For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. [Romans 2:28-29a (NLT)]
In 1962, my 2-month-old nephew Johnny and his parents traveled 1,500 miles for his Baptism. Because my mother was hospitalized (and soon would be dead), the sacrament took place at her bedside. This was the only time Johnny and his grandmother met and the last time my sister saw our mother alive.
Believing that children should be free to find their own way to God, my brother-in-law was opposed to infant baptism. Nevertheless, my father wanted that baby baptized as much as he wanted my mother to meet her first grandchild. Because children under 12 were not allowed to visit hospitals back then, he convinced my brother-in-law that a hospital baptism was the only way my mother could see and hold the little guy. The hospital was run by the Sisters of Charity so he knew the nuns wouldn’t deny his request for a bedside baptism (especially since he neglected to mention that the priest was Episcopalian rather than Roman Catholic). That we were Protestants, however, didn’t keep the nuns from joining us during the service.
Unfortunately, other than the funerals of his grandparents, Johnny’s baptism probably was the only time he came near a minister, church, Bible, prayer book, holy water, or even a nun. While his parents were good people, they never attended church and the boy had no religious education. By the time he was in his teens, the troubled youth was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. As often happens for people with severe mental illness, he self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. A vicious cycle began as the substance abuse exacerbated his mental illness and his disease increased the abuse.
Unable to stay on his meds and off drugs, he was a lost soul. When he wasn’t in jail, the hospital, or couch surfing through the homes of other users, Johnny lived on the streets. Sadly, it was on those streets that he died from a fentanyl overdose. While I can’t know what is in anyone’s heart, I doubt that Johnny believed in Jesus. Nevertheless, he was baptized; did that sprinkle of water mean he was saved?
As a sign of God’s covenant with Israel, all of Abraham’s descendants were to be circumcised. In Romans 2, however, Paul points out that, for the Jew, the true sign of belonging to God was not the ceremony of circumcision; it was a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. It was God’s spiritual surgery upon the heart rather than the removal of one’s foreskin that made a Jew right with God. While there are parallels between baptism and circumcision, they symbolize two very different covenants. Nevertheless, while studying Romans and rereading today’s verse, I replaced “Jew” with “Christian” and “circumcision” with “baptism.” Indeed, Christianity has nothing to do with parentage nor does baptism bring salvation; salvation requires a change of heart.
The Book of Common Prayer (1958) calls baptism an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Without that “inward and spiritual grace,” I fear it is just a ritual. External actions like baptism, communion, genuflecting, making the sign of the cross, or church attendance are not what make us Christians. Salvation doesn’t come by works or sacraments; it comes through God’s grace through faith!
Assuming Johnny never came to know Jesus and be filled with His Holy Spirit, I fear that my nephew’s baptism didn’t make him a Christian any more than his hospital circumcision made him a Jew. While baptism is a step of obedience for every Christian, it does not save us. Our salvation is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection and is available only through faith in Jesus Christ. Let us all beware of trusting that baptism alone will bring us to heaven.
Tragically, some people believe they are going to heaven when they die just because a few drops of water were sprinkled over their heads a few weeks after their birth. They have no personal faith, have never made a personal decision, and are banking on a hollow ceremony to save them. How absurd. [Max Lucado]
Devotions of the Heart 