Are Baby Dedications Scriptural?

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Hi D____,

Thank you for your questions. I will answer them all with just a couple of verses of scripture. It is true that Christ’s parents took him up to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord. But Christ’s parents and Christ himself was “made of a woman made under the law” until He began His ministry of reforming the law.

Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 9:9  Which [ physical temple] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which [ temple and all of it’s ceremonies, like dedications] stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Carnal ordinances like dedications and baptisms are of no benefit to the inner man who must be baptized by “the washing of water by the Word” which “Word” is Christ within us. No outward “carnal ordinance” can “make him that does the service perfect.”
Here is what the holy spirit revealed to the apostle Paul concerning baptisms.

1Co 1:17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospe l: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

This is how the new man is now baptized:

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it [ the church] with the washing of water by the word,

That is right, “the washing of water” is now “by the word” and not by the carnal ordinance of water baptism.
No baby is mature enough to have any concept of being dedicated to the Lord. All such ritual is for the benefit of the adults who perform such empty rituals. This is what Christ has to say about outward rituals.

Mar 7:14  And when he had called all the people [ unto him], he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one [ of you], and understand:
Mar 7:15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mar 7:16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

We are not defiled by anything from without, and the scriptures make it very plain that neither are we cleansed by anything from without. The only washing that cleanses us is that of the word that enters into our hearts and minds and burns out all that will burn.

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it [ the church] with the washing of water by the word,
Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [ is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he [ is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

I hope this helps you to see that Christ came to reform the law and to make it far superior to all outward  rituals which ” cannot make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience”. That would certainly include the ritual of child baptisms and dedications.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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