Are Presbyterians Real Christians?

But from reading reviews or blurbs or whatever, I understand that Bauder teaches in his book on Baptist polity/distincives that Baptism is an ordinance that should only ever be submitted to once by professing believers. The inference I made was that he probably was saying that A) we don’t rebaptize young people every time they “make assurance” of their salvation—they’ve already taken the sign, and B) if someone who was baptized at an earlier point realizes he is not a true convert and genuinely believes, he would not, for the same reason, need to be rebaptized. But I have not read the book; it’s $20+ for hardcover and not available on Kindle. Pity.

More to the point is whether one always knows the actual moment at which he is/was truly converted. We who are not decisionalists might take more care about this. It is a possibility, perhaps a likelihood, that there are many believers sitting in our churches who were baptized prior to their actual conversion.

David,

I don’t think that is what Bauder was saying, and I have never seen that position espoused in a Baptist church. Baptists historically have believed that true baptism, in obedience to scripture, always comes after salvation. This is true regardless of how many false professions or church baths (i.e. baptisms) may have come prior to true conversion. I was personally re-baptized as an adult for this very reason. I had made multiple professions of faith as a child/teen and been baptized more than once. Upon consideration as an adult, I could not verify I had been baptized following what I believed was my true conversion as a high school student, so I was later baptized (again) as an adult.

As I said, I made the inference. I’d be interested to hear what he actually meant by it.

Of course, my second point, while related, is different. And more pertinent.

A person who has once received baptism as a profession of faith should never submit to a second baptism. (p. 54)

From Bauder’s Baptist Distinctives … (via Andy Naselli).

Seems pretty clear, but if others can shed light of greater accuracy, well, great!

Also pertinent is his assertion that Presbyterian baptism is no baptsitm at all. Which we would expect in a book on Baptist distinctives.

Your second point helps understand the first. Baptism after conversion should only be done once, not every time someone goes to a new church or something. But, if a person is convinced that an earlier profession was false, the baptism that followed the false confession is not obedience to scripture. Once a true confession is made, obedience to scripture requires being baptized as public profession of faith - regardless of how many times one may have been previously dunked. That is the point Bauder is making on p. 54 when he differentiates between rebaptism following valid/invalid baptisms.