Biblical Basis for Baptizing Infants

I’m going to try to explain the Biblical basis for baptizing infants.  For a much more thorough and clearer evaluation of paedobaptism I highly recommend The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism.  The first chapter by Bryan Chapell is excellent.  Here we go. 

It must be admitted that there is no clear command to baptize infants anywhere in Scripture.  In addition, there is not one clear instance where we see infants baptized in the Bible.  So why do I believe in baptizing infants?

For starters a history lesson is needed.

Passover:

Israel celebrated Passover (Ex. 12:13) to celebrate the time when God’s Spirit ‘passed over’ their doorposts, which they sprinkled with the blood of a lamb, and struck down the first born of the Egyptians.  This in turn lead to the Israelites deliverance from slavery.  The Passover sacrifice was a sacrifice of atonement (Ex. 12:27; 34:25) whereby, the Israelites sacrificed a lamb and feasted on the lamb as a reminder of the deliverance from Egypt and also a sign and seal of their deliverance from their bondage to sin and communion with God in the promised Messiah.  See 1 Cor. 5:7 for the typical significance.  Once Christ instituted the New Covenant (Luke 22:14-23), the sign of Passover changed to The Lord’s Supper (Communion).  This is because a new and superior Lamb (Christ) had been sacrificed for the ultimate deliverance from the slavery of sin.  So, here we see an Old Covenant sign transformed by the work of Christ into a New Covenant sign.

The reason I included Passover first, is due to the fact that it is important to see that the sign and seal are transformed through the work of Christ in the initiation of the New Covenant.

Circumcision:

Circumcision, a sign and seal of the Covenant that God made with Abraham (Gen. 15), was administered by the Old Covenant community as a sign and seal of their inclusion into God’s covenant community.  Once Christ instituted the New Covenant, the sign and seal of circumcision changed to that of Baptism.  See Col. 2:11-12.  This is because no more blood needed to be shed to symbolize the cutting away of sin and a change of heart.  Baptisim serves as an initiation into the Covenant of grace.

Biblical Basis:

Circumcision, the sign and seal of the Old Covenant, was administered to all Israelite male children.  This even included those infants who would eventually turn their backs on Yahweh.  Esau was circumcised and so was Jacob.  As you can infer, circumcision was not salvifically effectual (or did not guarantee salvation). 

‘Infants were considered…an integral part of Israel as the people of God.  They were present when the covenant was renewed, Deut. 29:10:13; Josh. 8:35; II Chron. 20:13, had a standing in the congregation of Israel, and were therefore present in their religious assemblies, II Chron. 20:13; Joel 2:16.’ Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pg. 633

It symbolized their inclusion into the visible Covenant community, whereby, they would reap the benefits and curses that came along with belonging to the Covenant community.  This practice of circumcision held true from Abraham through the installation of the New Covenant.

Therefore, one can reasonably assume that the sign and seal of the New Covenant (baptism) continued to be administered to infants.  We wouldn’t expect the infants privilages to be revoked.  If the application of the sign and seal to Israelite infants were to cease under the New Covenant, one would assume that a directive be given to stop this practice.  Remember, this was an ingrained practice that the Israelites took very seriously.  However, we do not find any such directive to stop applying the sign of the Covenant to infants in the New Testament.

Therefore, the burden of proof lies upon those who are opposed to infant baptism.  Since this was practiced for hundreds of years, it is up to you to show me a Biblical Mandate stating that we are not to apply the New Covenant sign to infants.  You say show me Scriptural proof of an infant being baptized in the New Testament.  I say, show me a Biblical Mandate that says we are to withold the New Covenant sign from infants.

Objections that will need to be addressed in further posts:

There is no explicit command that states children must be baptized.

There is no example of infant baptism in Scripture.

According to Scripture, baptism is reserved for those with an active faith.

If this is true, why are infants (who participated in Passover) withheld from partaking in The Lord’s Supper?  Isn’t there an inconsistency in your theology?