Should we baptize infants?
I don’t believe infant baptism is a scriptural practice, and I want to give you reasons from the Scriptures. There are two reasons why infant baptism is not scriptural.
First of all, there is not a single example of an infant being baptized in the New Testament. There is not a single command in the New Testament to baptize infants. Surely, if God wanted us to baptize infants, we would have either an example or command to do so.
Secondly, the purpose of water baptism shows that infant baptism is inappropriate. Water baptism is a badge of profession, the divinely-appointed way of professing one’s faith in Christ. Water baptism was administered to those who professed their faith in Christ. Since infants cannot profess their faith in Christ, water baptism is not appropriate for infants.
Some claim that God loves our children, and therefore, we should baptize them.
God does love our children. Not baptizing our children does not mean that we believe that God does not love them, or that we don’t love them. Once again, we have to go back to the intent and design of water baptism.
Baptism is an ordinance for believers, and it is God’s way of professing our union with Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28:19–20 Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” We are to baptize those who have come to know Jesus, and we are to teach them everything that Jesus commanded. Infants cannot be the proper subjects for baptism.
Aren’t there some who baptize their infants because infants were circumcised in the Old Testament?
Yes, this is the view of Reformed Theology or Covenant Theology. They love to use Acts 2:39 to support this practice. Peter was preaching to a Jewish audience on the Day of Pentecost and Peter said to them, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
To whom was Peter speaking? He was speaking to Jews. Acts 2:5 says, “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.”
So those who want to baptize infants need to become dispensationalists?
Yes, it’s a problem that comes from failing to rightly divide the Word. They are letting the Old Testament bleed into the New. That’s bad hermeneutics.