What is Baby Dedication? Is it biblical?

Children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3). Parents, grandparents (Proverbs 17:6) and extended family, in gratitude, dedicate their children to the Lord in the Baby Dedication ceremony.

Christian parents who dedicate a child are making a promise to the Lord to do everything within their power to raise the child in a godly way until he or she can make a decision to follow God. The parents responsibilities include: teaching the child God’s Word, demonstrating an example of godliness, disciplining in love and praying for the child’s well being (Proverbs 22:6).

Baby Dedication is not a Bible ordinance like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. As Christians, we are baptized and participate in the Lord’s Supper as outward and public signs of what Christ has done within us. While it may aid in the child’s salvation, Baby Dedication should not be seen as assuring the salvation of the child.

The Lord ordained that parents should have an active role in leading their children to the Lord: “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” ( Deuteronomy 6:7).

We are told, in 1 Samuel 1, that Hannah presented her son Samuel to the Lord. And in Luke 2:22, we read that Mary and Joseph brought their baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem in order to present him before the Lord. The Lord assures parents that He is eager to bless their children “Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them” (Matthew 19:14).

In His service,
BibleAsk Team

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