Baptism of InfantsJesus told Nicodemus quite clearly, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit." (Jn 3:5) Given the surrounding biblical context, it becomes obvious that baptism is necessary for salvation, and nowhere does Holy Scripture say that baptism is restricted to adults. What does baptism accomplish? It is more than just a "symbol"; it is a sacrament, i.e., it is both the sign and the instrument by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ. Through baptism, the person is born anew by being freed from sin and becoming members of Christ's Body. The reason Catholic infants are baptized is not in order to free them from personal sin, but to cleanse them from Original Sin, which is the inherited fallen human nature due to Adam's sin. We are born unrighteous, as Paul wrote: "Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned - for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. ....just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous." (Rom 5:12-14, 18-19)In other words, Adam's disobedience transmitted to us a human nature with the propensity to sin - "through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners". For just as in Adam all die, in Christ through baptism we are brought to life (1 Cor 15:22), even when we were dead in our transgressions (Eph 2:5). Obviously infants are not capable of personal sin, but we all inherit the damaged human nature. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5). Jesus delivers us from the power of darkness and transfers us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son (Col 1:12) when sanctifying grace is infused into the infant's soul. Rumble and Carty explain: "Original sin is not something positive. It is essentially the absence of divine grace. Now by the natural process of generation, parent can transmit human nature as they received it from their own parents. But they cannot, by this merely natural process. transmit supernatural grace which they received, not from their parents, but immediately and individually from God. Therefore, their children will be born in a merely natural state, and not in the supernatural state conferred only by a spiritual gift from God. Until the children receive that spiritual gift by grace of Baptism, they will be in the state of original sin, sharing in the collective and racial spiritual bankruptcy of unregenerated humanity. Remember that Christian parents do not generate children in virtue of their spiritual regeneration by Baptism, but in virtue of the fact that they were generated in a merely natural way by their own parents. Children, therefore, must be given the spiritual life of divine grace by baptismal regeneration individually." (Radio Replies, vol. 3, no. 800). During Christ's time the gospel was being shared with adult Jewish converts, so it would follow that most people baptized would be adults; however, Peter does not restrict baptismal regeneration to adults, saying: "'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.'" (Acts 2:38-39)One might say that the phrase "and to your children" means once they have grown up, but the Greek terms for children include paidion, which means, literally, "a little or young child"; for example, when Elizabeth gave birth to John in Luke 1:59, the "little or young child" (paidion) being circumcised is clearly an infant, as is the "child which is born" (teknon) in Acts 21:21. Not only is this is the more likely interpretation, but note that "But Jesus also said: 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'" (Matthew 19:13-14)In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that baptism has replaced circumcision (Col 2:11-12). God made a promise to Abraham in which circumcision was the seal of that covenant - and infants were just as much a part of this covenant as were the adults (Gen 17:7, Deut 29:10-12). Considering the fact that circumcision was to be done within 8 days of birth (Gen 17:12), it seems reasonable that infants should be baptized (baptism being the seal of the New Covenant) this early as well, especially since God's promise to Abraham is extended to us (Gal 3:14). Accordingly, people were bringing even infants to Jesus (Lk 18:15), and entire households were baptized (Acts 16:15, Acts 16:31, Acts 16:33, 1 Cor 1:16, Acts, 18:8). The Greek oikos for household means "a house, a household, a family" so it follows that children were included in this process, unless you want to try to claim that, in every single scriptural instance, those households were childless. Furthermore, the notion of a child waiting until the "age of reason" is unbiblical. What is the biblical definition of the "age of reason", anyway - is it 13 years, or 12 years and 9 months, or 14 years and 2 months, etc? I have a beautiful, lively 17-month-old son. If he becomes ill, would I wait until he was at the "age of reason" so that he could make an informed decision to seek medical help? Of course not - so why would I then deprive him of the all-important grace of baptism until years after his birth? When many of the Thessalonians were not working, Paul wrote, "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, let him not eat." (2 Thess 3:10). Since there were infants and probably elderly people unable to work, does this mean that they were not fed? It is highly doubtful that infants were starved because they could not work. In a similar way, infants are not deprived of baptismal regneration simply because they "make their choice". As the verse says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”, (Prov 22:6). The Bible has plenty of examples of someone else's faith saving another person: the firstborn of the Israelites were saved during the Passover because of their parents' faith (Ex 12), the paralytic was healed by his friends' faith (Mt 9:2-6), the servant was healed because of the centurion's faith (Mt 8:5), her daughter was healed because of the Canaanite woman's faith (Mt 15:21), "just say the words and let my servant be healed" (Lk 7:1). Certainly it is possible for 12-year-old girls to be mature enough to profess her faith in God, but not when they're dead!. No, Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-24) was raised from the dead based on the faith of her parents, just as God gives his grace to infants because of parents who act on their behalf. This is how parents take care of their children - their own faith is transferred to their infant children so that they receive the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5), so that they become holy (1 Cor 7:14). Infant baptism is, by the way, not practiced only by Catholics. Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Methodists also perform infant baptism. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, early Protestant reformer John Calvin wrote, "Paul . . . adds that the Colossians had been buried with Christ through baptism [Col 2:12]. By this he means that baptism is today for Christians what circumcision was for the ancients." (Book IV; 14, 24;2). In his Loci Communes the Lutheran theologian Melanchthon agreed (chapter 21). They agreed based upon their understanding of Scripture and their realization that this was the practice of the earliest Christians: "Baptize first the children; and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them." (Hippolytus of Rome, The Apostolic Tradition, 21) |