Should I Be “Re-Baptized”?

It happens sometimes that a person who has been baptized begins to wonder if they should be "re-baptized." Because of the importance of baptism and the meaning of baptism as the sacrament of entrance into the Christian life, the question is an important one. 

First let's be reminded about some basics of baptism. Jesus commanded the church to "baptize" disciples as part of the Great Commission (Matt 28:19–20). A "disciple" is a follower of Christ, one who is a learner of the ways of Christ. We aren't to baptize people who will one day become disciples, but we are to baptize disciples. This fits with the meaning of baptism in a place like Romans 6:3–4:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3–4)

To be baptized is to be united with Christ in his "death," his burial, and his resurrection. That's why our practice is immersion into water, because by going down into the water, covered fully by the water, and rising up out of the water, we are physically reflecting what is true of us as Christians united with Christ. 

Because baptism indicates union with Christ and that the person is a disciple, it is thus right to baptize believers. Only a believer is a disciple and united with Christ. This doesn't mean a person is a mature believer, since maturity is a lifelong pursuit. Neither does this mean that a person is a sinless believer, since...none exist! "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). The requirement is simply to be a true believer. This is determined by a person professing faith in Christ:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9–10)

Only God knows the heart, but when a person confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, it's appropriate to baptize them, regardless of their age. 

But once a person is baptized, several things can happen to make him think he should be "re-baptized." Let's think about it with four possible scenarios.

Scenario 1: Dramatic, New Growth

One reason a person might think he should be "re-baptized" is because of a season of dramatic and new growth as a Christian. Christ becomes so real, so new, and so much bigger than before, it feels like conversion. 

An experience parallel to this happens in marriage. A couple gets married and after years and years together, they look back at their engagement or dating life together and they say, "I can't believe we got married! We didn't even know each other!" Well, the truth is, they did know each other, and it was right to get married. It's just that marriage brings profound growth and depth to the relationship. They don't need to get married, because of this new growth. They already are married! They just need to give thanks for it. 

New growth isn't a reason to be re-baptized.

Scenario 2: Being Filled with the Spirit

A similar reason a person might feel he needs to be re-baptized is because he was filled with the Spirit. This, too, can feel like conversion. Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:19 that we would be "filled with all the the fulness of God." When that happens, Christ's love and the Spirit's power (Eph 3:14–18) can feel so new, so real, so much bigger than before, that it's like being converted. But once again, this is not a reason to be baptized. The person is not converted. He simply had a radical new Spirit baptism. For more on Spirit baptism see this message.

Scenario 3: Actual Conversion

A third scenario involves a person who professes faith, gets baptized, but then the years begin to show that the faith isn't real. The repentance isn't genuine. This isn't as simple as the presence of sin or even repeated sins, since all Christians will continue to sin until they see Jesus face-to-face. And the truth is, the sins we commit are often the same ones. We might even go through a season where we give ourselves over to sin in a greater way for a period of time. We're not talking about that ongoing battle with sin with some wins and losses and sometimes more losses than wins. We're talking about sins that are the evidence of unbelief, a true lack of submission to Christ, a persistent refusal to acknowledge Christ as Lord. And perhaps after this extended season of rejection, we find ourselves submitting to Christ as Lord really for the first time. 

This type of "unbelief to belief" storyline can be hard to detect, since the Christian life is also a struggle of faith. We can all resonate with the father who cried out to Jesus, "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24). 

If someone goes from unbelief to belief, lack of submission to Christ to submission to Christ, unrepentance to repentance, then a true conversion has taken place and being baptized is appropriate. Of course, in this case the person is not being "re-baptized," but baptized for the first time. We use the term "re-baptized" at times in these cases simply to describe how it appears. 

Scenario 4: Conversion After Infant Baptism

A fourth scenario to consider is when a person is converted and they were baptized as an infant. Infant baptism is practiced by many church traditions, especially in the Reformed tradition. Such a practice is not a statement that the child is a Christian and born-again. It is rather a statement that the infant is a member of the "covenant community." There is some hope and maybe even assumption that the child will become a Christian, but the baptism itself isn't based on that hope. As those who practice believer's baptism, we see this as a misunderstanding of baptism as given to us in the New Testament. Infant baptism sees too much continuity between the circumcision given to Abraham's offspring and baptism in the New Testament. For example, faith is required of baptism in the New Testament, but isn't required of circumcision in the Old Testament. For more on why we don't baptize infants, see this post.

When a person baptized as an infant is converted, we believe it's appropriate for them to be baptized by immersion in water. Like in scenario 3 above, this isn't technically being "re-baptized," but baptized for the first time. 

Much Discernment Required

As you can guess, much discernment is required to determine which scenario best fits your situation. Determining whether pronounced new growth is really conversion or not, is not easy and can take a lot of prayer and time. Involve others who know you well in this evaluation. Involve your pastors.

May God give you the wisdom you need to determine the best path forward. 

Daniel