Infant Baptism’s 3 Extraordinary Biblical Weaknesses

Infant Dedication or Infant Baptism?

During last Sunday’s worship service, our congregation had the honor to stand alongside three families who dedicated themselves to the Lord in the upbringing of their newborn babies. It was a special time of unity, fellowship, and commitment to God’s Word.

But it wasn’t infant baptism. 

Many religious sects that call themselves Christian perform infant baptism. Baptizing babies began two centuries after the writing of the New Testament.¹ Later it became standard practice once Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313–making infant baptism soon function as a type of birth certificate of citizenship.²

Even today, many self-proclaimed Christians baptize their babies. In doing so, they claim to fulfill both Scripture and tradition while discipling their kids in the Lord.³ So, why does our church not baptize infants? Here are three reasons:

1. The Bible Never Tells Believers to Baptize Babies

Not a single verse in all of Scripture commands Christians to baptize babies. No verse even depicts infant baptism. Three instances in the New Testament tell of entire “households” being baptized, but infants are never mentioned. It would be wrong to assume that babies are included in these households for two reasons:

“Household baptisms depicted in the New Testament are always preceded by depictions of saving faith.”

First, every instance of a household being baptized occurs after an expression of faith. The Philippian jailer and his household are baptized after they are all told to, “Believe in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31, 33). Crispus, “Believed in the Lord, together with his entire household” (Acts 18:8). Lydia and her household are baptized after she was already a “Worshipper of God” and “Judged to be faithful” (Acts 16:14-15). The members of Stephanas’ household were called “The first converts in Achaia” (1 Cor. 1:16). Household baptisms depicted in the New Testament are always preceded by depictions of saving faith.

“Household” vs. “Family”

Second, the Greek word “household” (οἶκος) refers to the economic home, not just the biological home (Phil. 4:22; 1 Tim. 3:12). “Household” describes all the members of a house, especially the slaves and employees, not necessarily just biological children, as in the Greek word for “family” (πατριά; γένος).

Nothing about the use of the word “household” would necessarily imply that infant baptism is involved (nor “family” for that matter). The New Testament has no issue specifically mentioning infants when they genuinely appear in biblical events (Lk. 1:44; 18:15). Yet the Bible makes no mention of infants being baptized.

“Not every instance of the word baptize in the New Testament should be understood as instruction for the ordinance of baptism.”

Infants Baptized Into Moses?

Not every instance of the word baptize (βαπτίζω) in the New Testament should be understood as instruction for the ordinance of baptism. Generally, the word “baptize” means to dip, or submerge.⁴

Paul talks about the Israelites being “baptized” in the Red Sea by miraculously going through it and associating that act with Moses. This is not a reference to believers’ baptism. For one, the context of 1 Corinthians 10 does not concern believers’ baptism. Second, there is a large precedent for the Apostles using “baptize” (βαπτίζω) in various senses beyond just the ordinance of baptism (Matt. 26:23; Rom. 6:3; Rev. 19:13).⁵ 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 is not a valid text for defining the means of baptism in the local church.

2. Infant Baptism is Not the New Circumcision

In the Old Testament, God demanded faithful obedience to His Covenant by circumcising every male in the household (Genesis 17:14). Some see baptism as the new iteration of that practice. Yet, the Bible never connects circumcision with baptism.

Baptism and Circumcision in Colossians 2:11-12

The closest Scripture ever gets to connecting circumcision with baptism takes place in Colossians 2:11-12, where the words “circumcise” and baptize” appear together. Neither word is used in its traditional sense. Paul is speaking illustratively. Circumcision means to cut off flesh⁶, and Paul declared that the old sinful self was cut off with Christ at the Cross. Likewise, baptism means to submerge⁷, and Paul proclaimed that Christians have been submerged in Christ’s death and resurrection at the Cross.⁸ Baptism and circumcision are used symbolically by Paul to illustrate the work of Christ to fulfill Scripture, not to establish the baptism of babies as the new version of circumcising babies.

Besides Colossians 2:11-12, no other Scripture comes close to connecting baptism with circumcision. Similarly, the Church is never called the new Israel, and the New Covenant is never called a replacement of the Old Covenant. Rather, the Church is taught as the next revealed step in God’s redemptive plan in fulfillment and continuation of His work in Israel (Mt. 5:17-18; Lk. 24:27; Rom. 11:27-29).

Children Being Called, “Holy” in 1 Corinthians 7:14

“A child can be spiritually benefitted by being born to believing parents, but he cannot be a part of the people of God apart from faith.“

Indeed, Paul calls children of believing parents, “holy,” in 1 Corinthians 7:14, leading some to suggest that this implies a connection between Old Testament circumcision and New Testament baptism. If children of believing parents can be considered holy, then certainly they can be baptized, the thinking goes.

