Many people were baptized as infants. Some were christened because their parents believed it would remove their original sin inherited at conception. Others were baptized because their parents believed it replaced circumcision in the New Covenant and was required for their child to enter heaven. Still, others were christened for various religious reasons or purposes not mentioned here.
Regardless of why a person was baptized as an infant, Scripture is clear on the purpose and meaning of water baptism, which answers the crucial question about adult rebaptism.
In the New Testament, water baptism was an act of obedience that served as a public witness and testimony of a person’s identification with and new life in Christ. It was an outward, visible act that symbolized the inward, invisible change that transpired when that person “died to sin” and “rose to life,” having trusted Jesus exclusively for their salvation and forgiveness (Romans 6:3-7; Colossians 2:11-14). For this reason, God’s Word instructs born-again believers to be water baptized (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).
However, water baptism cannot and does not cleanse or remove sins. On the contrary, Hebrews 9:22 declares, “According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Paul also stated in Ephesians 1:7-8, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” As such, water is incapable of cleansing sin or rendering a person spiritually clean.
Likewise, water baptism does not possess salvific power. Individuals can only obtain God’s forgiveness and redemption by placing their faith exclusively in Jesus Christ for what He accomplished through His blood. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:16, “A man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” He also wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Given these biblical truths, a person who was baptized as an infant but later trusted Jesus by faith for their redemption should be rebaptized for the reasons and purposes stated above. However, if an individual was baptized as an infant and is relying on that involuntary act to cleanse and save them, they remain in their sinful state before God, and their baptism accomplished nothing of value.
I hope this information on baptism and rebaptism was helpful. For additional verses on Jesus’ blood, which alone cleanses sinners, click here. For more passages on justification through faith alone, click here.
