Infant baptism

Infant baptism is the practice of baptizing infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism, or pedobaptism, from the Greek prefix παιδ- paid-, in παιδίον paidion, meaning, "child". This is in contrast to what is called "believer's baptism", or credobaptism (from the Latin word credo meaning "I believe"), which is the religious practice of baptizing only individuals who personally confess faith in Jesus, therefore excluding underage children. Anabaptists and Baptist groups reject infant baptism as not supported by the Bible.

Denominations that practice infant baptism

Branches of Christianity that practice infant baptism include Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, and among Protestants, several denominations: Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and other Reformed denominations, Methodists and some Nazarenes, and the Moravian Church. For Presbyterians, Baptism is a sacrament, seal, and outward symbol of “inward grace”, which also grants membership into the Christian community. The Oneness Groups believe that baptism is a requirement for salvation. Both Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals use full immersion and do not practice infant baptism.

Controversy based on interpretations of Scripture

The Bible does not explicitly command the practice of infant baptism.

The Bible does not explicitly forbid the practice of infant baptism.

Infant baptism is an explicit part of Apostolic Tradition. The necessity of baptism for salvation is seen by the majority of Christians as divinely revealed by God in the following Bible texts:

John 3:3-5; Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38-39; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Peter 3:21.

Luke 18:15-16

"They were also bringing their babies to him" Luke 18:15—KJV "infants".
Greek καὶ τὰ βρέφη ἵνα αὐτῶν kai ta brephe ina auton "also infants to him".
The word βρέφη brephe means, "an unborn or a newborn child, infant, babe, child in arms", children not yet able to walk. From the Greek vocabulary of this passage, these are helpless babies who cannot of themselves come to Jesus by their own power.
See Strong's number 1025 βρέφη brephe "infant".
Compare the interlinear text of Luke 18:15. Compare the parallel versions of Luke 18:15.

"Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them" Luke 18:16.
KJV "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not".
This passage in verses 15-16, is often used to argue in favor of 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 church.
Compare John 3:5 and commentaries.
See 1 Peter 3:21 and 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.

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:

Job 31:18; Psalm 8:2; Psalm 139:16; Isaiah 49:1; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 21:16; Luke 1:41; Luke 18:15; Acts 2:39; Acts 17:27; 2 Peter 3:9; compare Psalm 58:3; Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 9:13.

Apologists for the doctrine of infant baptism point to the next verse, Acts 2:39: "For the promise is to you and to your children..."; and they point to the fact that here in Luke 18:15 "They were also bringing their babies to him", and that Jesus himself, seeing his own disciples rebuking them for doing so, commanded them, "Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them" Luke 18:16—"And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them" Mark 10:16—"And he laid his hands on them" Matthew 19:15.

In response, Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists argue that Jesus did not command the "bringing" of infants by others, but that he said, "Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them"—the words "allow to come" and "do not hinder them" indicating to them that these little children are capable of walking, and therefore of an age to reason, understand, repent, and "be baptized", by their own choice, not the choice of their parents on their behalf bringing them to him before they reach an age to have any rational understanding of the meaning of being sorry for their own sins. This eisegetical interpretation utterly contradicts, or at the very least totally ignores, the Bible's word βρέφη brephe, which clearly means, "an unborn or a newborn child, infant, babe, child in arms", children not yet able to walk. Such an interpretation is a clear example of confirmation bias. From the context, Jesus' word, "allow the little children to come to me", means, "allow the little babies to be brought to me—don't exclude them!"

Apologists for infant baptism respond that Jesus was countermanding his disciples' refusal of infants, babies, being brought to him for his blessing, and that even infants, babies, incapable of conscious choice, can receive the blessing of Jesus from heaven in baptism. They also point to 1 Peter 3:21 and Ephesians 5:25b-27, teaching that according to the Bible baptism saves us now, and that Jesus sanctifies and cleanses his church with the washing of water with the word, to present the whole church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. They point to the fact that Paul teaches that baptism replaces circumcision, which is done when a child is only eight days old, which made that baby a member of the people of God, to be raised and taught the way of the Lord in truth. Colossians 2:9-14. Devout Christian parents who have their infants baptized, take upon themselves the duty to raise their children to understand that because of their baptism into Christ they are obligated to dedicate their whole lives to living the Christian life in obedience to Christ, and that to refuse to do so after they are old enough to understand is a very serious sin of rebellion against God himself, punishable by condemnation to hell for all eternity if, having known the truth, they do not repent of their conscious refusal to live a Christian life of holiness in obedience to Christ Jesus the Lord before they die.

