I Was Baptised Before I Knew Christ

I was baptised before I knew Christ. Those words may sound strange, but they mark the beginning of my own journey from tradition to living faith.

For some, that admission may feel unsettling, especially if infant baptism shaped your earliest memories of church. Yet it is the honest truth of my story.

My parents, faithful to the tradition they knew, brought me as an infant to the waters of baptism in the Dutch Reformed Church. I grew up surrounded by the language of faith. I believed God existed. Yet for years, I lived within the boundaries of religion while lacking a living relationship with Christ. I had not surrendered to Him. I did not know Him.

But in January 2012, everything changed.

God met me. Repentance became real. By grace, faith in Jesus Christ became living and personal. The God I once knew about became the God I now knew personally.

That journey led me back to the water. Back to baptism.

Christians have debated infant baptism and believer’s baptism for generations. Some sincere believers remain completely convinced that the baptism they received as infants is sufficient. Others believe that the New Testament calls every believer to baptism following personal faith in Christ.

My purpose here is to shed some fresh light on that discussion through Scripture and my own experience. Perhaps you have already settled the matter in your own mind. Even then, I hope this article gives you useful food for thought and helps you speak sensitively with someone who is wrestling with the question.

This question calls us to open the Scriptures and listen afresh.

When Faith Became My Own

My conversion in January 2012 immediately changed the direction of my life. Yet I did not rush towards the baptismal pool.

I knew that something profound had happened within me. I had encountered the grace of God and placed my faith in Christ. At the same time, the Holy Spirit had begun dealing with areas of my life that required repentance and freedom.

So I waited. I allowed the Spirit to do His work.

This still matters to me. Baptism is a serious act of obedience. Conversion must be real, and the person should understand the repentance and public commitment involved. Yet Scripture does not command a waiting period. We must avoid adding requirements that God has not given.

The book of Acts contains striking examples of people who received the gospel and underwent baptism soon afterwards. At Pentecost, those who received Peter’s message were baptised that day (Acts 2:41). Philip baptised the Ethiopian after proclaiming Jesus to him (Acts 8:35–38). The Philippian jailer received the word of the Lord and underwent baptism that same night (Acts 16:30–33).

Speed alone tells us very little. The real question is this: Has the heart truly turned to Christ?

During my years in ministry, I have sometimes watched people respond to powerful altar calls at large Christian gatherings and then move almost immediately towards baptism. The emotion can be intense. The moment can feel decisive. Yet time occasionally reveals that genuine conversion never took place.

I have also seen sincere new believers make a baptismal commitment without understanding its meaning. Confusion can follow when the spiritual excitement fades, and the realities of Christian discipleship begin.

Acts clearly allows immediate baptism where genuine faith is present. Pastoral discernment still matters because intense emotion can sometimes be mistaken for new birth.

No water can do what only the Spirit can do in the heart.

What Comes Before Baptism?

Jesus gave His disciples a command that helps us understand the proper setting for Christian baptism:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them...”
Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

See how discipleship and baptism are joined.

Derek Prince described Christian baptism as “a commitment to discipleship.” I think that captures something extremely important.

Throughout Acts, baptism appears in the context of people hearing the gospel and responding to it. Peter calls people to repentance before baptism in Acts 2. The Samaritans believe Philip’s preaching and then receive baptism in Acts 8. Cornelius and those with him receive the Holy Spirit before Peter commands their baptism in Acts 10.

The pattern matters. The gospel calls each heart. Faith answers. Baptism gives voice to that answer.

Here, the question of infant baptism becomes weighty.

Those who hold a Reformed view of infant baptism usually have a thoughtful theological reason for doing so. They see children of believing parents within the covenant community and understand baptism as the New Covenant sign corresponding in some sense to circumcision.

I grew up within precisely that kind of tradition. I therefore have little interest in mocking it or questioning the sincerity of Christian parents who present their children for baptism.

Yet as I read the New Testament, I cannot see that infant baptism expresses what Christian baptism was meant to declare.

