Theological glossary · FaithLogic
Believers' baptism (credobaptism)
The conviction that baptism is for those who personally profess faith in Christ, and therefore not for infants.
Latin credo, 'I believe' + baptism.
Every recorded baptism follows a profession of faith (Acts 2:41; 8:12, 36–37; 16:14–15, 31–33; 18:8); Romans 6 and Galatians 3:26–27 tie baptism to faith-union with Christ.
Recovered by the Anabaptists (1525) and central to Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal, and most non-denominational churches; usually by immersion.
Baptism is the believer's confession and God's seal on a professed faith; the church is a community of the regenerate, not a mixed covenant body.
Paedobaptists argue from household baptisms, the covenant sign given to children (circumcision), and Jesus' welcome of children; credobaptists reply that none of these records an infant baptism.
Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.