This past Lord’s Day we saw in Romans 6:1–4 that baptism unites us with Christ in His death and resurrection. Through these waters, God marks us off as those who have passed from the old creation into the new. But notice something remarkable: the New Testament never really pauses to explain what baptism is. It assumes we already know.
When John the Baptist began his ministry, the religious leaders didn’t ask, “What is this strange new ritual?” They asked, “Are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?” (John 1:19–25). In other words, they expected the coming One—and His forerunners—to come baptizing. That expectation only makes sense because baptism wasn’t new. It was the continuation and fulfillment of what God had been doing from the very beginning.
Water, Creation, and New Creation
In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (Gen. 1:2), and from that watery chaos God brought forth life, order, and beauty. Water was present at the dawn of creation—and every time Scripture portrays a new creation, water is there again.
When God judged and renewed the world through the flood, Peter tells us that this was a type of Christian baptism (1 Pet. 3:20–21). When Israel passed through the Red Sea, Paul calls it their baptism into Moses (1 Cor. 10:1–2). When Jacob began his new life after wrestling with God, he crossed over the waters. When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Jordan River parted once more, marking yet another new beginning (Josh. 3). Again and again, God uses water as the boundary between death and life, chaos and order, the old world and the new.
So when John and Jesus came baptizing, they weren’t introducing something novel—they were declaring that the ultimate new creation had begun. Christ, the true and better Noah, Moses, and Joshua, has passed through the waters for us and brought us safely into the new covenant world.
Old Covenant Washings and Covenant Cleansing
Under the Law, God wove baptismal imagery into the fabric of Israel’s worship. The author of Hebrews calls them ritual washings, but uses the word for baptism because that’s what they were. The priests were washed before serving in the tabernacle (Ex. 29:4). A new mother, along with her newborn daughter, was required to undergo ceremonial washing before returning to worship after childbirth (Lev. 12). After a funeral, the entire household would wash before entering the Lord’s presence again (Num. 19).
In other words, all of Israel was baptized(washed and marked covenantally)again and again—not only the men, and not only once. To be sure, circumcision marked out the males as heads and representatives of their households, but baptismal washings continually marked the whole people as clean and consecrated to God.
Now, in the fullness of time, Christ came as the true Israel. He was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 2:21), fulfilling the old sign, and He was baptized in the Jordan (Matt. 3:13–17), identifying Himself with His sinful people. In His cross, He underwent the ultimate circumcision and baptism of death and judgment (Mark 10:38), and by His resurrection He rose into new creation life. Therefore, because Christ has been both circumcised and baptized for us we need only receive His baptism once. It is full, final, and effectual because it is union with Him. As Paul says, there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5).
Covenant Continuity and Good and Necessary Consequence
All of this teaches us that the Bible must be read with covenantal eyes. God’s covenant dealings do not begin in Matthew—they begin in Genesis. And we must assume continuity unless Scripture clearly abrogates it.
Some object to infant baptism because there is no explicit command or recorded instance of it in the New Testament. But by that standard, we’d also have to forbid women from receiving the Lord’s Supper—because the New Testament never gives an explicit example or command of that either. Yet by good and necessary consequence (WCF 1.6), we know that women are full members of Christ’s covenant body, and therefore share in the covenant meal.
The same logic applies to our children. The covenant sign has changed, but the structure of the covenant has not. In the old covenant, children received the sign of belonging (circumcision and baptism). In the new covenant, they still receive the sign of belonging (now just baptism). God’s promises are still “for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39). Covenant continuity demands it.
Like baptism, the New Testament simply assumes what the Old Testament has already made clear. Believers and their household—especially their children, are holy to the Lord and are to be treated as such. Which is why Paul says children are to obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1), and why they are to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—the covenant culture and education of Christ (Eph. 6:4), and why they are holy to the Lord (1 Cor. 7:14). In fact, it’s striking that Paul addresses New Covenant households in the exact same way and structure that God addresses Abraham’s household and the like in the Old Covenant (see Genesis 17 alongside Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3-4).
Children and the Covenant Meal
And this continuity extends to the Table. Under the old covenant, children partook of the Passover (Ex. 12:26–27) along with other covenant meals. They were family meals, eaten together as a household. So too with the Lord’s Supper—it is the covenant meal of the new creation people of God. In the past I’ve had people express to me that it upsets them when they see children taking communion, and every time I hear that I wonder if they get upset when children share in the family meal at dinner, or participate in a Thanksgiving meal or the like… The children of believers are covenant children. They are set apart from the world. Therefore, as long as they are not in rejection of Christ or under church discipline, we should welcome them to the Table.
Some think 1 Corinthians 11 forbids children from partaking because they “cannot discern the body.” But Paul’s warning is not about intellectual comprehension—it’s about covenantal love. He is rebuking adults who were despising the church through division and pride. Covenant children are sinners to be sure, but prideful divisions and excluding others wrongfully from communion and the like are sins our covenant children are rarely guilty of. And that’s Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 11 and discerning the body—checking to see if we are guilty of wrongful division and sin against our brothers and sisters in Christ.
If full understanding or perfect holiness were required for participation, then none of us would be worthy to partake. But that’s the point of the Supper—it’s not a reward for the righteous; it’s grace for sinners. Baptized sinners who are in Christ, both young and old.
Now some will still focus on Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11:27-33 about eating and drinking in an unworthy manner without properly examining oneself and assume that this is something children aren’t capable of. But in my experience children are far more humble and gracious. They are sinners to be sure, but they are quick to repent and apologize. They tend to have much more tender consciences than adults because they haven’t been hardened by years of sin yet.
All Paul is saying there is that we should approach communion in the same way we should approach all things, especially all things in worship, in repentance and faith—which is what our liturgy leads us to do. Anything not do in faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). So what is meant to be a blessing in and through communion can certainly become judgment if it is not received in faith. But that’s just as true when it comes to sitting under the Word of God preached, or even reading the Bible. Just as we can eat and drink judgment on ourselves, so we can hear or read judgment on ourselves. The things of God—all of them—are always that serious.
Remember Your Baptism
Now because of the seriousness of the things of God it would be easy to allow ourselves to fall into fear. But we must remember who and Whose we are. In Romans 8:12-17, Paul gives a striking warning, followed by beautiful encouragement. He says, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
You are children of God. In baptism, God has claimed you and your children as His own. You have passed through the waters with Christ. You’ve been marked with the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and have been welcomed into communion with He and His people. So live as those who belong to Him—washed, forgiven, and raised to walk in newness of life. Live not by fear, but by faith.
In Christ’s service and yours,
Nick Esch