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| Q: | If an infant has unbelieving parents that do not wish their baby to be baptised, can/should believing family (grandparents) fulfill God's command for baptism to be done unto all nations? The promise of the Holy Spirit to work in the child through the water and the Word offers the opportunity for the child to enter the kingdom of God if he/she should die before the age of reason. At an older age the imperative to act seems lessened as they can be instructed and come to be baptised. On the other hand, God has given the responsibility for the spiritual welfare to the parents and not to others. When members of the body of Christ have an opportunity to administer water and the Word to bring God's saving grace to the infant, should they do so in opposition to the stubborn parents? I am not referring to a kidnapping/illegal opportunity, but rather a parent authorized "baby sitting" in a relative's home. | ||||||
| A: | Even though God wants us to preach the gospel to all people, we are not to force it upon those who do not want it. When Jesus sent out a larger group of his disciples to share the Word, he told them, "If you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you'" (Luke 10:10,11). Like the Word, the sacrament of baptism is something God uses to bring people to faith and strengthen them in the faith. Like the Word it is not something we would want to force on people. Since an infant cannot speak for himself or herself, the God-given responsibility to baptize lies with the parents. They also have the responsibility to nurture the child in the Christian faith. To secretly baptize a child without the knowledge and approval of the parents would be to circumvent God's arrangement for the family, as well as how he wants us to administer his means of grace. It would be wiser to work with the parents and share the gospel with them. If they are unwilling to listen and don't want to have anything to do with Christ, perhaps they would at least be willing to have their child baptized. In this way grandparents and relatives will also be able to support the Christian education of the child and fulfill a responsibility that the parents are neglecting. If the parents refuse to allow their child to be baptized, relatives will have to look for future opportunities to teach the child about Christ at a time when he or she can begin to communicate. | ||||||
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