Is there a uniform credo answer as to under what age a church will refuse to baptize a person? Or how long a person has to wait before baptism?Hello all.
Interesting thread but reading through it, I'm not sure if i'm getting confused by all the different folks replying: is there a uniform paedo answer to the OP's question? Or does it vary by Reformed denomination or individual church or individual situation?
Thanks.
Those are similar questions to the one being asked.
There are baptist churches who will baptize a two year old. There are baptists churches who will baptize an 18 yr old professor the same day he makes a profession. And there are those that won't baptize a professor of age 40 unless he's been faithfully attending one particular baptist church for two solid years, after his profession.
So... it's probably safe to say: there's some variety of practice within the baptist-milieu.
I think its fair to say that the same exact answer obtains with respect to Reformed practice.
Our Confessions state our doctrinal commitments. Age is not referred to.
Our various Church Orders explain our denominational policies. I don't know of any that spell an age out in detail. But how can I know more than a handful?
But there's probably a reason why no one has offered any specific age-limit. Because there's none that anybody knows of. Meanwhile, there are various factors that might be accounted for in desciding for or against. Which implies a situation-specific, wisdom-directed response in each special case.
The Bible speaks of household baptisms. Biblically, the definition of "household" describes all kinds of situations. Should a church be more "rigid" than the Bible?
The Bible presents us with situations where parents say, "He is of age; let him speak for himself" (Jn.9:21), down to situations where there are those who don't know their right hand from their left (Jonah 4:11).
People leave home at different times. And people give evidence that they are quasi-independent at different times and places even if they are "at home," depending on culture, time of life, gender, and other factors too numerous to catalog.