Baptism is an essential component of salvation, and it is important for us that everyone, including babies, is given this tremendous gift. There are two very important reasons why the Catholic Church baptizes infants. The first is because we always have! Two key biblical texts can help us here. This most certainly would have meant infants if they were present.
Catholic tradition has a lot to say about infant baptism as well. The great St. The second reason we baptize infants is for their own holistic development. A human person is a composite of body, mind and spirit; all three must be properly cared for and nurtured.
The gift of baptism is the most important way that an infant receives the proper spiritual nourishment in order to get them started on the right foot. Parents bring their babies to the waters of baptism by professing a belief in Christ on behalf of the child, and promising to raise him or her in the faith. For adults who are to be baptized,the Church also requires them to profess their faith in Christ.
On what basis does the Church believe that the faith of one person may be effective on behalf of someone else? The Scriptures are full of examples in which Jesus extends healing grace to people based on the faith of others. For example, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic based on the faith of those who brought him see Mt ; Mk Given these examples, then, we must ask ourselves: If God is willing to effect spiritual and physical cures for children based upon the faith of their parents, how much more will He give the grace of baptism to children based upon the faith of their parents?
Why do children need baptismal grace for salvation? Because they inherit original sin from the moment of conception. He does not say that this sin is manifested only when the person reaches the age of reason.
Because babies are born with original sin, they need baptism to cleanse them, so that they may become adopted sons and daughters of God and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the kingdom of God also belongs to children see Mt ; Mk He never put an age limit upon those eligible to receive His grace Lk ; Mt When St.
In the old era, God promised a Savior. In the new era, the promise has been fulfilled. Jesus' perfect life and bloody death and glorious resurrection fulfill everything necessary for salvation by faith. God "announced the gospel in advance to Abraham" Galatians , but now that Christ has come, the gospel is clearer than it was in Abraham's day, and the blessings are poured out more abundantly.
In this new and better covenant era, God gives a new and better covenant sign. Now that Jesus has suffered and poured out his blood, God no longer calls for the bloody, painful sign of circumcision. Instead he gives the sign of baptism. This better sign of baptism is without blood or pain. This better sign of baptism is not limited to males as circumcision was but is applied to females as well. The new covenant era and the new covenant sign are better than the old, so it would be a shocking letdown if the God who included children of believers in the old era excluded them in the new era.
How could babies from covenant families, circumcised in the old era, not be baptized in the new era? The Bible links the meaning of circumcision with baptism in Colossians There Scripture speaks of "the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Circumcision was the sign of becoming part of God's covenant community; so is baptism. Circumcision called for a heart in tune with God Deuteronomy ; ; so does baptism.
The spiritual meaning of circumcision is fulfilled in the new covenant sign of baptism. On the day of Pentecost, the Lord poured out his Holy Spirit to launch the new covenant era.
The apostle Peter told the people, "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. The promise is for you and your children" Acts Those words of Peter echoed God's promise to Abraham, to be a faithful God to him and his children. About 3, people were baptized that day. After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit kept adding to the church, and not just one individual at a time.
The Spirit added whole families. Entire households were baptized. When the Lord opened the heart of a woman named Lydia, the result was not just an individual baptism. When a suicidal jailer asked the apostle Paul, "What must I do to be saved? A synagogue ruler named Crispus "and his entire household" came to Christ and were baptized Acts In one of Paul's letters, he wrote, "I also baptized the household of Stephanas" 1 Corinthians Did any of these family baptisms include babies?
Probably so, but there's no way to prove it--and there's no need to prove it. Whether there were babies or not, the principle of family solidarity is clear. When an adult was baptized, whether a father or mother, so were the children in the household. When lost sheep went into God's fold, their lambs went with them. The gospel addresses households, and it's biblical to respond as households.
Biblical faith declares, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" Joshua In the Old Testament, when the head of a household was circumcised, his boys were also circumcised. In the New Testament, when the head of a household was baptized, the rest of the household was also baptized. Today, too, churches should baptize individual converts and the children under their care.
A gospel that speaks only of a personal relationship to God but not a family relationship to God is missing something. Our culture is extremely individualistic, and that makes it harder for us to see how babies too young to think for themselves could be included in God's covenant.
So let's ask ourselves: are we marbles or branches? The Bible speaks of Christ and his church as a grapevine. One way God's vine gets more branches is to grow them. Another way is for branches to be grafted in from outside.
Either way, whether a branch grows from the vine or is grafted into it, any twigs on the branch are included as well. When a child is born to someone who is already part of the church, the child is part of the church. When parents from outside the church of Christ become part of it, their children become part of it too. And baptism is the sign of belonging. In our individualistic culture, says author Douglas Wilson, we'd rather be marbles than branches.
We picture Christ not as a vine but as a marble box where individual marbles are placed one by one for safekeeping. No marble is connected to any other marble.
Each is on its own. But has Jesus ever said, "I am the box; you are the marbles"? No, Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches" John If a branch is connected to the vine, so are any twigs that are connected to the branch. This does not automatically mean that every branch or twig that's connected to the vine is truly alive and bearing fruit. Some baptized persons are part of the church and attached to the vine outwardly, but they turn out to be dead wood, without the life of Christ or the fruit of faith.
Jesus says, "My Father Some Christians oppose infant baptism largely because some people baptized as babies turn out faithless and fruitless. That's an important concern. But there are also people baptized as youth or adults who turn out faithless and fruitless.
Lifeless, nominal Christianity is a serious danger, but that doesn't mean that no babies should be baptized. It means churches must be sure to baptize not just any child but only covenant children, children of active, professing believers. It also means that church discipline must be applied when it becomes evident that a branch is dead.
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