Transcript

These are five reasons why babies should be baptized.

The first reason is that baptism is not man's work, but it is indeed God's work.

Now, in a lot of traditions, when they're looking at baptism, specifically the Baptist tradition and some non-denominational churches and others, they think about baptism as a work of man rather than the work of God.

Meaning that baptism is seen as something that we do to show our dedication to God.

We make the decision to become a Christian, we convert, and then after that point, baptism is a sign that the believer uses to demonstrate to the world that they have accepted Jesus, that they are indeed a believer in Jesus, and they proclaim their faith to the world through this one act of obedience as they accept water baptism.

It is argued that an infant can't convert, and so if an infant can't convert at their age, then they can't make the decision and choice to get baptized.

It's something that we decide to do when we feel that we are ready.

Now, that view of baptism is simply not what Scripture teaches.

Scripture doesn't teach that baptism is our work, but Scripture teaches that baptism is God's work.

Just take a look at some of the texts about baptism.

Read through the New Testament and look at every verse that talks about baptism, and what you'll see is it continually points to baptism not as something that we do, but as what God does.

It is a gift of God; it's not something that I do to show God anything.

Acts 2:38, Peter says, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God is using baptism to give His gifts: forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Romans chapter 6, verses 3 and 4: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

And so we are told that we are baptized into Christ's death.

I don't baptize myself into Christ's death; it's God's gift to me that He baptizes me into Christ's death.

And if, as Scripture teaches, baptism is something that God does, not something that I do, then it doesn't matter if you are a certain age, if you are able to comprehend a certain amount of stuff, or if you're able to make a right decision.

It is a gift of God, and He wants to give it to all.

The second reason is because infants are sinners, and as we've seen, as you look through Scripture, baptism is always connected to the forgiveness of sins.

As we saw in Acts 2:38 and 1 Peter 3, we're told that baptism now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Scripture speaks of us being born again of water and the Spirit.

We are cleansed of our sins in baptism.

Acts 22:16 says, Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.

And so, if baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, we have to ask the question, well, who's a sinner?

Because all sinners need to be baptized.

As we look at Scripture, it's very clear that infants are indeed sinners.

David says in the Psalms that in sin did his mother conceive him.

So, even from the moment of conception, as Psalm 51:5 says, that in sin we are conceived, and that means that we are sinners from even conception.

Therefore, we need to be baptized as soon as we can.

Other Scriptures speak about how all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and there is no one exempt from that, which explicitly then includes infants.

So, if infants are sinners, they need to receive the gift of holy baptism.

The third reason is that infants can indeed believe.

It's argued by a lot of people that infants can't believe, that you have to be at a certain age where you can believe, and then you get baptized after that.

And so, because infants can't indeed believe, therefore infants should not get baptized.

But does Scripture really teach that infants can't believe?

Well, the one thing we have to understand about faith in the biblical sense is that faith is a gift of God.

Faith is not something that I do, but it's something that God gives to us.

If faith is indeed the work of God, it's something the Holy Spirit does for us and gives to us, then the Holy Spirit can give it to whoever He wants.

He's not limited so that He has to wait until we're at a certain age or we have a certain intellectual ability before He can give the gift of faith.

God gives the gift of faith when God desires to give the gift of faith.

Scripture does teach that there are infants that do indeed have faith.

We can look at several examples of this in the Bible.

One of those is John the Baptist.

The most famous example is when John the Baptist leaps in the womb (Luke 1:41), and so John the Baptist has faith even before he's born.

God can give him the gift of faith, and he believes in Jesus and rejoices.

This isn't just John the Baptist; in Psalm 22, verses 9 and 10, David states that he has faith in God since he is at his mother's breast.

He is breastfeeding and has faith in God.

In Psalm 71, the psalmist says that he believes in God at this time as well, even as an infant.

We see Jesus even praising the faith of children, but not just the faith of children.

