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WHY WE BAPTIZE INFANTS!
Why Baptize Babies
The first mention of baptism in the Bible occurs early in each of the four gospels. In these accounts the colorful wilderness preacher, John the Baptist, lifts his strident voice to call a self-righteous but beleaguered populace to repentance and baptizes those who respond. It catches on like wildfire. Soon "all Jerusalem" parades to the Jordan River to be baptized by the man who lives off the land and dresses in animal skin.
John's water baptism symbolized cleansing; the decision to be baptized initiated a changed life for contrite adults. But to claim that God, through baptism, actually changes an infant's relationship to himself in our day, as some Christian churches teach, seems fantasyland to many people.
Today, however, probably at least 85 percent of all Christians have been baptized in infancy. But lately an increasing number of those so baptized express the wish that they themselves might recall the experience of baptism - much along the lines of what John's baptism meant to people. Part of the problem for those who question the baptizing of infants is the failure to recognize the difference between John's baptism and that which Christ established (see Acts 19:4-5).
THE QUESTION
A new emphasis on direct experience, a smoldering spirit of anti-institutionalism, and an increasingly scientific approach to biblical studies have combined with the natural tendency of people to question ancient practices in the church and have raised the question: Why baptize infants?
Let's face the issue squarely. How did the church get this practice and is there justification for continuing it? Does infant baptism among Lutherans, for example, rest on any foundation other than Luther's centuries-old catechism?
Basic to the question is this statement attributed to Jesus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). In other words, because they are members of the human family, infants are inheritors of sinful inclinations. Sinfulness is a universal condition. Paul points out in Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Infants, like adults, need help from God.
BAPTISM SAVES
God's love for the human race, evidenced by his costly plan for its salvation through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, made provision for us to come to him in spite of our sinful condition. That provision includes baptism. When applied to any human being who does not reject or despise it, baptism establishes a new relationship with God. Through Christian baptism, we have our sin forgiven, become heirs of eternal life, and can remain his children forever. Amazing grace!
In his Large Catechism Luther wrote that baptism is a living, saving water. The power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of baptism is to bring to completion that restored relationship to God that Jesus' atonement gained for all humanity. In 1 Peter 3:21 we are told: "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." If this is the case, then certainly a loving God would not provide baptism as a means for adults and make no provision whatever for infants who are just as precious in his sight.
JESUS COMMANDS
The most direct continuing reason for baptizing infants rests in the simple command that Christ gave to his church: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). Note that all people of all nations are to be made disciples. It would be difficult to argue that children are not to be considered part of a nation's population until they reach a certain age. Even census takers require that all members of a family be counted regardless of their age. If children are that important to a nation, how much more precious they must be to the Lord who has given them life. Would God exclude infants when it comes to the method by which persons are reclaimed for fellowship with God for all eternity?
A look back into ancient church history shows some favorable testimony for infant baptism by the earliest church fathers. They testified to receiving the tradition of infant baptism from the apostles. The catacombs of Rome bear inscriptions with the names of children, indicating the dates of their deaths at ages ranging from a few months to a few years and stating that they had been baptized. The practice of infant baptism has a long and continuous, though not undisputed, history among Christians.
Our Lutheran view of baptism holds that baptism benefits infants because the power lies not in what humans do, but in what God does.
In fact, we do not bring anything to our baptism except our need. It is God who acts through this water, performing his miracle of grace. Nothing bars the infant from this benefit since the child neither rejects nor despises baptism or the grace of God. Jesus, in fact, said: "To such belongs the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:13-16).
The infant who is baptized receives all that Jesus' death and resurrection gained for humankind. The child does not contribute anything to his or her salvation; the infant is not in a position to contribute anything. But, then, neither are adults! Salvation is purely a gracious gift of God. Therefore, as with any good gift, the appropriate thing to do is to respond with love and faith to so generous a giver.
GOD INITIATES
It is important to remember that baptism is a sacrament complete in itself. It is a once for-all-time experience. Even if a person afterwards walks away from God, rejects him, but later returns, that individual is not baptized again. Like the biblical prodigal, the lapsed person upon repentance reenters the covenant relationship which God not only initiated but which he also never canceled.
God wants all people to be saved and has made provision through Christ for anyone to be saved. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16) is a reliable word. For infants, "believing" is not a condition arrived at rationally. It is, rather, a broad description of a new relationship to God who creates a kind of faith-relationship in the heart of the infant. God now has chosen the baptized child as his own, and through this baptism he will save that child through the "washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). The second birth has now superseded the first. The inheritance of sin, which was a part of the human birth, is now removed and in its place is the inheritance of eternal life through the gift of God. That relationship must be nourished or it will be lost, but of itself it is a full incorporation into fellowship with God.
It must be added that when an infant is brought into fellowship with God through baptism, he or she also is brought into fellowship with all believers. The child becomes a part of the household of faith, the church. In that household the baptized one is nurtured, fed, and cared for spiritually. As the child grows he or she will learn more about what it means to live as a redeemed and chosen member of God's family. Such a person will be able to rejoice in the confidence that he or she belongs t6 Christ. No one can pluck a person out of the hand of the One who chose that individual in baptism, washed away all sin, and lifted him or her out of the water into the fellowship of all believers. Only the person himself or her-self can break that relationship willfully or carelessly.
God has made it clear that the covenant relationship also includes children. And the provision for their entry into the kingdom-this relationship-is clearly stated in John 3:5: "Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." God has created a sacrament by which he will establish this relationship with an infant as with any believing adult. Therefore, we can be assured that God will receive children as his own, washed clean from sin, delivered from death and the devil, and claimed by him as members of the kingdom to live with him forever.