Should infants be baptized, or only believers?
In the New Testament, baptism is given to those who repent and believe, following a profession of faith: the Gospels and Acts consistently show belief leading to baptism. Some faithful churches, seeing the covenant as one sign given from infancy, baptize the young children of believers as well. This is an honest difference among godly Christians, tried since the early church. Follow Scripture, your church, and a clear conscience, and hold the shared center: baptism belongs to those who belong to Christ.
This question arose from studying What is baptism? and Why do I need the church?.
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What the Scripture says
In the New Testament, faith leads to baptism
The consistent New Testament picture is a person believing and then being baptized. Peter tells the crowd, 'Repent, and be baptized, every one of you,' and 'those who gladly received his word were baptized.' The eunuch is baptized after believing; the jailer is told to believe in the Lord Jesus and is baptized immediately, he and his whole household, having believed in God. Wherever Acts shows people baptized, faith has come first.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
Baptism is for disciples
Jesus' command links baptism to discipleship: make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. Baptism is the sign given to those who are being made disciples, who have heard the word, believed, and come. In the pages of the New Testament, it is the mark of a person who has entered the school of Christ, not merely a stamp on a birth.
Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
The households that were baptized
The Gospels and Acts speak of whole households being baptized: Lydia and her household, the jailer and all his, the household of Stephanas. Faithful readers understand these differently. Some see in them entire families, including little children, baptized with the believing head. Others point out that in the accounts the household 'believed' and 'rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God,' and so see believers baptized with their believing children and household. The text is read both ways, and has been for centuries.
When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)
The covenant view: the sign from infancy
Those who baptize infants point to the covenant. In the Old Testament, God's sign was given to children at eight days old, as a token of the covenant with their parents (Genesis 17:11-12). Paul links baptism to circumcision as the New Testament counterpart, a circumcision 'not made with hands' in Christ, and Peter says 'the promise is to you, and to your children.' On this reading, the sign belongs to believers and their covenant children, as circumcision did.
You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed.
in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
How to hold this difference as a family of God
This is a question the church has never settled into one answer, and both sides have loved the Lord and His word. What Scripture does make plain is that the heart of baptism is union with Christ, that its proper recipients are those who belong to Him through faith, and that the patterns of preaching and conversion lead to water. Where faithful churches differ on the timing, Paul's spirit rules: 'Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.' Seek your church's teaching, examine Scripture yourself, and do not make the age of baptism the dividing line of fellowship.
One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
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Verses to meditate on
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed.
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