1 Peter 3:21 in the King James Version states that baptism is "the answer of a good conscience toward God". The Greek word here translated as "answer" is έπερώτημα eperotema , which means much more than a mere answer to a question. It means primarily “question,” “enquiry,” “inquiry” as in a probing investigation or hearing and a trial by law before the examiners, the judge and the court. A true understanding according to the literal sense of scripture is found partly in the forensic use of the Greek word for question, έπερώτημα eperotema, as including, like our word “examination,” both question and answer. Substantive evidence as an "exhibit" brought before the court is presented to the judge as an answer to the charge of the guilt or innocence of the accused. In a medical examination of the patient who has been healed the doctor can see for himself that the disease is cured, and the evidence is presented to the chief medical examiner at the head of a medical panel of judges to answer the question of the possibility of any remaining pathology which could pose a risk to the health of the patient and to the community as a whole. The "answer of a good conscience" by baptism in 1 Peter 3:21 is the New Testament antitype to the Old Testament type in the book of Leviticus, the examination by the Levitical priests of an Israelite healed of leprosy to establish proof of having been cleansed by God, after which the ritual of cleansing was performed.

The tragic case of "crack babies" formed in the womb and born of mothers already addicted to "crack cocaine" is a very strong analogy to the doctrine of inherited sin. Just as these innocently addicted babies need curative medical treatment for a defect not chosen by themselves as individuals, so every individual human soul at the moment of conception is afflicted with the deadly terminal defect of original sin for which they are not personally responsible, already in "lifelong bondage" to the devil. They are innocent, but they need salvation from the collective death of sin inherited from their parents descended in the direct lineage of Adam and Eve.

Calvinist and Anabaptist doctrines of predestination and credobaptism alone are represented by their opponents as holding a doctrine of "monstrous evil" which arbitrarily and without mercy condemns to an eternal hell all who by default do not believe, simply because they are too young to understand or, because of the accidental circumstance of a lack of any kind of opportunity to hear it, have never heard about the Gospel of salvation, and do not believe. This includes all pagans and babies, infants, all those whom Luke 18:15 calls βρέφη brephe, "an unborn or a newborn child, infant, babe, child in arms", not yet able to walk. Apologists for this view respond that this is because their opponents do not grasp the fact that because of the fall of man, the whole human race became totally depraved, and as a consequence of their totally depraved nature are deprived of the power of free will, and are "by nature the children of wrath",. According to this doctrine, the Sovereign God, just and compassionate and merciful, is in his supremely sovereign, prefect, absolute justice under no obligation to save creatures who by nature have no love for him and are by their very nature destined for hell because of their depravity. But to manifest absolutely his goodness before all creation, the Sovereign Lord God has predestined for glory all those chosen souls whom he has sovereignly elected to receive the unmerited grace of salvation for the praise of his glory and honor as the absolute Lord of all creation in heaven and on earth.

However, according to the Bible, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17. This indicates clearly that a sovereign willingness on the part of God to not provide for all souls in the world any possible opportunity for salvation, even ignorant pagans and infants, is not a doctrine supported by the Bible.

Many Christians reject the arbitrary doctrine that babies who have died, who have not been baptized, and do not believe, are automatically doomed to an eternity in hell. Those Christians who at the same time also reject any need for infant baptism, who have been told that infants are ipso facto totally innocent of all sin, that there is an "age of innocence", and have heard cited the phrase "below the age of innocence" with reference to very young children, have searched in vain for this phrase in the Bible. Their doctrinal belief that baptism of infants is utterly unnecessary, because they have accepted the belief that the Bible itself teaches that all babies in the womb and those infants and children "below the age of innocence" are already "covered by the saving blood of Jesus" because they are innocent of any sin, and are already saved up until the age of understanding and accountability, at which time they must choose on their own to make a decision for Christ to be saved, is not found in the New Testament. Theologians and apologists who have been challenged to defend this doctrine with support from scripture are not able to cite a single text that explicitly states that an unborn or a newborn child, infant, babe, child in arms, a child not yet able to walk, is saved by the covering blood of Christ apart from the baptism mentioned in the New Testament, John 3:3-5; Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; Acts 2:38-39; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Peter 3:21. This is simply from reading the whole text of the New Testament alone sola scriptura. Such a doctrine appears to be only a "tradition of men" outside of the Bible alone. They are unwilling to consign unbaptized infants to hell, yet "as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" Romans 5:12 (KJV). It is a belief in the universal compassionate mercy of God for all mankind, coupled with a doctrinal rejection of the apostolic tradition of infant baptism received by mainstream Christianity, Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, and among Protestants, several denominations: Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and other Reformed denominations, Presbyterians, Methodists, some Nazarenes, and the Moravian Church.

