Beginning Well – Infant Dedication

In the interest of full disclosure I should acknowledge that I was baptized by immersion as a young person based on a confession of faith, signifying my acceptance of God's saving grace in Christ and full purpose to follow him. My baptism took place in the sanctuary where I currently worship. Although in the years in between that time and this one I have lived in different places far from here, my spiritual journey continues to circle back to my baptism and what it means for me.

Mark Quanstrom's story and mine are different in this respect. And I'd like to bring my perspective to this conversation. At the same time I want to affirm my colleague and friend. Our disagreement is substantive but quite congenial. In this spirit let me identify some key considerations that should guide our thinking - and practice - of infant baptism/dedication.

1) Baptism is the sacrament of Christian initiation. It sacramentally celebrates God's saving work in the life of the baptized.  This is true of all baptism - infant or adult. In the long history of the church when infants have been baptized it has been on the basis of God's immediate work of saving grace or in proleptic (i.e. stating or claiming a future reality in the present) anticipation of God's future work of saving grace. The contemporary reconsideration of infant baptism as a sacrament of prevenient grace is an innovation that risks redefining the fundamental meaning of baptism. While appealing to Wesleyans on a number of grounds, this innovation needs to be carefully considered.

God's gift of prevenient grace is universal. It (He) is at work among Moslems, Hindus, and atheists. This makes a specific Christian sacrament for prevenient grace unnecessary and, in some sense, inappropriate. On the basis of prevenient grace every child stands accepted by God. An adequate sacramental expression would need to be as universal as the sacramental grace signified in the sacrament.

When infant baptism is practiced as a sign of prevenient grace it is, I think, actually celebrating the preparatory work of prevenient grace in anticipation of eventual response and acceptance by the recipient, i.e. as saving grace. It is prevenient grace realized in salvation, not prevenient grace, per se, that is being celebrated. Understood in this way, it functionally reflects the classic definition of baptism as the sacrament of initiation, a sign of saving grace.

2) As a sign of God's work of saving grace baptism should be considered a soteriology in microcosm. Baptism, in sacramental sign and ritual, demonstrates our understanding of salvation. It is a form of practiced theology. As a sacrament it is a particularly important expression of practiced theology. Because this is true we need to consider our practice of infant baptism/dedication in light of the understanding of salvation it demonstrates.

The critical issue for me is the question of a necessary personal response for our salvation. In the early years of the Protestant Reformation Ulrich Zwingli, the Zurich reformer, developed the basic theological understanding of baptism for the Reformed tradition. He considered opting for adult baptism but settled on infant baptism as the most appropriate mode of baptism. The reason for this decision focused on the relative Divine - human roles in salvation. In Zwingli's understanding of salvation (retained by the Reformed tradition) salvation is determined by God's decision alone. Humans beings respond where grace is (irresistibly) given but do not determine where - or with whom - it is effective. God is the sole (initiating) actor. Human persons are acted upon. Salvation is entirely gift - where God alone chooses to give it. Therefore, a practice of baptism in which the human receptor is totally passive is the most appropriate expression of this understanding of salvation.

A Wesleyan understanding of salvation, however, differs critically at the point of necessary - even determinative - human response. Prevenient grace is given universally, but saving grace is received in response to faith. God enables our ability to respond but does not determine it. Our salvation is all God's grace and yet, at the same time, is dependent upon our response to that grace.

For this reason, a mode of baptism that includes a role for human response to grace seems more appropriate to this understanding of salvation. That is not to say that confessing baptism is about us but to say that it cannot really proceed without us. To affirm a necessary human role does not require making baptism a man-centered sacrament. We may have often been guilty of doing just that but the fault is in the performance of the sacrament, not the sacrament itself.