However, “holy” in this context does not mean saved. How could it? In the same verse, a husband of a Christian wife is called “holy” even though he is unequally yoked as an “unbeliever.”⁹ Holy in its most basic sense means pure and set apart; it does not always refer to salvation. In this sense, the Apostle Paul declares that both unbelieving spouses and the children of Christian parents—while not saved by proxy—are uniquely situated apart from the world to receive the Gospel.

Likewise, ancient customs saw children of illegitimate unions as unclean. However, in 1 Corinthians 7:14, God insists they are clean—or holy, legitimate, etc.¹⁰ A child can be spiritually benefitted by being born to believing parents, but he cannot be a part of the people of God by infant baptism. He must have faith.

Entering God’s Family Was Always By Faith

This was true even in the Old Testament. Circumcision, like baptism, did not save the person receiving it (what about the girls?). Only the believing parent was saved by their faith in obeying God’s Covenant (Rom. 3:30; 9:32-33; Gal. 5:6). Faith, not circumcision, made an Israelite part of the covenant community (Gal. 3:7; Rom. 9:6; Mt. 3:9 Jn. 8:39); While Jewish children enjoyed some partial benefits of being ethnically God’s people (Gen. 12:3; 1 Kg. 3:14; Ex.23: 21-33), they were not truly a part of God’s covenant people until they had faith in God’s promises and circumcised their hearts (Rom. 2:29; Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4).

“But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

Romans 2:29, ESV

In the Old Testament, God commanded circumcision as a sign of being in God’s covenant community by faith. In the New Testament, baptism is never described as a sign. Not once. The sign of being part of God’s people under the New Covenant is not baptism, but regeneration—what Ezekiel calls a “circumcised heart” (Ez. 36:26-29).

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is also called a “seal of salvation” just as circumcision was (Rom. 4:11; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; Eph. 4:30). Ultimately, no physical sign is given to the New Covenant people other than the sign of Jonah: Christ Himself, crucified and raised again, and living as one crucified and raised with Christ (Lk. 11:29-30; Rom. 6:3-6; Gal. 2:20).

3. Baptism Always Follows Individual Faith

Baptism Preceded by Repentance

Baptism was not a New Testament invention. It existed in the Old Testament as a means for Gentiles to convert to Judaism. ¹¹ This public display of submersion signified the taking on of a new identity by symbolically washing away their pagan past and proverbially emerging as a new person. When John the Baptist commanded ethnic Jews to baptize themselves, it illustrated the severe sickness of their spiritual state (Mt. 3:2). Although they had Jewish blood in their veins, they had pagan depravity in their hearts (Mt. 3:9). The Jews needed to convert to true biblical Judaism.

The act of baptism was not seen as repentance itself, but as the deed which both followed and displayed repentance. Scripture understands repentance as an act of faith, a turning of the heart away from sin and towards submission to Christ (Acts 20:21; Mk. 1:15; Heb. 6:1). The two are inseparable. Even in the Old Testament, when Gentiles would convert to Judaism, they would not baptize their infants. Rather, they would circumcise them in faithful obedience to the Old Covenant and teach the statutes of the Lord for them to receive by faith (Deut. 6:4-9).

Therefore, even before the Church, baptism was always seen as an outward display of an inward change.  Whether for Gentles converting to Judaism or non-believers converting to Christianity, the baptism functioned to proclaim a new heart.

The Inability of Babies to Have Saving Faith

However, infants cannot proclaim a new heart. They cannot even comprehend they need a new heart. They are born in sin yet incapable of faith (Psalm 51:5; Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3). This is because the Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:2).

This is not just auditory hearing, but a perception of language, since the hearing that saves comes by the receiving of words (Rom. 10:17b).¹² Saving faith also entails a conscience recognition of “believing in one’s heart” what is true and verbally confessing their faith (Rom. 10:9-10). This faith must entail a recognition of one’s sin and of the need to both repent from it and be forgiven for it (1 John 1:9; Ps. 32:5). Infants cannot do this, even though they are born sinners. 

“Not even adults in their own strength can have saving faith. Faith is always a gracious gift God grants to a believer for salvation.”

This does not suggest that infants who die do not go to heaven. The Bible makes clear young children or those of mental handicaps do go to Heaven after death (2 Samuel 12:22- 23; Mk. 9:13-16; Jer. 19:4).¹³ In those cases, God’s grace, made possible through the reconciliation of Christ’s death on the Cross (Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:13), is graciously imputed to all babies who die before having a chance to receive it by faith. Remember, not even adults in their own strength can have saving faith. Faith is always a gracious gift God grants to a believer for salvation (Rom. 3:11; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; Phil. 1:29; Acts 3:16; Mt. 16:13)

Occasionally proof-texts are found to try to support the idea of a baby having faith. For example, the Psalmist David speaks of Yahweh being his God while still in the womb (Ps. 22:10).This does not speak to the ability of babies to have faith, but of God’s sovereignty in knowing His people even before their mothers do (Isa. 46:3; Gal. 1:15).¹⁴

John the Baptist is described as receiving the Holy Spirit while still in the womb (Lk. 1:15). This is reminiscent of God’s unique imparting of the Spirit on unique people at unique times before the Church age, not an indication of salvation (Lk. 1:41, 67; 1 Sam. 10:10; 2 Kgs 2:9-16).¹⁵ It also does not suggest the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in infants as part of the Church age. The fact remains: babies cannot be baptized because babies cannot have faith.

