Observations and Conclusions on Infant Baptism

On January 16 I wrote a facebook note on infant baptism. I asked in my note, How did the church move from believers baptism to infant baptism? The answers I got can be summed up this way: “They did not move, infant baptism by sprinkling, was the original mode and practice.”

I have to admit, I was astounded. They read “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” And they say, Yep, infants. Or, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” – infants. Or, “Repent and be baptized every one of you” – infants.

What is the rationale offered for infant baptism?

† On why they sprinkle - “We don’t know how deep the Jordan was.” And “they both went down into the water” – we don’t know how far down. And when they read “many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized” they say, It doesn’t say infants were excluded.

† baptism simply represents membership in the covenant community, that is the church, and has no reference to repentance, faith, or the new birth. There is no link to spiritual life.

† some commentors were Methodists; the UMC says:
Does baptism mean that I am saved?
No, salvation is a lifelong process during which we must continue to respond to God's grace. Baptism offers the promise that the Holy Spirit will always be working in our lives, but salvation requires our acceptance of that grace, trust in Christ, and ongoing growth in holiness as long as we live.

Does baptism make me a member of the church?
Yes, baptism is the act of initiation and incorporation into the universal church of Jesus Christ, The United Methodist Church, and the local congregation, as our ritual makes very clear.

I am utterly astounded by these statements! The first question and answer explains why so many Methodists I have spoken to over the years, when asked, Are you a Christian? Have consistently answered, I’m working on it.
As far as the second question, I think all groups practicing infant baptism answer the same way: The baptized infant is a full fledged member of the church, they are in Christ, they are heirs, they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit etc.
Further, this statement provided by the UMC differs from what John Wesley himself taught: In A Treatise on Baptism he wrote:
“What are the benefits we receive by baptism…the first of these is, the washing away the guilt of original sin…By baptism we enter into covenant with God…By baptism we are admitted into the Church, and consequently made members of Christ, its Head…By baptism, we who were “by nature children of wrath” are made the children of God...we are made the children of God by adoption and grace.” …In consequence of our being made children of God, we are heirs of the kingdom of heaven.”

† others also emphasize the covenant aspect. I found a book, To a Thousand Generations: Infant Baptism ~ Covenant Mercy to the Children of God. One of the comments about the book states:
“Wilson, ever the careful exegete and consummate logician, presents a clear case for infant baptism by starting where any discussion on this subject should: in the OLD TESTAMENT! Very few if any proponents of believer's baptism begin their argument in the Old Testament (and if you start with the New, you will inevitably argue against infant baptism!)”
This is very interesting. This is an admission that if you read the New Testament you will not find infant baptism; that you can only come to this conclusion from the Old Testament. This is startling. I wonder how many other doctrines of the gospel cannot be found in the NT? (that’s sarcasm, in case you didn’t detect it)

† Martin Luther has both the most consistent and yet amazing comments about this. He admits that everywhere the Gospel links faith to baptism, and that without faith baptism accomplishes nothing, and apart from faith transmits no grace. Yet he believed in infant baptism. How? He declared that infants met the requirement – they believed in Christ!

I am convinced that Luther is correct, the New Testament associates faith with baptism: John preached a baptism of repentance – the people had to repent and confess their sins before he would baptize them. Jesus said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Peter said, Repent and be baptized. The Eunuch asked Philip, What doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip answered, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And so throughout the NT.

This all being stated I have to be honest: I still don’t know how this transition took place. I mean, The earliest descriptions of baptism outside of the NT, Didache and Justin, describe believers baptism. There is simply no description of infant baptism nor instructions for it. Yet by the middle 200s it begins to be mentioned. There is no promotion for it and there is very little opposition to it.

I believe the Gospel teaches that grace is indeed imparted in baptism. That is, something really happens in baptism. But I do not believe that baptism itself imparts this grace. In other words, baptism is only effective when there is faith in the heart of the baptized. As Annanias told Paul, And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. His sins were washed away in baptism, but only because he believed in Jesus and called on the name of the Lord.

Are the infants of believers to be baptized? If so, then it would appear that children are saved merely by being born to Christian parents who have them baptized, without and before faith, while adults must repent and believe before they can be baptized. That being said, I still don’t know the answer to my question. I do believe children who can confess faith in Christ can and should be baptized. Even young children. In fact, I would encourage it. But what was the place and status of the children of believers in the early church? They are rarely mentioned in either the NT or the Fathers.

Here are my conclusions:
It’s possible that there are some practices of the apostolic church that we don’t know about, among them the status of the children of believers.
When the NT mentions baptism, its’ emphasis is on the baptism of believers. There is the occasional mention of an entire household being baptized, and I confess I don’t know the significance of that.
And an observation: those who emphasize believers baptism baptize converts while those who baptize infants seem to rarely baptize converts.

You can read an interesting blog post on this issue here ; includes quotes from early Church Fathers

you can find John Wesley’ Treatise on Baptism here