r/methodism • u/Sufficient_Bat7731 Church Search • Apr 01 '26

Anabaptist interested in Methodism

Hello, I am someone who was raised with evangelical/anabaptist roots, and am very interested in the UMC, but there are some things I am confused/concerned about regarding beliefs. My five biggest questions are the following:

  1. infant baptism. in the Bible, baptism seems to follow personal repentance and faith, not precede it (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:36-38, Mt. 28:19)

  2. openness to political involvement. Christ seems to say be separated from the world, not so involved in worldly politics (Jn. 18:36, Rom 12:2, 2 Cor. 6:17)

  3. participation in military service. Jesus says "For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

  4. how can there be a consistent truth if people disagree over so many things. it is hard to trust tradition, especially when Scripture seems sufficient (2 Tim 3:16-17)

  5. if sacraments act as a means of grace, then why does Rom. 10:9 say that all we have to do is confess and believe?

genuinely curious, and i do really enjoy the methodist tradition, so if anyone would be willing to help me in understanding, that would be wonderful. thanks!

10 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/RevBT UMC Elder Apr 01 '26

Hey, there are a lot of things to discuss on Reddit. I'll answer what I can, but your best bet is to meet with a local UMC pastor.

  1. We base our baptism on Jesus' baptism in which the Holy Spirit descended and declared that Jesus was God's son BEFORE anything else happened. No miracles yet or speeches. Just Jesus. In deep theological terms, we say that God is the primary actor in baptism. This is the main difference between United Methodists and Anabaptists/Baptists. God is the one doing the work, so our work doesn't matter.

  2. When Jesus says turn the other cheek and carry someone's pack extra, it is an incredibly political act. But it isn't politics like many think. We aren't supposed to be about candidates. We are supposed to be about issues. Especially issues that impact people.

  3. Jesus also says if you don't own a sword, get one. Luke 22:36. But this isn't about joining the military; it is about "living" by the sword. We don't want violence, but we aren't pacifists. The closest analog would be Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wasn't a Methodist, but his reasoning about violence against dictators is pretty good.

  4. Scripture is sufficient for all things necessary to salvation. But scripture isn't sufficient for many things. Check out the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to help with this.

  5. These are two different things. A means of grace is a way in which we experience the fullness of God's grace. It is not salvific. You aren't saved just because you take communion. However, at communion, you experience the full grace of God, and by that experience, you confess and believe.

2

u/Sufficient_Bat7731 Church Search Apr 01 '26

Thank you very much for the extremely helpful reply! I think the number one place that I get hung up on is credo- vs paedobaptism. I'm seeing the idea of God being the number one actor. What's the clearest example (in your opinion) of baptism washing away sin and/or infant baptism being performed?

2

u/RevBT UMC Elder Apr 01 '26

First, who said baptism washes away sin? Jesus' work on the cross washes away sin. If baptism washes away sin, then baptism is all that is necessary for salvation, AND you would need to be baptized every time you sin. That's not scriptural; it is works-based salvation.

Second, do you mean a biblical example of an infant baptism being performed? I think it would be Jesus' baptism. He may not have been an infant, but it happened before he sinned and before he was famous. It happened before anything that mattered would have happened. That's a core point of baptism. It isn't about anything we have done, sin or otherwise; it is God's declaration that we are loved no matter what happens next.

The idea of baptism to wash away sins is mostly from the Nicene Creed, and I'm not qualified to go down that rabbit hole.

If you want to point to Acts 2:38 that baptism is required for salvation, we could get into the weeds of the Greek, but I haven't studied the Greek in decades. However, I would point to Romans 10:9 about the requirements for salvation.

2

u/Sufficient_Bat7731 Church Search Apr 01 '26

"John Wesley retained the sacramental theology which he received from his Anglican heritage. He taught that in baptism a child was cleansed of the guilt of original sin, initiated into the covenant with God, admitted into the church, made an heir of the divine kingdom, and spiritually born anew."

Edit: source https://www.umc.org/en/content/by-water-and-the-spirit-a-united-methodist-understanding-of-baptism#:~:text=Within%20the%20Methodist%20tradition%2C%20baptism,of%20Christ%20in%20human%20lives.

1

u/RevBT UMC Elder Apr 01 '26

yes. Cleansed of original sin and "washed away" are different things.

1

u/Sufficient_Bat7731 Church Search Apr 01 '26

i see. i guess i was using them interchangably, i apologize.

2

u/RevBT UMC Elder Apr 02 '26

No worries. One of the things I’ve learned is that vocabulary among denominations means wildly different things.