Baptism and adults

We believe that God uses baptism to create faith in infants—they need it because of their inherent sinfulness. Why is the same not true of older people? Why would we say that baptism instantly creates faith in babies but not in adults?

Through water and the word God can bring anyone – of any age – to faith. The gospel is God’s power to save (Romans 1:16). With adults, we ordinarily provide some instruction in God’s word before administering Baptism because that is how we see the New Testament church functioning in the book of Acts. What we see most often in life is that God changes the hearts of adults through his word alone. That same word, then, provides adults with information about the importance and blessings of Baptism, which they are encouraged to receive.

Like children, adults are in need of God’s forgiveness because of their sinful natures and their actual sins. Christian faith, created through the word of God alone or through water and the word in Baptism, connects people to Jesus Christ in faith and gives them the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that Jesus won.