What baptism is

Baptism is something God does to you: water, with Jesus’ promise attached. It happens once. It doesn’t depend on how you feel, and it is for babies and adults alike.

Already baptized in another church? If it was with water, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lutherans will not baptize you again. That includes a baptism by immersion as a believer.

After he rose from the dead, Jesus sent his followers out with these words:

Matthew 28:19–20

¹⁹ Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

And when his disciples tried to keep children away from him:

Mark 10:13–16

¹³ They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” ¹⁶ He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

Baptism is something God does to you. Not something you do, achieve, or get right. Water, and a word attached to the water: that is the whole of it, and it is complete the moment it happens.

Luther’s Small Catechism asks, of every part of the faith, the same question: what does this mean? Asked of baptism, his answer is that it is not the water itself that does these things, but the word of God connected with the water, and faith which trusts that word. The water is ordinary. The promise attached to it is not.

This is why Lutherans do not baptize again, and why an emergency baptism by a frightened layperson with tap water counts exactly as much as one by a bishop in a cathedral. The promise was never carried by the water, the setting, or the person pouring it.

Why Lutherans baptize babies

A baby cannot understand, agree, or feel anything about it. The church baptizes them anyway, because the one acting in baptism was never the person being baptized. When Peter first preached about baptism, he said the promise was “to you, and to your children” (Acts 2:39). The first converts were baptized with their whole households (Acts 16). Jesus welcomed little children and said God’s kingdom belongs to them (Mark 10:14).

The same reaches everyone else. If you cannot follow an argument, hold an abstraction, or say with confidence that you believe the right things in the right way, you are not on the outside of what baptism does. Understanding was never the requirement.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing
will be able to separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38–39. World English Bible British Edition. Public domain. King James Version. Public domain.

One of the places a modern rendering genuinely reads better. Both forms are here.

When it does not feel true

Luther’s own advice, given again and again in his letters, was not to search your feelings for proof. It was to go back to the plain fact: I am baptized. Not I feel baptized, which can fail you on the nights it matters most, but a thing that happened, on a date, in a place, done to you. Nothing can take it back, including your own doubt.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28. King James Version. Public domain.

• When: most baptisms happen during Sunday worship, near the font, a basin of water usually by the entrance or at the front.
• What happens: the pastor pours water on the person’s head, usually three times, naming the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The person is often marked with the sign of the cross and given a lit candle.
• What you do as a visitor: the congregation is asked to promise to support the newly baptized. Everyone answers together, with the words printed in the bulletin. Joining in or listening quietly are both fine.
• Want to be baptized as an adult, or not sure if you were? Talk to a pastor. There is usually a conversation or a short class first. It is not a test. If you are new to faith altogether, start with six plain questions.
• Joining a Lutheran church after a baptism elsewhere: you are welcomed as a baptized Christian. Many congregations use a short service called Affirmation of Baptism.

How to reach a pastor →

• Matthew 28:19 Jesus sends his followers to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  Read Matthew 28:19

  ¹⁹ Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Mark 10:13–16 Jesus welcomes children and says God’s kingdom belongs to them.

  Read Mark 10:13–16

  ¹³ They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” ¹⁶ He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• John 3:5 Jesus speaks of being born of water and the Spirit.

  Read John 3:5

  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Acts 2:38–39 Peter says the promise of baptism is for you and for your children.

  Read Acts 2:38–39

  ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Acts 16:14–15 Lydia and her whole household are baptized.

  Read Acts 16:14–15

  ¹⁴ A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Acts 16:31–34 A jailer and all his family are baptized the same night.

  Read Acts 16:31–34

  ³¹ They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. ³³ He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Romans 6:3–4 Baptism joins you to Jesus’ death and rising, so you walk in new life.

  Read Romans 6:3–4

  ³ Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Colossians 2:11–12 Paul links baptism to circumcision, which was given to baby boys.

  Read Colossians 2:11–12

  ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Titus 3:4–7 God saves us by his mercy, through the washing of new birth, not by what we did.

  Read Titus 3:4–7

  ⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; ⁷ that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• 1 Peter 3:21 Peter says baptism now saves you, through Jesus’ resurrection.

  Read 1 Peter 3:21

  ²¹ This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →