Baptism and Church Membership: Voices Past and Present
How should we think about the connection between baptism and church membership? Here are some helpful quotes for our consideration.
My goal with this post is to provide a resource of quotes regarding the connection between baptism and church membership. As a Reformed Baptist, the majority (but not all) of these quotes will be from other Baptists (surprise, surprise). I don’t plan on commenting on the quotes, but I’ll embolden the parts I believe to be significant.
This list will be updated on an ongoing basis.
Last updated: June, 2024
Baptists
The New Hampshire Confession (1853)
We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His word; that its only scriptural officers are Bishops or Pastors, and Deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus.
2nd London Confession of Faith (28.1)
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only lawgiver, to be continued in his church to the end of the world.
The Baptist Catechism (#101)
Q. What is the Duty of such who are rightly baptized?
A. It is the Duty of such who are rightly baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly Church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless (Acts 2.41,42, 5:13, 14, 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5; Lk 1:6).
Baptist Teachings and Practices on Baptism in England 1600-1689 (Ph.D. Dissertation by Walter Moore, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, written in 1950)
Holy Baptism holds the first place among the sacraments, because it is the door of the spiritual life; for by it we are made members of Christ and incorporated with the church. (p.17)
In the Church of England, baptism was used both as a means of forgiving sin and as a sign of admission into the church. (p.127)
One can best understand the feeling of [John] Smyth, and also can best understand his views on the meaning of baptism, by studying his writing called The Character Of The Beast, Or The False Constitution of The Church. This is a statement of Smyth's arguments used in a controversy with Mr. Richard Clifton concerning true Christian baptism. This work, printed in I609, referred to two propositions: first, that infants are not to be baptized, and second, that antiChristians converted are to be admitted into the true church by baptism. (pp.128-129)
[John] Smyth also set forth his opinions on the baptism of Antichristians. In the second division of his argument he states:
II. That Antichristians converted are to be admitted into the true church by baptism.
Because churches are so to be constituted now after the defection of Antichrist as they were first erected by the Apostles: But in the constitution of churches the Apostles received in the members by baptism: Ergo: So must wee doe now. (Don’t mind the old English spellings) (p.133 of Moore’s dissertation; W. T. Whitley, Works Of John Smyth Vol. II., p.574)
In The English Baptist Reformation, George A. Lofton writes: Regarding baptism as the ceremonial constitution of the church, and that being lost, he struck upon the novel idea of baptizing himself and of then baptizing the rest of his company in communion, after each had made his confession of faith in Christ; and it was through the act of baptism that the church was constituted. (p.143)
There is nothing in [Thomas Helwys' Confession of Faith published in 1611] which differs from the statements made by Smyth. Article thirteen states "that every church is to receive in all their members by baptism upon the confession off their faith and sins wrought by the preaching off the Gospel". (p.154)
Baptist Political Theology (Thomas S. Kidd, Paul D. Miller, and Andrew T. Walker)
An inner logic connects adult baptism, conversion, religious freedom, and disestablishment. Baptism is a ritual that marks the entry of a penitent person into the church community by symbolizing the washing away of sin, the death of the old self and resurrection of the new self. Such a ritual has no meaning for infants or children who have no awareness or understanding of sin, repentance, or the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one can enter the kingdom of God apart from a conscious, inward, informed turning away from sin and toward Christ a turning that we call repentance and faith. And if people cannot enter the kingdom, they should not be counted full members of the local church, which is an embassy of the kingdom. The church should strive to have a membership made entirely of regenerate Christians, baptized adults who have made a public profession of faith and covenanted together to hold one another accountable for walking in holiness. (p.9)
Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem, Chapter 49: Baptism)
It is certainly true that baptism is the sign of entrance into the church, but this means that it should only be given to those who give evidence of membership in the church (p.1207)
George Beasley-Murray
To be baptized to Christ is to be baptized to his Body. And to be accepted by Christ into his church, but not by the local church into which he is baptized, would be preposterous.
Mike Gilbart-Smith
Just as faith-producing Spirit baptism is the door to membership of the invisible body of Christ, so public water baptism is the door to the visible church.
Christians across the centuries have recognized this. The question of “whom should we baptize” was identical to the question “whom should we admit to church membership”. So, when Thomas Shepard argues for infant baptism in seventeenth century New England, he entitles his treatise, “The Church Membership of Children.”
. . . Just as the marriage service and marital intercourse are signs of the marriage, so baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs of church membership. Baptism without church membership is like getting married and returning to the parental home (without your spouse!) (Link here)
Josh Buice (G3 Ministries)
One of the most intimate times of church membership will come at the entrance of it, through baptism. (Link here)
The act of baptism is one of the ordinances of the church. (Link here)
Thomas Schreiner
[Baptism] is “the” initiation rite into the Christian church, and hence it is not “optional” or “insignificant.” I don’t believe that baptism in and of itself saves, and someone may be a Christian and not undergo baptism because he or she misunderstands what Christ requires. In any case, believer’s baptism is important because it relates to our understanding of the nature of the church. The church is composed of regenerate church members (or at least it should be). (Link here)
Roy Fuller
Baptism came to be seen as the “initiation ritual” for the Christian church. Following baptism one was considered a full member of the community.
Stephen Kneale
The point, then, is that baptism marks your entrance to the visible church. Biblically, baptism marks your union with Christ which, simultaneously, signifies your union with his people. Historically, the church has understood baptism to mark entrance to the church. Those who trusted Christ were baptized and thus admitted to church membership upon their baptism. There was no separation between baptism and membership; the one entailed the other. Baptism was your entrance to membership of the church. (Link here)
John MacArthur
When Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them,” when He said that He gave a command to the church to baptize.
. . . Christ commands the church to baptize, the Holy Spirit commands the individual believer to be baptized, and when all 3,000 who believed on the day of Pentecost were immediately baptized, they set the example for the church. So we are under the commanding words of Christ as a church to baptize.
Grace Community Church
Here at Grace Church, we teach that baptism is an ordinance that Jesus established for His church. Its purpose is two-fold, signifying a person’s initiation into the church, and his declaration of faith and submission to the church’s builder and head, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Naturally, then, baptism is also a declaration of one’s intentional commitment to the local body of believers. As the believer publicly declares their union with Christ and intent to pursue Christlikeness in all things, the church gathers to witness this declaration and affirm its obligation to come alongside the individual in seeing that he or she is in fact obeying all that Jesus has commanded.
Taken altogether, baptism means something incredibly profound. Baptism means God has already cleansed and atoned for all of your sins; that you have united yourself to Christ in his person and the entire scope of his redemptive work; and that you are now initiated into the new covenant family and committed to a life in the local body—gradually becoming more and more like its head, Jesus Christ. (Link here)
We teach that two ordinances have been committed to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:38–42). Christian baptism by immersion (Acts 8:36–39) is the solemn and beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and his union with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life (Romans 6:1–11). It is also a sign of fellowship and identification with the visible Body of Christ (Acts 2:41–42). (Link here)
Is baptism required for membership at Grace Community Church?
Yes. Jesus commands that all believers are to be baptized and to disobey this command displays a lack of submission to Christ and His church. Also, baptism is always closely connected with membership in the NT. Both go together, so only baptized believers are eligible to become members at Grace Community Church. (Link here)
Does Grace Community Church baptize brothers or sisters who are not becoming members at Grace Community Church (i.e., those who desire to be baptized but for differing reasons are not able to commit to membership at Grace Community Church)?
As stated above, we believe the NT always links baptism and membership. Because of this, we are hesitant to baptize an individual who openly does not desire to commit himself or herself to membership. In unique circumstances, we would baptize an individual if they are unable to join Grace Community Church in membership, yet are soon to commit themselves to membership at another biblical church. (Link here)
Does Grace Community Church recommend and/or establish a particular age for children to be baptized?
