2833 Danville Road SW- Decatur,Alabama 35603

Ph 256-353-4256  fax 256-350-8148

email: office@austinvillecoc.org

QUESTION: My spouse thinks our baby should be baptized – what do you think?

 

ANSWER: Infants should NOT be baptized for the following reasons. First, the very meaning of baptism rules out infants as proper subjects of baptism. Baptism is indeed for salvation; therefore it is meaningful and necessary only for those who are lost sinners (Acts 2:38). Babies, however, are not in this category. They should not be regarded as sinners in need of salvation. Whatever sin and condemnation all children may have potentially inherited from Adam has already been nullified and canceled for every member of the human race by the atoning work and original grace of Christ (Rom. 5:12-19). As a result babies are not born guilty or sinful; thus they do not need baptism. Only when children become old enough to understand the meaning of God’s law and the significance of breaking that law are they considered accountable for it and thus in need of baptism (Rom. 4:15; 7:7-11). Second, there is absolutely no mention of infant baptism anywhere in the New Testament. Third, Christians are under a New Covenant, which does not imitate the conditions for membership which existed under the Old Covenant. A baby born to Jewish parents was a member of the Old Covenant community simply by means of physical birth. One becomes a member of the New Covenant community (Church of Jesus Christ) not by physical birth but by the new birth or spiritual birth (John 3:3, 5), which is possible only for those who are old enough to make a conscious decision for God and believe in His name (Gal. 3:26).

 

 

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