3) Infant Baptism is typically an incomplete sacrament. The practice of infant baptism and later confirmation reflects this problem. Confirmation and anointing with oil (as a sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit), completing the sacrament of baptism and followed by a first celebration of the Eucharist, was part of the practice of the sacrament until the 4^th- 5^th century. Eventually in the Western church infant baptism was separated from this completing component of baptism, which became adult (or at least adolescent) confirmation and first communion. The importance of a personal confession (or at least informed consent) is reflected in this practice. The delayed admission to the Eucharistic table reflects this provisional status. Infants are baptized into the salvific community of the church, but not quite fully.

Understood in this way, the progression of infant baptism -> confirmation is not that different from infant dedication -> confessing baptism. Both affirm the importance of God's work in the life of the infant that intends to move the child toward a personally affirmed acceptance of a saving relationship with Christ. However, it bears noting that in Church of the Nazarene, for instance, an infant may be baptized but we have no ritual point of confirmation, leaving the baptism incomplete. Or, theologically, we are saying that infant baptism is enough, that prevenient grace is adequate saving grace.

4) Constructive option #1 - Infant Dedication -> Confessing Baptism

My personal preference is dedication of the infant and confessing baptism of a reasonably mature adolescent or adult. Infant dedication is a celebration of prevenient grace without elevating this to a sacramental grace. That grace is both a universal reality for every child and a particular reality in the life of a child whose parents bring him/her into the community of the church. A proleptic claiming of the child for the Kingdom, anticipating a future personal appropriation of faith and the commitment of the family and church to that end are elements of an infant dedication. All of these can be affirmed and celebrated without sacramental status and reflect the provisional commitment and expectation of parents and community on behalf of the (passive) infant. This marks the journey of the child as a journey in Gods' grace and the family and church as a means of grace. Infant dedication should be a theologically rich act of worship by the church community.

Confessing baptism realizes the proleptic promise of infant dedication when the dedicated infant matures to a personal appropriation of faith and commitment to follow Christ. Baptism should still center on God's central work of grace in Christ and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In fact, confessing baptism is a great opportunity to clarify the appropriate Divine - human roles in salvation. Priority can - and should - be given to God's initiative and gift of enabling grace while affirming the decisive role of human response.

5) Constructive option #2 - Infant Baptism -> Confirmation

While I prefer infant dedication and confessing baptism it is possible to construct a rationale and process for infant baptism that is theologically faithful to our understanding of salvation. It is important in this approach to affirm the sacrament of baptism as a sign of saving grace which we celebrate - on the basis of God's prevenient grace at work in the life of the child - in anticipation (proleptically) of its realization. It should be clear that the sacrament is incomplete (at least in effect) until the grace is personally appropriated by the recipient. To fail to make this clear is to risk leaving the impression that the sacrament of infant baptism is sufficient for salvation. In addition, the commitments of the family and community should be as much a part of infant baptism as infant dedication. They are all constructive means of God's grace in the life of the child who participate in bringing the child to personal faith.

Infant baptism needs a completing ordinance to adequately demonstrate our understanding of salvation. A confession confirmation should be practiced to complete the baptism of an infant. I have routinely offered this as an option for adults - baptized as infants - exploring confessing baptism. Incorporating them into a baptismal service, including the confession of faith, provides a setting for the public personal confirmation of the saving grace signified in baptism. This allows for a meaningful personal declaration of faith without repetition of the sacrament of baptism. I have made it a standard practice to offer this as a positive alternative while finally deferring to the conscience/judgment of the candidate whether they would be confirmed or baptized.

Development, adoption, and consistent practice of a ritual for confirmation is needed if we are going to continue to offer the option of infant baptism. Our sacramental practice as it stands now is inconsistent theologically and in practice. We implicitly portray two differing understandings of salvation and create confusion and uncertainty for baptismal candidates.

Conclusion

Baptism conveys an important theological message. It portrays the way of salvation. It can powerfully imprint its meaning (both explicit and implicit) on those who participate in the sacrament. We underestimate the effect of the sacrament at our loss, even peril. It merits our serious attention to the theological message we proclaim as we celebrate it.