Infant baptism is a controversial issue since the emergence of Protestantism until the present day. In order to do the subject justice, I found it necessary to provide the reader with a detailed study of it, which can be reviewed in the appendices section at the end of this book. Here, I will provide a brief answer. (01).
The concept of baptism in general varies greatly between Orthodox and Catholics on the one hand and Protestants on the other. This plays a large role in the rejection and misunderstanding of infant baptism by most Protestant groups. The opponents of infant baptism are fond of quoting from the Bible to refute infant baptism. Here the answer will include a study of the Bible and the early church (first three centuries).
All the New Testament statements about baptism come in the middle of the Christian gospel, so infant baptism is not mentioned separately or specifically because children were included in the same family that accepted the Christian faith. Also, the purpose of writing the New Testament was to lead people to know Jesus Christ so that they would have life if they believed in His name (John 2:30-31), and the New Testament was never a liturgical book. Since infant baptism is not mentioned specifically, this means by conclusion that it was not a matter of doubt and controversy in the early church. Therefore, we find that we must return to the faith and practice of the early apostolic church to know the position of the New Testament on infant baptism. Especially since biblical scholars can manipulate the verses of the Bible to reach their predetermined goal according to their faith backgrounds.
There are several points to consider:
1- The formula “and the people of the house”: The texts that speak of the conversion and baptism of “the whole house” (1 Cor. 1:16; Acts 11:14; Acts 16:15, 16:33, 18:8; 1 Cor. 1:16) indicate that if there were children (whatever their age) in a house where the parents had entered Christianity, all the children in that house were baptized (regardless of their age) with the adults at the same time.
2- The baptism of converts to Judaism is the baptism of pagans who have converted to Judaism. There are striking similarities in the ritual and practice of baptism of proselytes to Judaism and early Christian baptism. As for infant baptism in the early church, all evidence indicates that in the case of Gentile converts to Christianity, children of all ages (including infants) were baptized. Paul in Colossians 2:11 emphasizes this point. Paul here calls baptism “Christian circumcision” and describes it as the Christian sacrament that replaces and replaces Jewish circumcision. In 2 Corinthians 1:22 (also Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30) he transfers the character of circumcision as a “seal” (Romans 4:11) to baptism. Since circumcision was performed on all eight-day-old children who were members of the pagan household that was entering Judaism, the description of baptism as “Christian circumcision” indicates that the method followed in baptism was the same as that followed in circumcision, that is, all children of all ages were baptized when their parents accepted the Christian faith.
3- Acts 2: 38-39 It indirectly refers to the baptism of children of Jewish parents who converted to Christianity.
4- Baptism of children of pagan families entering the church: There is unquestionable evidence of the baptism of infants in families who accepted the Christian faith. These patristic testimonies confirm the evangelical point about the baptism of the entire “household.” These include Hippolytus, who mentions infant baptism as early as his time (as late as the 2nd century AD); Tertullian in Africa in the 2nd century, who mentions infant baptism and was the first to mention the role of godparents and their participation in the baptismal rite; and finally the apocryphal writings of Clement in Syria.
5- Baptism of children of Christian families: What did the early church do when a child was born to Christian parents? From Acts 21:21 we learn that in AD 55 male infants born in the church of Jerusalem were circumcised. At the same time we learn that in AD 55 male infants born in the church of Jerusalem were circumcised. At the same time we learn from Acts 21:21 that in the areas of Paul’s preaching all Gentile parents did not circumcise their children on the eighth day. Since Paul designated baptism as the rite that replaced circumcision in Colossians 2:11, it is very likely that these children were baptized.
6- After studying Mark 10:13-16, Jeremiah says that in addition to the church's exhortation to parents to bring their children to Jesus for blessing, the church saw in this story a command to bring children to Jesus in baptism. The first place this text appears in early Christian literature is in Tertullian. (02) (c. 200). This subject shows that Jesus' previous words were generally understood as an imposition of infant baptism.
7- The most prominent sign of the covenant between God and His people was circumcision. God Himself commanded the circumcision of every male child at the age of eight days (Gen. 17:12). Of course, this eight-day-old child was not asked whether he wanted to join the people of God, but the parents’ faith was the condition for the child’s circumcision and incorporation. On the other hand, it is easy to see the connection between circumcision on the one hand and Christian baptism on the other. St. Paul the Apostle says: “In Him [Christ] you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, putting off the body of the flesh [sins] by the circumcision of Christ, being buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised up with Him” (Col. 2:11-12). For the Christian, therefore, baptism is the fulfillment of the Old Testament circumcision. Other references to baptism in the Old Testament include the baptism of all the godparents of Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. 10:2), and “all” includes children as well. Noah’s ark is also a symbol of baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21). Here it is inconceivable that children would be excluded from Noah's ark and left to perish in the flood just because they were children and unable to understand what was happening.
