Given the significance of church membership and baptism, a few comments are appropriate.
Why Church Membership Matters
Let me begin with church membership and some questions that naturally arise. Why are these individuals even bothering to formally join Tenth Presbyterian Church this morning? Why not simply attend? Why is membership necessary at all?
The answer is simple: church membership is biblical.
Scripture presents us with rich images that describe the relationship between Christ and the church. Christ is the bridegroom, and the church is the bride. Christ is the head, and the church is His body. Christ is the King, and the church is His people. Christ is the cornerstone of the temple, and the church is made up of living stones being built up in Him. Christ is our elder brother who, by His Spirit, connects us to our Father. In this way, the church is the family of God, the household of God.
Each of these images—each picture and metaphor—communicates the idea of church membership: of being in relationship with Christ and with one another, of belonging. And because these images describe formal relationships, Presbyterians believe in establishing formal relationships between Christ and Christians. That is precisely what we call church membership.
If you are here and have been attending for some time, if you profess faith in Christ but are not a member, may I warmly encourage you to become a member here at Tenth. To be a Christian and not a member of a church is like watching a big toe bounce down Spruce Street all by itself. It is a ridiculous picture—and yet this is how some Christians function in relation to the church.
The Bible encourages us to belong to the body of Christ. That is what Will and Anita, Michael and Rebecca, and Ryken are doing this morning. They desire to belong, and we desire them to belong. Today they transfer their membership to Tenth Presbyterian Church.
Baptism and Church Membership for Children
For this child, the situation is somewhat different. She is not transferring her membership; she is becoming a member through Christian baptism.
That raises an important question: Why do we baptize babies and children in this church, especially when there is no explicit command in Scripture to do so? Why not wait until they grow up, repent, believe for themselves, and then be baptized?
I am glad you asked.
Christian baptism is an ordinance instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and administered by His ministers through the application of water. The critical question is this: to whom should that water be applied? The biblical answer is to converts—and to their children.
But why children, especially when they are not old enough to understand what is happening? There are three reasons.
1. Children Have Always Been Part of God’s Creation Order
We baptize children because children have always been a part of God’s creation order.
In the beginning, God commanded Adam to be fruitful and multiply. This was not a temporary command, meant only for the earliest days of human history. It was a once-for-all command that reflects the order of creation itself. Children are how the world is meant to develop. They are woven into the fabric of creation.
Another way to say this is that what was stitched into the order of creation is not unstitched in the order of salvation. What God redeems after the fall is creation itself. And since family is part of the infrastructure of creation, God redeems families as families.
We see this pattern consistently throughout Scripture. God commands Adam to be fruitful and multiply. That command becomes a promise to Abraham: I will multiply your offspring. It becomes a promise to Israel: I will keep my steadfast love to you and to a thousand generations. It becomes a promise to David: You will never fail to have a son to sit on your throne.
What God commanded to Adam, He gifted to Abraham, Israel, and David.
God’s saving grace does not ignore, bypass, or abolish the natural order of creation, particularly the family. Rather, redemption restores it. This is the first reason we baptize children.
2. Children Have Always Been Part of God’s Covenant Promises
Second, we baptize children because children have always been included in God’s covenant promises.
In Scripture, there is not a single covenant from which children are excluded. God’s covenant with Adam was made with him and his children. God’s covenant with Noah was made with him and his children. God’s covenant with Abraham was made with him and his children. God’s covenant with Israel extended to a thousand generations. God’s covenant with David included his future sons.
The same principle is reaffirmed in the new covenant. Old Testament prophecies that speak of the coming new covenant explicitly mention children. Deuteronomy 30:6 declares, I will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children after you. Jeremiah 32:39 promises, I will do good to you and to your children after you.
The New Testament reinforces this pattern. In Acts 2:39, Peter proclaims, The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, whom the Lord our God will call.
Children are included in every single biblical covenant. And as John Calvin famously observed, if they are included in the covenant, then they ought to receive the sign of the covenant—which is Christian baptism. That is the second reason we baptize children here at Tenth Presbyterian Church.
3. God Does Not Change
The third reason we baptize children is simple and foundational: God is God, and He does not change.
His creation order does not change. His covenant promises do not change. And behind both creation and covenant stands an unchanging God. If children were included in the Old Testament covenants—which are all administrations of the one covenant of grace—why would they suddenly be excluded from the new covenant, which is simply the final administration of that same covenant of grace?
God does not change how He relates to children between the Old and the New Testaments. That is the third reason we baptize children here at Tenth.