Baptizing babies seems to be quite a controversial practice these days andoften the baptizers are accused off louting biblical principles for the sake of unbiblical tradition. Fundamentalist Christians argue that we should only be baptizing believing adults because they are the only explicit biblical examples of believers’ baptism in the New Testament and because baptism is reserved only for those that have expressed faith in Jesus.
The Episcopal Church is certainly not opposed to baptizing believers, and regards that practice as biblical and indeed mandatory.
Baptism is a sign of the faith we profess and a mark that differentiates Christian persons from those who are unbaptized; and it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth by which, as by an instrument, those who receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church, the promises of forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be the sons of God are visibly signified and sealed, and faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue of prayer to God. The baptism of young children is under all circumstances to be retained in the Church as a practice fully agreeable with the institution of Christ.
Four fifths of the above article refers to the baptism of believers, but as the article confirms, we also hold that it is biblical for (believing) parents to baptize their small children as a sign and seal of the new covenant, in continuation of the sign and seal of circumcision under the old covenant.
The question we must ask then is what was circumcision all about?
In Genesis God made a covenant with Abraham to bless families from the entire world. The covenant sign would be the circumcision of all the males in Abraham’s household, including the butler, the domestic help and the children (Genesis 17:9-14). Abraham’s descendants were to keep the sign by circumcising all male babies.
Circumcision was then applied to those who had not yet expressed their faith in God. This may seem to be at odds with our natural evangelical inclination to see faith as a prerequisite to almost everything, but Paul explains the reasoning in Romans 4:11 when he refers to circumcision as a “sign” and a “seal”. As a sign circumcision marked out the covenant people and illustrated that salvation involves the shedding of blood. As a seal circumcision was a visible pledge from God to honor his covenant for those who expressed faith in him. The seal is simply a visible pledge from God that when the conditions of the covenant are met, the blessings he promised would apply.
Under the new covenant this principle remains true, as Peter implied when he told the Jewish crowd that the gospel promise was for them and their children (Acts 2:39). The covenant sign is no longer circumcision as the shedding of blood has already taken place, but the sign is now baptism which pictures the washing away of sin (cf. Colossians 2:11-22). So baptism continues to function as a sign and a seal of a family’s faith in God and thus in the New Testament we have examples of whole families being baptized when a parent becomes a Christian (cf. Acts 16:30-31, 33). When men and women in the New Testament turned to Jesus they were baptized (believer’s baptism) and children present were also baptized as a visible pledge from God that he would fulfill his covenant promises when the child in the future fulfilled the covenant conditions or obligations.
Both believers’ and infant baptism must therefore be understood as visible pledges or observable reminders from God to us (like the Lord’s Supper), not pledges from us to God, of the gospel promise that all who trust is Jesus will be accounted righteous.
John Calvin wrote, “Since God imparted circumcision, the sign of repentance and faith, to infants, it should not seem absurd that they are now made partakers of baptisms unless men choose to act against an institution of God…For it is most evident that the covenant, which the Lord once made with Abraham, is not less applicable to Christians now than it was anciently to the Jewish people, and, therefore, that word has no less reference to Christians than to Jews.
The Episcopal Church is certainly not opposed to baptizing believers, and regards that practice as biblical and indeed mandatory.
Baptism is a sign of the faith we profess and a mark that differentiates Christian persons from those who are unbaptized; and it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth by which, as by an instrument, those who receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church, the promises of forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be the sons of God are visibly signified and sealed, and faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue of prayer to God. The baptism of young children is under all circumstances to be retained in the Church as a practice fully agreeable with the institution of Christ.
Four fifths of the above article refers to the baptism of believers, but as the article confirms, we also hold that it is biblical for (believing) parents to baptize their small children as a sign and seal of the new covenant, in continuation of the sign and seal of circumcision under the old covenant.
The question we must ask then is what was circumcision all about?
In Genesis God made a covenant with Abraham to bless families from the entire world. The covenant sign would be the circumcision of all the males in Abraham’s household, including the butler, the domestic help and the children (Genesis 17:9-14). Abraham’s descendants were to keep the sign by circumcising all male babies.
Circumcision was then applied to those who had not yet expressed their faith in God. This may seem to be at odds with our natural evangelical inclination to see faith as a prerequisite to almost everything, but Paul explains the reasoning in Romans 4:11 when he refers to circumcision as a “sign” and a “seal”. As a sign circumcision marked out the covenant people and illustrated that salvation involves the shedding of blood. As a seal circumcision was a visible pledge from God to honor his covenant for those who expressed faith in him. The seal is simply a visible pledge from God that when the conditions of the covenant are met, the blessings he promised would apply.
Under the new covenant this principle remains true, as Peter implied when he told the Jewish crowd that the gospel promise was for them and their children (Acts 2:39). The covenant sign is no longer circumcision as the shedding of blood has already taken place, but the sign is now baptism which pictures the washing away of sin (cf. Colossians 2:11-22). So baptism continues to function as a sign and a seal of a family’s faith in God and thus in the New Testament we have examples of whole families being baptized when a parent becomes a Christian (cf. Acts 16:30-31, 33). When men and women in the New Testament turned to Jesus they were baptized (believer’s baptism) and children present were also baptized as a visible pledge from God that he would fulfill his covenant promises when the child in the future fulfilled the covenant conditions or obligations.
Both believers’ and infant baptism must therefore be understood as visible pledges or observable reminders from God to us (like the Lord’s Supper), not pledges from us to God, of the gospel promise that all who trust is Jesus will be accounted righteous.
John Calvin wrote, “Since God imparted circumcision, the sign of repentance and faith, to infants, it should not seem absurd that they are now made partakers of baptisms unless men choose to act against an institution of God…For it is most evident that the covenant, which the Lord once made with Abraham, is not less applicable to Christians now than it was anciently to the Jewish people, and, therefore, that word has no less reference to Christians than to Jews.
Why then do we baptize believers’ babies? Because God’s covenant, the framework within which he operates, has not changed. Since Baptism is an outward sign of inward grace babies are entitled to just as much love and care by God as everyone else. Thank you God for the gift of Holy Baptism. This is not all of the information related to infant/toddler baptism but it is a nice summary of why we will continue performing this Holy Sacrament on all age groups.
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