According to scripture the whole of mankind was defiled by the guilt of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:12; Wisdom 2:23-24) which broke off the intimate communion of their whole being with the Lord, severing them and the collective whole of the heritage of all their offspring from the spiritual life of God. Moreover, not only are we born as members of the whole community of the fallen race of man defiled by the terminal defect of this original sin—and for this reason every human being dies, even innocent babies in the womb—we also each of us as natural descendants of fallen man commit our own sins against God and our fellow human beings, against our own parents, children, friends, enemies, against truth, mercy and justice, and against ourselves whether we intend it or not (Romans 3:23; 7:15, 19). Even little children have regrets about what they have done, and tiny babies display anger and stubbornness when they don't get what they want. As we mature in age and come to know the holiness of God we become even more aware of our inherent imperfection and our guilt before Him. Even atheists, against their will, struggle with feelings of guilt, knowing that they are not what they should be, even by their own personal standards.

Hebrews 10:1-2 clearly testifies that the sacrifices and washings of the Law of Moses can never make perfect the conscience of those who draw near to God, because even after offering sacrifices and cleansing their bodies according to the regulations and ordinances of the Torah blamelessly, without fault in their performance of them, they are still conscious of sin, for if they had actually been cleansed they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. But Christ through his blood in the washing of baptism with the word makes those who are members of his body sanctified, cleansed, without spot or wrinkle or any such defect, so that each one as members of the one body of Christ might be holy and without blemish, and this purity of a clean soul and clean conscience is the evidence of innocence in answer to the charge of guilt, "the answer of a good conscience toward God" (KJV). On the Reformation principle of sola scriptura itself, the belief that sin remains in the soul of every Christian cleansed and saved by the Lord contradicts the scriptures that say both that they are "in Christ", and that "in him is no sin".

According to Catholic doctrine, baptism into Christ removes entirely the inherited defect of the original sin of the whole collective human race descended from Adam and of the individually personal guilt of all sins personally committed before being baptized. Thus the effect of sin and its removal is not merely juridical as a legal decision exonerating the guilty by a decree of amnesty. In an absolute reality affecting the whole person, the removal of sin through the blood of Christ in baptism is instead ontological, affecting the very being of the individual soul, the "creature" itself, as the cure of a deadly disease is a real healing of the whole physical body, the image of which in the New Testament was the cleansing of leprosy by Christ and the apostles (Matthew 9:2-8; Mark 6:13; Acts 5:14-16; 19:11). The defiling disease is removed.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV, boldface emphasis added.)
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (Galatians 6:15 KJV, boldface emphasis added)

A legal declaration of amnesty cannot cure the physical being of the guilty carrier of a deadly disease, only the medicine of the practicing physician administered properly can do that. Sin is not merely covered up, as in the sacrifices of the old covenant, which cannot take away sins, as the author of Hebrews 10:1-22 clearly says, but is in reality washed away, removed, according to Ephesians 5:25-27 and Hebrews 10:22 and 2 Peter 1:9; see Acts 22:16.
All that remains is the leftover temporal damage caused by the disease of sin. Romans 6–8; 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:4; 1 Corinthians 15:42-54. According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, those leftover temporal defects afflicting reconciled sinners who have been forgiven in Christ, remaining defects which they have not yet in justice fully rectified and overcome by grace-filled virtue during life on earth, will be purged away afterward to fully cleanse them of all unrighteousness in preparation for their entrance into heaven.