Grace Community Church does not recommend or establish a particular age for children to be baptized. We do not want to discourage a regenerate child from being baptized, yet also want to exercise careful discernment to avoid deception and false assurance in a child's life by baptizing him or her before he or she is biblically regenerate and able to understand, articulate, and embrace the Gospel, believer's baptism, and the responsibilities and expectations of church membership. Therefore, our elders work deliberately with parents to ensure a child (before being baptized) is able to understand, articulate, and embrace the Gospel, believer's baptism, and church membership, and bears the fruit of regeneration. A child will not be baptized until his or her parents (if they are believers), the child's pastor(s), and elders together agree that the child is ready to be baptized. Then, upon a child's baptism, the members of Grace Community Church, under the loving care and oversight of the elders, will work together to disciple such children to grow in Christ and mature in the faith. (Link here)
Going Public (Bobby Jamieson)
Baptism is the initiating oath-sign of the new covenant. God means for his new covenant people to be visible, and one enters that people through baptism. This means that when churches ask, ‘Who is a member of the new covenant?’ in order to extend membership to them, a necessary part of the answer is asking, ‘Who has sworn the covenant oath?’—that is, ‘Who has been baptized?’ (p.19)
Baptism is both the passport of the kingdom and a kingdom citizen’s swearing-in ceremony. It’s how a church publicly identifies someone as a Christian and unites that person to itself. Therefore, it’s essential to—and normally confers—church membership. (p.20)
After trusting Christ, baptism is the first thing faith does. It’s how faith shows itself before God, the church, and the world. Baptism is where faith goes public. (p.38)
The new covenant is more than an invisible, spiritual reality. It has a visible, public shape, and baptism draws the edges of that shape. (p.77)
The new covenant creates a visible people, and one becomes a visible member of that people through baptism. (p.78)
[Baptism] is not merely an individual ordinance but an ordinance which brings an individual into a new whole of which he is now a part. The ordinance which seals covenant entry opens the door of the church. (p.79)
When Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God, he established the church as an embassy of that kingdom in order to identify its citizens before the world. And the initial and initiating means by which the church identifies individuals as kingdom citizens is baptism. The individual isn’t the only one speaking in baptism; the church speaks too. (p.82)
The institutional space the kingdom of heaven occupies on earth is the local church, and the way you enter that space is baptism. (p.82)
[Baptism] is how the church officially recognizes and affirms one’s citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. It is how the church speaks a word of affirmation over a Christian profession. (p.83)
In baptism the individual speaks to God and the church, and the church speaks for God to the individual. This is one sense in which baptism and a passport correspond closely. If a Christian is baptized in Chicago and then moves to Detroit, he does not need to be rebaptized in order to join a church in Detroit. He brings his baptism with him and reports it to the church like a tourist handing his passport to an embassy official. (p.96)
For new converts baptism is the New Testament way to join a church. (p.101)
When someone legitimately claims to have become a child of God through faith in Christ and the power of the Spirit, the church unites that person to itself, publicly endorses his confession, and hands him a passport with ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ stamped on the cover. How? By baptizing him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (p.105)
Baptism both [formally] identifies someone as a member of Christ’s kingdom and inaugurates him into the public office of kingdom citizenship, that is, church membership. (p.105)
The Lord’s Supper is a badge of belonging just as much as baptism is. Baptism is the front door of the house, and the Lord’s Supper is the family meal. All who belong to the family identify themselves by ‘showing up’ in baptism, and their unity as a family is both displayed and sealed as they sit down to eat together. . . . If the Lord’s Supper is the church’s family meal, the only entrance to that meal is the front door of baptism. (pp.109-110)
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper make the church visible. They are the hinge between the ‘invisible’ universal church and the ‘visible’ local church. They draw a line around the church by drawing the church together. They gather many into one: baptism by adding one to many, the Lord’s Supper by making many one. (p.142)
The ordinances make it possible to point to something and say ‘church’ rather than only pointing to many somethings and saying ‘Christians.’ (p.144)
Without membership the ordinances are in danger of becoming the spiritual accessories of autonomous consumers rather than the church’s authoritative seals of a credible profession. (p.147)
We can’t remove baptism from membership because without baptism membership doesn’t exist. Removing baptism from membership is like removing vows from marriage. . . . As a marriage does not exist without a vow, so membership does not exist without baptism. (p.154)
When a church removes baptism from the requirements for membership, it privatizes Christian profession. It undermines the authority of Christ’s commands by allowing Christians to disobey one with impunity. It allows the individual conscience to trump the authority of the local church. (p.156)
Membership is a statement by the church, not by an individual Christian. No individual Christian has the right to extend church membership to someone. (p.167)
All the members of a church might be convinced that a certain unbaptized person is a Christian, but Jesus has bound the church’s judgment—and therefore its formal, public affirmation—to baptism. Even if all the members of a church are convinced that a person’s faith is genuine, Jesus has given the church no authority to affirm that faith until it is publicly professed in baptism. . . . Baptism draws the line between the church and the world. We are not at liberty to draw it elsewhere. (p.174)
Baptism identifies someone as a Christian much like a boarding pass identifies someone as an airline passenger. Jesus’ command requires a form of profession as well as the substance, and the form is baptism. Thinking you’ve been baptized—even on the basis of a sophisticated, widely held, time-honored interpretation of Scripture—does not mean you’ve been baptized. And a church is no more free to admit an unbaptized person to membership than a gate agent is to admit someone onto a plane without a boarding pass. . . . We believe our paedobaptist brothers paid for a plane ticket, but we can’t let them on the plane without a boarding pass. We believe they have the ‘money in the bank’ of a credible claim to follow Christ, yet we can’t extend membership without their authentication of that claim in baptism. (pp.175–76, 177)
A church may not allow individuals’ conviction to overrule its corporate obligation to obey Christ in the exercise of the ordinances. . . . As charitable as it may seem, for a church to defer to an individual’s conscience is actually to abdicate the responsibility Jesus has given it. . . . If an individual’s conviction trumps the church’s confession, it’s not the church that has authority but the individual. On this point, the individual no longer submits to the church but the church to the individual. (p.199)
Persons should enter and exit the church only by the express consent of the church. . . . The congregational vote is a little like a basketball team drafting a player, and baptism (for the new Christian) and the Lord’s Supper (for every Christian) are like the player signing the contract and showing up at game time. (p.222)
By constituting a gospel polity, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and church membership make visible a gospel people. They gather up all our flickering little candles into one roaring flame of witness to Christ. Tracing out a biblical theology and practice of the ordinances isn’t a distraction from the gospel but a service to the gospel. Certainly the frame is made for the picture, not the picture for the frame. But in order for the frame to fit, it needs the right shape. (p.225)
Marc Minter
Baptism means this person is now a Christian, these Christians affirm this one, and this Christian is now united with these. (Link here)
Systematic Theology (Stephen Wellum)
What is the essential meaning of the two covenant signs? As signs, they signify the outward entrance into the covenant of grace and the covenant community. As seals, they confirm the binding nature of the covenant, grounded in God’s promises to his covenant people … In baptism, like circumcision, one enters the visible church, but baptism, like circumcision, does not effect a saving union. It is only by God’s grace in conversion that we are united to Christ and become members of the invisible church … As a sign of the covenant, circumcision signifies and seals [the blessing of union and communion with the Lord]. Objectively, it makes one a member of the covenant community. The same is true of baptism.
Presbyterians
Westminster Confession of Faith (28.1)
Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in His church until the end of the world.
Westminster Larger Catechism (#165)
Q. What is baptism?
A. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to be a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself, of remission of sins by his blood, and regeneration by his Spirit; of adoption, and resurrection unto everlasting life; and whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted into the visible church, and enter into an open and professed engagement to be wholly and only the Lord’s.
Westminster Larger Catechism (#166)
Q. Unto whom is baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, and so strangers from the covenant of promise, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, but infants descending from parents, either both, or but one of them, professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant, and to be baptized.
Westminster Larger Catechism (#176)
Q. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper agree?
A. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper agree, in that the author of both is God; the spiritual part of both is Christ and his benefits; both are seals of the same covenant, are to be dispensed by ministers of the gospel, and by none other; and to be continued in the church of Christ until his second coming.
Westminster Larger Catechism (#177)
Q. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper differ?
A. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper differ, in that baptism is to be administered but once, with water, to be a sign and seal of our regeneration and ingrafting into Christ, and that even to infants; whereas the Lord’s supper is to be administered often, in the elements of bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in him, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (4.15.1)
The Meaning of Baptism:
Baptism is the sign of the initiation by which we are received into the society of the church, in order that, engrafted in Christ, we may be reckoned among God’s children.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (The Doctrine of Baptism in History)
The early Fathers regarded baptism as the rite of initiation into the Church. . . .
This grace was regarded as very important, since (a) it sets an indelible mark on the recipient as a member of the Church; (b) delivers from the guilt of original sin and of all actual sins committed up to the time of baptism, removes the pollution of sin, though concupiscence remains, and sets man free from eternal punishment and from all positive temporal punishments; (c) works spiritual renewal by the infusion of sanctifying grace and of the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love; and (d) incorporates the recipient into the communion of the saints and into the visible Church. (p.626)
Ligon Duncan
For both Presbyterians and Baptists, baptism is designed to mark the inclusion or exclusion of someone within the covenant community.
Reformed
Heidelberg Catechism (#74)
Q. Should infants also be baptized?
A. Yes. Infants as well as adults are included in God’s covenant and people, and they, no less than adults, are promised deliverance from sin through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they too should be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.
Belgic Confession (Article 34)
…Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, he established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God's church and set apart from all other people and alien religions, that we may be dedicated entirely to him, bearing his mark and sign.
Anglicans
Thirty-Nine Articles (#27)
Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church…
Lutherans
Book of Concord, Luther's Larger Catechism (Holy Baptism)
2) But, in the first place, we take up Baptism, by which we are first received into the Christian Church.
64) Lastly, we must also know what Baptism signifies, and why God has ordained just such external sign and ceremony for the Sacrament by which we are first received into the Christian Church.