“Teaching and Baptizing…”

However, because of the doctrine of the age of accountability, it may be tempting to think that because a baby would go to Heaven if it were to die, this then makes him a valid candidate to be baptized while alive. This misunderstands the God-expressed purpose of baptism.

“An infant who dies will go to Heaven, but that doesn’t mean an infant who lives should be baptized before having faith.”

Baptism was given to proclaim a believer’s regeneration, not the doctrine of the age of accountability. In the Great Commission, Christ ordained baptism for the expressed purpose of making disciples who have been taught (Mt. 28:19). An infant who dies will go to Heaven, but that doesn’t mean an infant who lives should be baptized before having faith. Baptism does more than just mark someone who is destined for Heaven. It marks someone who has received the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection and responded with faithful repentance.

Baptism Preceded by Faith

This is because the Bible always connects baptism with repentant belief in God’s saving promises. John baptized those who were confessing their sins (Mt. 3:6). His baptism was called a baptism of repentance (Mt. 3:11). Mark describes John’s baptism as for those seeking forgiveness for their sins (Mk. 1:4). Baptism is commanded in the great commission as the means of making disciples after they have been taught (Mt. 28:19).

“The Bible always connects baptism with repentant belief in God’s saving promises.”

In Acts, the Apostles called for baptism to follow repentance (Acts 2:38). About three thousand souls “who received the word” were baptized (Acts 2:41). Both men and women were baptized after believing the good news preached by Philip (Acts 8:12). Simon was baptized after believing (Acts 8:13).

Peter in his letter says that it is not the water of baptism that saves, but the clean conscience that comes from repentance (1 Pet. 3:21). So much was baptism seen as a proclamation of faith that believers would even use their baptism to testify of the faith of believers who had already passed away (1 Cor. 15:29)! The Bible exclusively and uniformly describes water baptism as an act of a faithful believer. 

Conclusion

When our church performs child dedications, we are recognizing the special gift of God in putting children in loving Gospel homes. We want to honor this and promote the power of faithful families in fulfilling the Great Commission.  We do this partially by taking time during Sunday service to commit ourselves in love to new parents in the task before them: of making disciples of their children by teaching them the Gospel and encouraging them to be baptized after accepting Christ.

Infant baptism should not be tolerated as a mere matter of conviction. It contradicts the very convictions of the Gospel. It denies that in all times individuals have always entered God’s covenant community by faith alone and that salvation only comes by a belief in the heart that is confessed with the mouth.

Hell is full of people screaming, “But I was baptized.” The stakes are too high to entrust the future of Christianity to a generation falsely assuming they are part of God’s people because they are baptized. The Bible is too clear to teach anything less than baptism for believers. The Commission given by Christ is too great than to fulfill in any other way other than by teaching first and then baptizing.

Footnotes

1. F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 836. ↩︎
2. Philip Schaff and David Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 258. ↩︎
3. For the purpose of this article, only biblical arguments will be cited in defense of believers’ baptism. ↩︎
4. Albrecht Oepke, “Βάπτω, Βαπτίζω, Βαπτισμός, Βάπτισμα, Βαπτιστής,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 530. ↩︎
5. Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 139. ↩︎
6. Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 725. ↩︎
7. Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 530. ↩︎
8. G. K. Beale, Colossians and Philemon, ed. Robert W. Yarbrough and Joshua W. Jipp, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2019), 190. ↩︎
9. Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 143. ↩︎
10. A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), 1 Co 7:14 ↩︎
11. Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 447. ↩︎
12. Deaf people can be saved since they can receive the Word of Christ without audibly hearing it ↩︎
13. While the Bible gives clear evidence that babies who die indeed go to Heaven, the doctrine of the age of accountability is tertiary and should not be used to override what the Bible clearly says about the relationship between baptism and salvation. Again, an infant who dies will go to heaven, but that doesn’t mean an infant who lives should be baptized before faith. ↩︎
14. See Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 124. Also, Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms 1–89: Commentary, vol. 1, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2011–2013), 537. ↩︎
15. See Darrell L. Bock, Luke: 1:1–9:50, vol. 1, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994), 85. Also, I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1978), 58. ↩︎