Sacramental Questions: Necessity of Baptism. Admission to the Altar.
by Pastor Walter Snyder

Q: If people have not been baptized, will they still go to heaven if they believe in God and
ask for forgiveness? And can a regular person (not a pastor) baptize a child?

While no absolute imperative exists in Scripture, God still both offers and commands it through
Christ and the apostles. Thus, anyone who despises or rejects Baptism either is thoroughly
ignorant of God's grace or has chosen to deny the saving work of Christ. When we extol the
blessings of Baptism and proclaim the fullness of God's forgiveness through water and the Word,
anyone whose heart has been converted by the Holy Ghost will desire and demand Baptism, as
happened with the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip the deacon (see Acts 8:26-39).

As we see in this passage, while Philip was certainly called and consecrated into his office, he was
a deacon, not an apostle or pastor. We also know that since Baptism is so vital, if no pastor is
available, love for the unbaptized person compels the lay Christian to do so in case of emergency.
With the Eunuch, the "emergency" is that he was heading away from the Christian community in
Palestine to a place where no pastors or missionaries were yet established.

Under more normal circumstances, it is good that the pastors do the baptizing, both as a matter of
good order in the Church and because they have been specially called by God to absolve sin by
preaching and administering the sacraments, including Holy Baptism. Lay people who
intentionally set out to bypass the pastor may not be performing invalid baptisms, but they are
certainly taking unto themselves something God has not given.

Q: What are the prerequisites for accepting Holy Communion?

Different church bodies have varying criteria for receiving the Lord's Supper. In general two
extremes exist, either all (or all adults) in attendance are welcomed or else some form of
instruction and examination is practiced and only those who undergo these are admitted to the
altar. Since there are so many variations, I'll outline only the classical Lutheran position, which
follows in general the practice of western Christendom. We generally say that a person should be
"examined and absolved." This comes from Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29: "Let a
person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats
and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself."

The self-examination is one that leads the Christian to a twofold confession, that of sins and that
of faith. When we look at ourselves in the light of God's Word, we realize that we are fallen
sinners who deserve God's wrath. Yet we also know that God forgives us for Christ's sake and
we trust that in the Supper we receive what Christ says we receive, that is, His body and His
blood. Often, some sort of formal instruction period teaches the Faith in such a way that people
learn to examine themselves and what they will be eating and thus approach the altar knowing that
it is for their great benefit. When such is the practice, normally only those who have been
instructed in the same teachings are invited to commune and a common (communal) confession of
faith precedes joining the communal eating and drinking.

The confession of sins may be in a corporate setting, often preceding the worship service. It may
also be done individually, either on the same day or at an earlier time. When sin is confessed, we
admit the need for salvation. When the Triune God is rightly confessed, we state that Christ Jesus
is our Salvation. When we hear the Absolution, we hear Christ speaking His saving Word through
His called pastors. When we know Him as our Salvation, we cling to His every word and trust
Him when He tells us that it is His very body and blood offered us to eat and drink.

To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send email
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Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."

Scripture quotes from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard Version~<TM>, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

Ask the Pastor, © 2002 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this
disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and
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and any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions
concerning the property of others.