As an infant, I could not personally repent. I could not place my faith in Jesus Christ.

This is a simple description of what an infant can or cannot do, rather than a judgement on my parents.

Years later, after I had been born again, those things had become realities in my life. I could confess Christ for myself. I could consciously choose to follow Him.

For me, that changed the baptism question completely. The deeper issue concerns the heart that enters the water and the confession made before God and others.

Buried and Raised With Christ

A few months into my new life with Christ, I was ready.

During those months, the Holy Spirit had dealt with important areas of my life, and I had come to understand more clearly what baptism meant. So I entered the water publicly by full immersion.

Romans 6 gave that act extraordinary meaning.

Paul writes that those baptised into Christ Jesus are baptised into His death. He then connects baptism with burial and with walking in “newness of life” (Romans 6:3–4).

Colossians 2:12 uses the same picture. Paul speaks of being buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him through faith.

Immersion expresses that picture powerfully. Going beneath the water pictures burial with Christ. Rising from it pictures new life in Him. The act points to the deeper reality of union with Christ in His death and resurrection.

I still remember what followed my own baptism.

For weeks, joy overflowed. Everything seemed alive. I had declared Christ publicly, and the experience affected me deeply.

Later that year, I travelled to Mozambique on a mission outreach. During that period, I briefly fell back into an old sin.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit that followed was severe. It stayed with me for several weeks. Yet through that painful experience, God taught me something about baptism I have never forgotten.

Sanctification does not end at the water’s edge.

Romans 6 itself makes this clear. After speaking about baptism and newness of life, Paul still tells believers to refuse sin’s rule over their mortal bodies (Romans 6:12). The Christian continues learning obedience after baptism. We continue resisting temptation and responding to the Spirit’s conviction when we fall.

Christ saved me by grace in January 2012. My baptism later gave public expression to the faith He had already awakened in me. The water was never a guarantee against future temptation.

Baptism also carries a public dimension that has become increasingly meaningful to me.

When I entered that water in front of fellow believers, people witnessed my confession. They saw me publicly identify myself with Jesus Christ. That public confession can also create a sober sense of accountability.

Years later, you remember. Others remember. You declared: I belong to Christ.

That declaration matters when temptation comes.

It also helps explain why repeatedly seeking another baptism after every spiritual failure can misunderstand its meaning. When a baptised believer sins, Scripture calls us back to repentance and fellowship with God.

Baptism is a defining act of obedience. Spiritual failure calls us back to repentance and restored fellowship with God.

If You Were Baptised as a Baby, What Now?

Perhaps this is where the article becomes personal for you.

Perhaps your parents brought you as an infant, and you have always counted that baptism as valid. The thought of entering the water again may feel like rejecting your upbringing or dishonouring what your family held sacred.

I understand that tension. I have felt it too.

My journey never asked me to despise what my parents did. They acted in faith according to what they knew.

Years later, I faced a different question:

Now that faith in Jesus Christ had become my own, what did Scripture call me to do as His disciple?

That is the question I invite you to bring before God.

Read the baptism accounts in Acts for yourself. Spend time with Romans 6 and Colossians 2. Look carefully at Jesus’ command to make disciples and baptise them.

Bring your baptism story to God in prayer.

If you remain convinced that your infant baptism fulfilled Christ’s command, let Scripture form the foundation of that conviction.

If Scripture unsettles that conviction, allow the Spirit to lead you gently. Seek counsel from mature believers who love the Word and care for your soul.

There is no place for pressure here. Baptism is too sacred for that.

My story began with a baptism I could not remember. Years later, I entered the water with eyes open and heart awake.

This time I knew whom I was following. I knew that Jesus Christ had saved me by grace, and I longed for my life to declare publicly that I belong to Him.

Perhaps the real question is larger than Have I been baptised?

It is this:

Does my baptism reflect my own faith in Jesus Christ and my commitment to follow Him?

That question deserves serious prayer and an honest answer.

Shalom, Jacques