Changes

This passage in verses 15-16, is often used to argue in favor of [[Baptism#Baptismal regeneration|infant baptism]], with the reasoning that if the grace of blessing by Christ can be received by the soul of an infant, by "babies", as here in this text of Luke, then the grace of baptism unto salvation can also be received by the soul of a baby, and no one is justified in hindering or opposing the practice of infant baptism, which the ancient church fathers testified comes from the teaching of the apostles, traceable by tradition back to the first century of the [[Early Christianity|early church]].<br>Compare [http://biblehub.com/multi/john/3-5.htm John 3:5] and [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/3-5.htm commentaries].<br>See [http://biblehub.com/multi/1_peter/3-21.htm 1 Peter 3:21] and [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_peter/3-21.htm commentaries].

This passage in verses 15-16, is often used to argue in favor of [[Baptism#Baptismal regeneration|infant baptism]], with the reasoning that if the grace of blessing by Christ can be received by the soul of an infant, by "babies", as here in this text of Luke, then the grace of baptism unto salvation can also be received by the soul of a baby, and no one is justified in hindering or opposing the practice of infant baptism, which the ancient church fathers testified comes from the teaching of the apostles, traceable by tradition back to the first century of the [[Early Christianity|early church]].<br>Compare [http://biblehub.com/multi/john/3-5.htm John 3:5] and [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/3-5.htm commentaries].<br>See [http://biblehub.com/multi/1_peter/3-21.htm 1 Peter 3:21] and [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_peter/3-21.htm commentaries].

Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists argue that infants, "babies", are incapable of repentance and of committing any personal sins, and therefore baptizing them once, as infants, as an act never to be repeated, deprives them of obeying the commandment to "'''''Repent, and be baptized''''' every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the Holy Ghost." '''Acts 2:38'''.

Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists argue that infants, "babies", are incapable of repentance and of committing any personal sins, and therefore baptizing them once, as infants, as an act never to be repeated, deprives them of obeying the commandment to "'''''Repent, and be baptized''''' every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the Holy Ghost." '''Acts 2:38'''. All Christians admit that the New Testament teaches that believers, "the saints", can sin after being baptized ("post-baptismal sins") and that they can again "''repent''" and confess their sins and be forgiven and be saved, according to 1&nbsp;John 1:8-9 and John 20:21-23; Matthew 18:15-18; James 5:13-20. Catholics teach that for those who have been baptized as infants, as well as adults who have been baptized, sins committed after baptism can be forgiven, and for this purpose the [[Sacrament of Penance and Recondiliation]] called Confession was instituted by Christ. For this reason Catholics respond that infant baptism does not deprive the baptized person of obeying the commandment to repent, having already been baptized. They are baptized, being Christians "''from infancy''",<ref>See 2 Timothy 3:14-17</ref> and they repent, fulfilling the command "Repent, ''and'' be baptized". They repent, and they are (already) baptized, both together, the one and the other being fulfilled. "''I am baptized, I repent of my sins''." The church fathers have also called Sacramental Confession a "laborious form of baptism".

According to the Bible, even infants and those in the womb are able to praise God or go astray from him by sin. See the following:

According to the Bible, even infants and those in the womb are able to praise God or go astray from him by sin. See the following: