did. Philip went on to explain the Scripture and preached Christ’s Message to him as well.

With that we will now turn our Bible to,

Acts 8:36
36 “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

The eunuch asked to be baptized documenting he heard the message of Christ and accepted it.

Acts 8:37
37 “And 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.”

Philip certainly did not have any paper “qualifications” to teach or baptize, but that did not matter to Christ, did it?

Christ already told him to teach and baptize those who would believe.

Acts 8:38
38 “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”

This was no special event as some might think of, there was no crowd, no special papers handed out. They simply found water on the roadside and the eunuch was baptized, one for God.

Acts 8:39
39 “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”

Our Father must have been exceedingly happy with Philip for following His Instructions and due to that, a soul was saved.

My point here is simple Billy. You do not need to be a “qualified pastor” to baptize someone. You have already been given the authority by Christ.

Should I Baptize My Baby?

I just touched on this in last weeks Bible Q&A titled, “Can We Be Saved Without Baptism?

What happened in the account we just read concerning Philip and the eunuch?

Philip brought the message of Christ forward, the eunuch accepted it and he himself asked to be baptized. Philip then confirmed the eunuch did in fact understand and believe by stating,

If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

The eunuch confirmed his belief by stating,

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

What does this mean then?

It means in order for someone to be baptized they must understand why they are being baptized. As Romans 10:9 tells us,

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

We must believe, the desire to be baptized must come from within our heart, mind and soul.

Peter on Pentecost Day

Further, on Pentecost Day Peter stood before all the people who came to Jerusalem and said,

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. – Acts 2:38

He told them to become baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That means to accept Him as we just learned from Philip and for the remission of sins.

A baby has not yet sinned in the flesh, a baby is born innocent and does not yet know good or evil.

Is My Baptism As Good As A Preist?

The answer to that question as we have documented in the Scriptures, absolutely.

Unfortunately Billy, today we have multitudes of various denominations that represent Christ. He sent us one message, but it has become many with various different teachings.

If one were to believe only a “qualified pastor” could baptize, then which denomination provides the correct “qualifications“?

We should know our qualifications do not come from men, our qualifications come from our Heavenly Father.

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