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Should Infants Be
Baptized ?
You have researched this question because you want to
do the very best thing in the sight of God for your baby. You may wish,
now, to rededicate your life to God and at the same time dedicate the life
of your baby to God. Or, you may have been taught that infants being born
into a like condition with sinful man must be baptized to erase the consequence
of sin from their lives.
This last teaching is the doctrine of the original sin,
which is held by many of the major denominations. Briefly, it teaches that
the souls of unbaptized infants will, if they should die, go to a place
that is neither heaven or hell. There they will neither receive the punishment
of eternal condemnation, nor the blessing of heaven. To avoid this consequence,
the doctrine of original sin teaches that infants must be baptized.
To evaluate this doctrine we need to find the Bible definition
of sin. I John 3:4 defines sin, as follows, "Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law".
That is, sin is wrong doing. How man transgresses law is shown by James
1-14-15, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own
lusts, and enticed. But when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death".
These scriptures show that sin requires a transgression
of law and a lust Cor desire) on the part of the sinner. Neither of these
are things that infants or young children can do for they cannot understand
law and they, do not lust.. Thus sin is impossible for the very young.
But what about original sin? This doctrine is based, very largely, upon
King David's lament, as recorded in Psalm 51:5, "Behold I was brought
forth in sin and in iniquity did my mother conceive me". David said,
"I was brought forth in sin ", he did not say, He was brought
forth a sinner. The passage says, "In sin did my mother conceive me";
that is she acted wickedly when I was conceived. If a wife were to say,
"In drunkenness my husband beat me" or a child were to say "in
anger my father whipped me", none would attribute drunkenness to the
wife or anger to the child; neither can blame be placed on David for his
mother's sin and neither can the scripture be used as proof for original
sin. This interpretation of David's statement is supported by Ezekiel 18:20,
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of
the wicked shall be upon him". Because a baby cannot sin and because
the doctrine of original sin is based upon a misunderstanding of David's
statement, the doctrine is invalid. There is no need to have your baby
baptized.
The practice of dedicating a child to Christ through
a baptismal ceremony is questionable. Such baptism might deter his future
response, or obedience- to clear commands that God has given to responsible
believers, one of wh ich is baptism for the remission of sins. Study Acts
2-38, 22:16, Romans 6-3-11, and Galatians 3:27.
The Bible says not one word in favor of infant baptism.
Nowhere in the Bible is there command or example for the baptism of infants.
We must respect and obey the silence of the scriptures as well as respect
and obey their applicable commandments. II John.-9 says, "Whosoever
transgresseth, and abide not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God".
An Old Testament example tells of the deaths of two priests, Nadab and
Abihu, who went beyond God's instructions, that is, who failed to heed
the silence of the scriptures. The record is found in Leviticus 10:1, which
states, "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron took either of them
his censer and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange
fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire
from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord".
From this event, we learn that God rejects worship which
is not in strict accord with His will. In our daily affairs we do not add
beyond that which is prescribed. The drugist does not add Nembutal to a
prescription of Digitalis because the doctor has failed to tell him not
to do so. Neither does the housewife add this same digitalis to her cake
batter because the recipe failed to tell her not to do it. If we reason
that we can do any religious act because the Bible does not provide specific
instruction against it, few things that our imagination can think of are
barred from us. The Bible is a book of "Do's" not a book of "Don'ts".
All commands and all examples of conversion in the New
Testament are for persons of sufficient maturity for self-responsibility.
The scriptures given a moment ago to define sin also help define the age
of responsibility, or the age of accountability. The age of accountability
is when a child or an adult can learn the difference between right and
wrong and become accountable to God for his actions. People will become
accountable to God at different ages. Although the New Testament does not
specify the age of accountability in years, the Old Testament shows that,
under the law of Moses, children were treated as adults at the age of twelve.
This is a rough guideline for us today.
When a person becomes self responsible in spiritual and
moral matters there are commandments he must obey if he is to please God;
these are: He must hear the word of God and through it believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God; Repent (or turn away) from a life of sin;
and, be baptized for the remission of his sins. He must also confess the
name of Jesus to mankind. Study Matthew 10:32-33; Mark 16.-15-16; Acts
2:38 and Romans 6-3-11. Hear and study message, "How Can A Man Be
Justified With God?".
In this study we have shown that baptism in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins is a commandment of God for those
of sufficient age to be accountable to God. Ephesians 4-4-6 proclaims,
"There is one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father
of us all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all". This
scripture points out again, that in the sight of God the baptism of an
infant, for any purpose, should not be done. The one baptism of Ephesians
4:5 is for repentant believers. Infant baptism would be another baptism
because infants cannot believe or be repentant. Clearly, infant baptism
is not in accord with God's word, the Bible.
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