303. Why should babies also be baptized?
A. Babies are included in the words "all nations" (Matthew 28:19).
Acts 2:38-39 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.
Read Acts 16:13-15, 25-34 and 1 Corinthians 1:16. The Apostles baptized whole households, which likely included children.
B. Babies are sinful and need what Baptism promises, the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Romans 5:12, 18-19 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ... Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
C. The Holy Spirit is able to work faith in babies.
Psalm 22:9-10 Yet You are He who took Me from the womb; You made Me trust You at My mother's breasts. On You was I cast from My birth, and from My mother's womb You have ben My God.
Psalm 71:5-6 For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon You have I leaned from before my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of You.
Matthew 18:6 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 21:16 And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise'?"
Read Luke 1:13-17, 39-45; 10:21; and 18:16. As an unborn child, Johnw as filled with the Holy Spirit and believed. The Greek words used in Luke 10 and 18 are unmistakably clear: Jesus rejoices that the Holy Spirit makes saving knowledge known to nursing babies (Luke 10:21), and He invites "little children," including infants, to come and be blessed by Him (Luke 18:16).
Faith is not to be confused with intellectual ability. Those who argue for "believer's baptism" and reject the Baptism of infants (or those with severe cognitive disabilities) often wrongly maintain that (1) infants are not guilty of (accountable for) sin or able to commit sinful acts; (2) faith is a human decision that infants cannot make; and (3) Baptism is primarily our promise to God rather than God's promise to us. Not one of these views is based on Scripture.
Parents should not deny Baptism to their children any more than they should deny them other vital needs. The necessity of Baptism, however, does not mean that children who are stillborn or die before they are brought to Baptism are lost. We commend such children to the gracious care of their Maker and Redeemer, trusting His mercy and love even when we do not understand His will or His work.
Eventual commentary
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