8- The Holy Spirit descends upon fetuses and children: God called Isaiah from his mother’s womb (Isaiah 49:1-2). God sanctified Jeremiah and appointed him a prophet before he came out of his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:4-6). John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and leaped for joy while still an embryo in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15, 41, 44). If the Holy Spirit, glory be to Him, has come and continues to come upon embryos and children while they are still unconscious minors, and blesses, sanctifies, and consecrates them, is He unable to come upon children during their baptism? Quite the contrary, infant baptism is theologically an extension of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon children of all ages.
9- The Lord Jesus blesses the children: Jesus healed the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13), raised the daughter of the synagogue ruler from the dead (Matthew 9:18-26), healed the daughter of the Phoenician woman (Matthew 15:22-28), etc. These incidents and others show us important matters related to our topic. First, the age of the child was not an obstacle or impediment to accepting the grace of Christ. Second, the child (or child) had no role in accepting the grace of Christ and there was no awareness on his part to decide whether or not to accept the grace of Christ. Third, the Lord Jesus healed the child (or child) at the request of one of his family members or close friends who expressed faith in the Lord Jesus and His ability to heal. So, here too we find that the theology of infant baptism is biblical, while whoever denies the validity of this baptism is attacking the Bible itself, whether ignorantly or knowingly. The role of godparents in infant baptism is also biblical.
10- The Lord Jesus heals the insane: The Lord Jesus healed a possessed mute (Matthew 9:22-23), a possessed blind and mute (Matthew 12:22), and a possessed epileptic son (Matthew 17:14-18), etc. A possessed (insane) person for any reason is a person who is not in control of his mental faculties. However, the Lord did not refrain from healing the insane person on the grounds that he does not understand, comprehend, or know, etc. Children when they are baptized are mentally immature, and do not comprehend, understand, or know. However, they are born again in Christ in a spiritual birth (as they were born from their mothers in a first physical birth without their awareness, understanding, or consent). If the absence of conscious faith and sound reason in a child were a reason to challenge the validity of his baptism, then no mentally unsound person would be saved because he would not be baptized according to the enemies of infant baptism! Especially since the Lord Jesus Himself said, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have prepared praise” (Matthew 21:16).
11- Do children need Christian baptism? Opponents of infant baptism often say that a child does not need forgiveness of sins because he has no sins, and therefore does not need Christian baptism until he grows up and sins. This ignorance of Christian theology is gross. If a child does not need baptism, this means that he does not need the Holy Spirit because through Christian baptism the Holy Spirit is given (Acts 1:8), and he does not need to be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5), and to be born from above and therefore does not need to see the Kingdom of God, because without it no one can see the Kingdom of God (John 3:5), and he does not need to be buried with Christ and resurrected with Him (Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:11-12), and he does not need to crucify his old man in baptism (Rom. 6:3-6), and he does not need to put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), and he does not need to enter into “newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-6), and he does not need to be implanted in the body of Christ, the church, to become a member of it (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4), and he does not need salvation (1 Pet. 3:18). Notice that we have mentioned a lot about baptism and have not yet mentioned forgiveness of sins. Are not the reasons mentioned above enough to make his parents run with him to the baptismal font, “the second generative womb”? Have you seen how wrong those who fight infant baptism are, no matter what the reason for their refusal is? Despite all this, the child needs forgiveness of sins. Not because he has sinned. (03)But because he was born of the old Adam, and inherited from him all the consequences of the first ancestral sin (pain, suffering, passions, temptations, weaknesses, death, etc.) (04)Salvation is not an innate matter in man, and holiness is not merely abstaining from committing sins. This was before Christ. But in Christ, man is called to holiness and union with the Holy Trinity, and to be deified to become “a partaker of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). This will not happen without a new birth and union with the body of Christ and the drawing of grace.
12- There are testimonies from the early church. (Polycarp, Origen, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian) directly or indirectly refer to the early church's practice of infant baptism in an undoubted way. Also tombstones from the first three centuries indicate the baptism of many children of different ages before their death.
About the book: You asked me and I answered you
Q 107
Dr.. Adnan Trabelsi
(01) The following general principle was adopted: All deviations from the Orthodox faith appeared at a certain time and caused a reaction in the Orthodox community. Arius denied the divinity of the Son and Macedonius denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, so the Church rose up against them and formed the Creed. Nestorius weakened the union of the two natures and rejected the phrase “Mother of God” of the Virgin Mary, so the Third Council was held in 431. Eutyches said that the divine nature swallowed up the human nature, so the Fourth Council was held. Rome added to the Creed the phrase “the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son,” so the schism of 1054 occurred. And so on. The Protestant heresies appeared in the years 1518-2003 as a departure from the Church’s tradition and fell into heresies. They are, therefore, outsiders to the apostolic current (Spiro Gebur).
(02) Baptism 18:5.
(03) The child makes mistakes, but without knowing it.
(04) See Dr. Adnan Traboulsi “And Adam Fell”
