Online Bible Study - Foundations of Faith

Baptism

Any person that can believe is also included in all nations and should be baptised. Who can believe? All people can believe, even babies. The Lord says in Luke 18:16-17, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Jesus, who sees the heart as no human being can see it, knew that these little ones that had come to Him, could and did indeed "believe." That makes infant baptism valid, just as adult baptism is valid. Yet, we need to be ever mindful to have mutual respect towards the common practices of baptism throughout the Church.

Can a person be saved and go to heaven without baptism?
First, let us remember that it is God's command that all believers be baptized. That is what should happen, if at all possible. However, if a person believes and has the desire to be baptized, but would die before being baptized, in the mercy of God, we believe that he/she would be saved. Dr. Walter Albrecht, Professor of Dogmatics at Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield IL, in his 1951 lectures on Francis Pieper's, "Christian Dogmatics," stated, "It is not the absence of Baptism that damns, but the willful rejection of Baptism." This statement is consistent with Jesus words in Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Clearly it is not believing or the lack of faith that brings God's condemnation.

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