Infant Baptism

Today I want to look at the practice of infant baptism. How did it develop? Is it biblical?

To answer the first question, we have to look at the church's history. We really don't see infant baptism popping up until about the 4th Century.

There are two key things that were at work when thinking about the issue of infant baptism...church doctrine and the infant mortality rate. In that era of time, life was very agriculturally centered. It was not uncommon for a farm couple to produce 9 or 10 children but only have 2 or 3 of them survive.

Infant death is hard enough to deal with now, and it was equally so back then, but it was much more common place. Grieving mothers in that day and age did not grieve any less than a mother would today who has lost a child. It was a cold, hard fact of life. Most babies did not survive.

The other issue was the Roman Catholic doctrine of "Original Sin" (OS). OS was the belief that all babies are born with sin. Therefore, if they are not baptized they will not go to heaven. So it was absolutely essential that infants were baptized immediately upon their birth to ensure that they go to heaven.

In many instances, it was not uncommon when a child was being born that those present were the woman in labor, the mid-wife and a Catholic Priest. As soon as the baby was delivered, the rite of baptism was performed (through sprinkling the child with water).

So this doctrine accomplished two things, it helped pacify a faulty belief that an innocent child had met the requirements for heaven and it helped ease the pain of a grieving mother when that baby would almost surely die.

So that is how it developed, but is it biblical? No. That is the short end of it.

Last post, I quoted Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved." The importance of belief in becoming a Christian cannot be overstated. This is simply impossible for an infant to do. An infant does not have the mental faculties necessary to have that kind of belief.

Some who practice infant baptism point to passages in Acts, like Acts 11:14, where it speaks of a whole "household" being saved...from which we can infer that even infants were baptized. This is absolute nonsense. The Scriptures never say an infant is baptized...never.

If I say that I will get rich after I'm saved doesn't mean it will happen. And the Scriptures are equally as silent about that as they are infant baptism. (So I better not look to that method for getting rich!)

Infant baptism is practiced still today by many churches and denominations. I wouldn't say that it is evil. But it is most certainly not biblical.

It would certainly be okay to say it is dangerous. Because it is definitely dangerous for someone to think that if they were baptized as an infant that they have done all that they need to do. Nope...there's more.

And there is the issue of making the baby mad. Most babies cry and scream when water is sprinkled in their face...so at purely a courtesy level...it is kind of a rude thing to do.

Now one thing we do practice for infants is what is known as a "Dedication." This is based on what Hannah did with her child in 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 1:27-28
I prayed for this child , and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there. NIV

We don't expect every child born to be set aside for being a full-time minister but we do think it is good for young parents to take it seriously that they raise their child and set that child aside in such a way that they publicly say, "We are going to raise this child in the ways of the LORD. We will have him love Jesus all his days."

That is a good thing. A Biblical practice and something that makes the parents feel good too!