According to Catholic doctrine, baptized infants and babies who have died innocent of personal sin are saved and enter immediately into heaven. Those who die in the womb or who have not been baptized before death took them, are commended to God, who alone knows what they would have done if they had lived to hear the Gospel, and whether in their souls and hearts they were resisting or not resisting the saving grace of salvation poured out on all the world through Jesus Christ alone. Their salvation can be assured by what is called, "baptism of desire", God knowing whether or not in their souls they would have been personally willing to do his will, whatever it is; and therefore the grace of baptism by the blood of Christ is imputed to them by the mercy of God, "who is not willing that any should perish" 2 Peter 3:9. This "baptism of desire" is called an "extraordinary" means of salvation, provided by God, baptism by water and the word being the ordinary means of salvation ordained by God through Christ by the Holy Spirit for all mankind, including baptism unto salvation of those the Gospel of Luke 18:15 calls βρέφη brephe, "an unborn or a newborn child, infant, babe, child in arms", innocent children not yet able to walk.

Doctrine of Satan and the Antichrist

This practice of infant baptism together with all elements of apostolic tradition not found explicitly taught by the Bible alone according to the Reformation principle of sola scriptura is unequivocably condemned as a Catholic doctrine, and therefore as being manifestly a satanic lie promulgated and promoted by the Antichrist, most evidently evil and obviously destructive to anyone with eyes to see, a deceptive doctrine of devils straight out of the pits of hell. This warning clearly condemns to hell all who accept infant baptism as necessary: all of mainstream Christianity, Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, and among Protestants, several denominations: Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and other Reformed denominations, Presbyterians, Methodists, some Nazarenes, and the Moravian Church.

See also

Christian mysteries

Theosis

Heresy

Protestant Reformation

Great Apostasy

Salvation: declarational salvation and ontological salvation

External links

Infant baptism - Wikipedia

A Brief Defense of Infant Baptism, Kevin DeYoung (thegospelcoalition.org) —"...within two centuries of the Apostles we have clear evidence that the church was practicing infant baptism. If this had been a change to long-standing tradition, we would have some record of the church arguing over this new practice. It wasn’t until the sixteenth century that Christians began to question the legitimacy of infant baptism."

Infant Baptism - God's Ordinance, The Danger of the Doctrine of the Anabaptists, John D. Palmer - Reasonable Religion (reasonablereligion.com) —"...the Doctrine of the Anabaptists, in excluding Infants from Baptism, and shutting them out of the visible Church, makes all Infants to be of the visible Kingdom of Satan, and so leaves us no well-grounded hope of the salvation of any dying in infancy; and is therefore to be justly abhorred as false Doctrine."

Baby Baptism - Infant Baptism Facts - Should I Baptize My Newborn Baby? (atotheword.com) —"Baby baptism or infant baptism is not biblical. Jesus didn’t teach or practice it and none of his disciples did either. Nowhere in Scriptures, will you find any instructions concerning baby baptism. It’s not there!"

INFANT BAPTISM EXPOSED! - Jesus-is-Savior.com —"Infant baptism appeared in the Christian church history around the Second Century, coming from the pagan influences of Baal Worship..."

Infant Baptism and Baptismal Regeneration Exposed! Their PAGAN Origin and Deadly History. INFANT BAPTISM EXPOSED! It’s History and Harm - Petersburg Gospel Center (how2becomeachristian.wordpress.com) —"Infant baptism is not a Scriptural doctrine. It is not found in the Bible. There is not one example in the Bible of one single baby being baptized. We will show that baby baptism is of pagan origin."

Lutheran Doctrine - Frequently Asked Questions - Baptism FAQs (lcms.org)
Topics include

What is the Lutheran view of Baptism and its purpose?
Does Baptism save?
Who can be godparents/sponsors?
How does faith play a role in infant Baptism?
What is the history of infant Baptism?
What about infants who die before being baptized?
Why do Lutherans use the “sprinkle” method for Baptism?
Do I have to be re-baptized to join the LCMS?
Does the LCMS baptize children of unchurched parents?
Why baptize infants?

Infant Baptism or Believer's Baptism: Which is Correct? Author: Brittany (equippinggodlywomen.com) (This article displays large blank areas between its several brief statements. After accessing this site, keep scrolling down to read each piece of the article in its entirety.) —"Early Church Fathers: Not a single church father found infant baptism unlawful, though of course, everyone had their own opinion on when the “optimal” time to be baptized would be. There was never any serious controversy surrounding it until the 16th century."

Which Religions practice Baptism and Which do not?, Beverley Byer (owlcation.com)