Remember, in Luke 18, we see that Jesus actually praises specifically the faith of the children who are brought to Him.

So, Scripture is very clear that infants do and can indeed have faith because faith is a gift of God.

And so, if then faith is something that's necessary for baptism, that still does not exclude infants because they too can be given the great gift of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The fourth reason is because Scripture speaks repeatedly about household baptisms.

Many people say there are no examples in Scripture at all of infant baptisms and that in Scripture, everyone who believes in Jesus is baptized; they repent, they believe, and then they're baptized.

However, Scripture actually has several examples of not just that, but of several households that are baptized.

We see several instances where someone is baptized, and then following their baptism, their entire household receives the gift of holy baptism as well.

We see examples of Lydia in Acts 16:5, the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:33-34, Stephanas in 1 Corinthians 1:16, and Cornelius in Acts 10:11-14. These are just some examples of people that we know had households, which means they had children.

As soon as they received the gift of baptism, the children received it as well.

So, we don't have any examples in Scripture of somebody who we know has children, who is converted to the faith, and then doesn't baptize their children.

Now, we don't know how big their households were, how many kids they had, or exactly what ages they were, but we see the principle that when somebody receives the gift of baptism, they bring their family to the font, and they receive the gift of baptism as well as they join together into the family of God.

The fifth reason is because throughout Scripture, God shows a special care for infants and children, and He always includes them within His gracious promises.

We see this throughout the Old Testament, where God gives the promise to Abraham and gives the gift of circumcision to Abraham, which is the sign of the promise that God gave to Abraham that he was going to inherit this special land and that he was going to have all of these children, these great descendants.

All of the Abrahamic promises were sealed with this great gift of circumcision, which serves as a sign of God's promise and intention to fulfill that promise to Abraham.

Abraham was not just told to get circumcised when he was old enough, then wait until his kids were old enough and they believed the promise too.

As soon as they believed the promise, then he was to get them circumcised.

No, instead, he was told that he was to circumcise his children.

The children are circumcised, and the infants are circumcised when a family is brought into the covenant of the people of God in the Old Testament.

The entire family, at least the males in the family, receive the gift of circumcision.

We are told in the book of Colossians that baptism is now the great fulfillment of circumcision.

In that act of holy baptism, why would infants not be brought into the covenant as well?

One of the things we see is that in the Old Covenant, things are less inclusive; they are more exclusive than they are in the New Covenant.

In other words, the New Covenant brings in more people instead of excluding people.

While circumcision was something that was only received by the males, for example, baptism now in the New Covenant is received by both males and females.

Circumcision was for the Jews and those who would submit to Jewish law, and now baptism is for all people of all nations, as Christ says in the Great Commission.

And so, if that's the case, the pattern is always from a more exclusive group to a more inclusive group.

Then, of course, the infants would remain.

There's no reason to assume that God now says, Now infants aren't included.

If God did do that, He'd have to be pretty explicit because if you're circumcising your family, you're thinking in terms of family.

Guess what?

When baptism comes along, that's just what you're going to do unless you are told explicitly that something has changed.

That promise for children extends throughout the New Testament.

In Acts chapter 2, when baptism is tied to repentance and the forgiveness of sins, we are also told that the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, all that the Lord God calls to Himself.

So, baptism is received by those people who believed, then it's given to the children, and then the message goes out to those who are far off, those Gentiles that God calls to Himself as the apostles go throughout the book of Acts and fulfill that promise as they bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Scripture is so clear about the inclusion of children.

When the children are brought to Jesus, the infants are brought to Jesus, as we're told in the Gospel of Luke specifically, that He wants to lay His hands on them, He wants to bless them, and He wants to give them the kingdom of heaven.

He says to them, To such belong the kingdom of heaven.

So, who are we to say that infants can't be included in God's gracious promises, which are received in holy baptism?

And so, if infants are sinners, they are also recipients of God's grace, and we should administer the holy sacrament of baptism to all infants who come to that font, that they may hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ.