Baptism and Maturity

Scripture limits baptism according to spiritual status, not age. But does that mean that children who profess faith should be baptized? Not necessarily. While believer’s baptism does not necessarily mean adult baptism, it is wise to delay baptism until a certain level of maturity is achieved.  Mark Dever writes:

While Scripture clearly reserves baptism for believers, it does not directly address the age at which believers should be baptized. Nor does the command to baptize forbid raising questions about the appropriateness of a baptismal candidate’s maturity. The fact that believers are commanded to be baptized does not give a church license to baptize indiscriminately, especially where maturity-of-life issues make it difficult to assess the credibility of a profession of faith. New Testament baptisms largely appear to have occurred shortly after conversion, but every specific individual mentioned is an adult coming from a non-Christian context, two factors which make the church’s job of attesting to the credibility of a profession of faith simple and straightforward.

As a matter of Christian wisdom and prudence, therefore, the normal age of baptism should be when the credibility of one’s conversion becomes naturally discernable and evident to the church community. A legitimate secondary concern is the effect of the child’s baptism on other families in the church. The least spiritually discerning parents—with the best intentions—have too often brought pressure on their compliant children to be baptized. Such children have thereby been wrongly assured of their salvation and have been further hardened to hearing the gospel later in life. Tragically, the hope they most need may be hidden by the act meant to display it.

—Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible