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Infant Baptism "So, it is not the will of my Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18: 14)
This is an exposition of the New Testament teachings concerning the baptizing of infants and children. We can learn a lot about Baptism, from circumcision, the Sacrament that circumcision replaced. It was required in the Old Testament that Infants who were 8 days old were to be circumcised. Baptism replaces circumcision as a Sacrament. The children of Christians are already righteous and should be baptized as an outward sign of righteousness: For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean,' but as it is they are holy." (1 Corinthians 7:14) St. PAUL DECLARES: THAT IF EVEN ONE OF THE PARENTS IS CHRISTIAN THEN THE CHILD IS HOLY AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE BAPTIZED. An infant whose parents are not Christian is saved by Baptism in the same way that sinners whose sins are not mortal can be saved through the intercession of the church: "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal." (1 John 4:16) Now, certainly, the sins of infants cannot be considered mortal, and All infants who are brought into the church should be baptized. They are covered by God's grace in Baptism. At a later time in life they must repent and be reborn as true Christians, as Luther also says. Also, it was a common practice in the early church to baptize whole households and there were certainly infants in these households. For example: 1 Corinthians 1:16: "I did baptize also the household of Stephanas." As with all the other passages as we shall show concerning households, there were almost certainly infants and small children in these households. Titus 1:5: "If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers." Believers should be baptized. Acts 11:14: "he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household." Almost always, households contain infants or small children, so they should be baptized along with everyone else in the household. Acts 16:14-15: "One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul. and when she was baptized, with her household, she besought us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come to my house and stay.' And she prevailed upon us." Now here once again St. Paul and the Church baptized a whole Household. It is very unlikely in all of these instances there were no children or infants in these Households. They need to be saved and Baptized like everyone else. 2 Timothy 1:16: "May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me." Here once again, the household is referred, and almost certainly there are infants and children in these households. 1 Corinthians 16-17: "I did baptize also the household of Stephanas, beyond that, i do not know whether I baptized any one else." Once again, there were almost certainly infants and children in these households. To assume authorize would not be plausible. Matthew 18: 5: "Whoever receives on such child
in my name receives me; but whoever causes on of these little ones who
believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great
millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the
sea." Shortly after the beginning of the Reformation, a movement arose called the Ana-Baptists (Anti-Baptist), I believe to be led by Zwingli. It fallaciously came up with the idea that there was an "age of accountability" with respect to sin. This is not Scriptural. There is an age of awakening to the "consciousness" of sin, or "carnal knowledge," but all human beings, due to Original Sin, inherit sin and are considered sinners. We know that infants die, because the "wages of sin is death." If God didn't impute their sins, then they wouldn't die, and yet we know they do die. When there comes about a consciousness of sin, or "carnal knowledge" later as a young adult, the sin becomes worse, until the sinner not only knows what sin is, but obstinately disobeys. This is mortal sin. (Please see a fuller explanation of what sin is at www.holywordofgod.org/Sin) Therefore, the believer, must continually renew his or her faith which began as an infant until death. During this time the child will grow in the knowledge of sin and repentance and at some time be "Born Again" later in life and experience three major conversions, in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I am hoping to have a fuller analysis on these stages of faith later on this site! So, this is why infants should be baptized. This exposition of the Bible should be sufficient for anyone who wishes to accept the Truth concerning Infant Baptism. |