Infant Baptism
Baptism may be administered to infants of believers or within the Church.
This doctrine is actively contested between major traditions. Faithful Christians disagree.
What the traditions say
Baptism removes original sin and incorporates into the Body of Christ. Infants of Catholic parents are baptized as soon as possible.
Baptism regenerates — including infants. Luther: "God can create faith in infants as He does in adults." Baptismal regeneration is a Lutheran distinctive.
Infants are baptized, chrismated (confirmed), and receive Communion — full initiation from infancy. The child is a full member of the Church.
Infant baptism is the covenant sign, as circumcision was under the old covenant. Children of believers are covenant members and receive the sign.
Rejected. Only believers may be baptized. Infant "baptism" is considered unbiblical — no NT command or clear example supports it.
Who binds this
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1Cor 1:16 — And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
- 1Pet 3:21 — The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
- Acts 16:15 — And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
- Acts 16:33 — And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
- Col 2:11 — In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
- Exod 12:48 — And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
- Gen 17:12 — And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
- Gen 17:7 — And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
- Lev 12:3 — And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
- Mark 10:14 — But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
- Matt 28:19 — Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Westminster Shorter Catechism Q95 — To whom is Baptism to be administered?
- Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism Q166 — Unto whom is Baptism to be administered?
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 28.4 — Of Baptism
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 27 — Of Baptism
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On Baptism · Canon 13 — On Baptism
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 9 — Of Baptism
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
And concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if thou have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm. But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head…
Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable. For it declares: "God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the…
To attain the knowledge of God is impossible for those who are still under the control of their passions. Therefore they cannot attain the salvation they hope for as they have not obtained any knowledge of God. He who fails to attain this end is clearly subject to the charge of being ignorant of God, and ignorance of God is shown by a…
The Passover affords a more than usually solemn day for baptism; when, withal, the Lord's passion, in which we are baptized, was completed. Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover, He said to the disciples who were sent to make preparation, "You will…
He washed in Jordan, and when He was baptized He received a figure and a seal in the water of (another spiritual booty beside) the body born of the Virgin. (And the object of this was,) when the Archon condemned his own peculiar figment (of flesh) to death, (that is,) to the cross, that that soul which had been nourished in the body…
That the first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead. In Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns: circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your…