Baptism and salvation
What does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to be born again? How does a person in the WELS church know if they have the gift of eternal life/salvation? Is Baptism essential to salvation/going to heaven? What exactly do you believe happens when an infant is baptized related to faith and salvation? Thank you for your time!
To be saved means to enjoy in faith the blessings Jesus Christ won for all people by his perfect life and innocent death: forgiveness of sins, peace with God and eternal life in heaven.
Being born again (John 3:5-8; 1 Peter 1:23) describes the converting work of the Holy Spirit.
The assurance of salvation comes from God himself. His gospel message declares people forgiven through the work of Jesus Christ (John 3:16; 10:27-28; Matthew 26:28; 1 John 1:7; 2:2). The salvation won by Jesus is enjoyed through God-given faith in him (Mark 16:16; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9).
We speak of Baptism being necessary in the sense that the Lord commands us to administer Baptism. However, Baptism not absolutely necessary for salvation because the Holy Spirit can bring people to saving faith in Jesus through the gospel in Word alone. In situations like that, people will still want to be baptized—to do what Jesus says and to receive, in addition to the message of the Bible, another guarantee of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ.
We believe that the Holy Spirit can work through Baptism to create the faith in infants and children that connects them to Jesus. We baptize children because they have a need for baptism by their sinfulness (Psalm 51:5), they can believe (Psalm 8:2; Luke 18:15-17) and they are part of the object of the great commission – “all nations” (Matthew 28:19).