41. May we baptize children?
Yes. We believe children are under the atonement of Christ and, as heirs of the kingdom of God, are acceptable subjects for Christian baptism.
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This question has occasioned a great deal of controversy—and splintering—within the Christian church. The adult who was not raised in the church, who responds to God’s invitation to be reconciled and renewed in Christ, and who therefore undergoes baptism as an adult convert no doubt appreciates the significance and the life-changing power of the rite more fully than any child or infant. Why, then, would we think it proper to baptize infants and children before they can decide for themselves that they wish to commit themselves to the new life in Christ, and before they can fully appreciate the significance of doing so and of the ritual by which they cross that threshold “into” Christ and his church?
We do it, first, by analogy with circumcision, the rite by which (male) infants were enrolled in the old covenant, a covenant to which they belonged not by virtue of their own consent and decision, but by virtue of their birth to parents in the covenant. Paul himself regarded God to grant the children of Christ-followers a special status by virtue of their connection to their parents. In the course of urging Christians not to initiate divorces from their unbelieving spouses if the latter are at peace with their conversion and willing to continue in the marriage, Paul writes: “For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy” (1 Cor. 7:14 ESV).
They are, quite simply, children of the covenant who, like all members of the covenant, need to grow more and more fully into living the life prescribed by the covenant. This is further reflected in the fact that Paul himself baptized whole households at a single time on the basis of the head of the household coming to faith in Christ (Acts 16:15, 30–34; 18:8; 1 Cor. 1:16).
Second, we continue to baptize infants and children as an expression of our belief that, from beginning to end, our salvation is a gift from God—that even coming to faith is a consequence of the Holy Spirit’s work within us. (We will return to this shortly in our discussion of prevenient or “preventing” grace.) We baptize those who cannot yet make their own profession of faith as a witness to the fact that God also acted upon us before we could make a profession of faith, and in the firm conviction that God will yet work upon our sons and daughters.
Third, we continue to baptize infants and children because, in the experience of the church in every age, God has honored and blessed the practice. As Martin Luther expressed it so well: “That the baptism of infants is pleasing to Christ his own work demonstrates. He has sanctified many of those who had received this baptism, and today not a few can be found whose doctrine and life attest to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit” (“On Baptism,” The Large Catechism of Martin Luther, IV.49).
The good fruit establishes the soundness of the practice of infant baptism—just as the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the centurion Cornelius and his household demonstrated that Gentiles, no less than Jews, were pleasing in God’s sight.
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People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:15–17 NIV)
I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. (1 Cor. 1:16 ESV)
See also Acts 10:44–48; 16:15, 30–34; 18:8; CoF VI
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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