35. Two Pillars of Infant Baptism

Over the last three years we have had a lot of babies born, and so you have heard quite a few baptismal talks. And that is why each time we have a baptism I like to focus on a different perspective on the subject so that I’m not repeating myself too much. Well, this morning I have tried to condense things down to two foundational principles. If these two sentences are false, then infant baptism is false, and if these two are true, then infant baptism is true. Though there are many other Biblical arguments that could be given, these are the two pillars upon which the doctrine of infant baptism rests.

The first principle is that every covenant that God has ever made with man includes his family. Now it doesn’t mean that the whole family is automatically saved. But God makes His claim upon the whole family, and gives promises to the whole family which can be laid hold of by faith. Even individual covenants that you may not be familiar with, follow this pattern. God made a covenant with the priest Phinehas and with his family in their generations (Num. 25:10-13).

The covenant with Adam spoke of the seed in terms of one person Christ, but it also spoke of the seed of the woman in the plural and the conflict that would arise through history between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan.

When God made his covenant with Noah, it included his children. God said, “I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you” (Gen. 9:9). To Abraham, God said, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:7). And the same was true of the Mosaic and Davidic covenants, as well as the individual covenants that were made in the Old Covenant period.

Now the question may be asked, “Has the principle of including the family changed in the New Covenant? Is there any Scripture that excludes children from the covenant?” And the answer is that there is not one single verse in the New Testament that excludes them. Never has that principle been revoked. The New Testament affirms that we are in the Abrahamic covenant which includes all the children of believers. Christ assumed the same principle when he took up children in His arms, and in Luke 18:15-16 when he took up newborn infants and blessed them. And the words that he gave could not have been said if this principle of the covenants had been changed. Luke words it this way, “Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when His disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.” In Matthew 18, Christ took the children of believing parents and said, “whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matt. 18:5). Now those are pretty strong words. The children of believers receive covenantal protection. Christ went on to say, “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). He also said, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10). This is covenantal protection. The first sermons reflect this promise of the covenants that God would be a God to our children as well. In Acts 2, Peter applies the Abrahamic covenant to the present and says, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).

Now there are many other verses we could look at that speak of God’s covenantal relations with the children, and with the whole households of believers. But I want to take a look at one that was addressed to those who were worried about whether this principle holds true if there is only one believer. In the church at Corinth, there were some who argued that divorce was necessary if only one spouse was a believer. Paul argues against that and says in 1 Corinthians 7:14, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.” There is one word that is used to describe the unbelieving spouse: “holy” which means set apart. The unbelieving spouse is set apart for the special influence of the covenant. But with the child there are two words that are used to describe his relation to the covenant. The child is not only set apart, but is said to be clean. And the word for clean or unclean is a word used of ritual purifications. The child is set apart and baptized, whereas the parent is only set apart.

When Rev. Joseph Morecraft was here for a conference he said that early in his ministry, before he became a Presbyterian, he was preaching on Acts 16:31 and kept quoting it as saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” And after the service an old Presbyterian minister came up to him and said, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. The verse says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.’”

So let’s remember that first principle, that when God makes a covenant, it includes the whole family. This means that your children should not be excluded from the covenant. You cannot exclude those whom God has included.

Now the second principle is that baptism has fulfilled circumcision. Genesis 17:10 says, “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised.” And in verse 14 He said, “My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Note those words, “be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” There were only three signs in the Old Covenant that were said to be everlasting signs or ceremonies, and each one continued in the New Covenant, but with an outward change. The seventh-day Sabbath was transformed into what the literal rendering of the Gospels speak of as the first-day Sabbath. That is the literal rendering of the phrase “the first day of the week” that is found in all four Gospels (Matt. 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). “Now after the sabbaton on the first day sabbaton” are the words. So the Sabbath was an eternal principle with an outward change. The Passover was also eternal, and Christ carried that eternal principle into the Lord’s Supper with an outward change. And the last everlasting ceremony was circumcision which was transformed into baptism. Colossians 2:11-12 speaks of spiritual circumcision as being identical to spiritual baptism, so circumcision and baptism pointed to the same thing. They are both God’s covenantal claim upon an individual. Dr. Morecraft likened circumcision and baptism to a brand on a cow. God is saying that the believing adult belongs to him just like the cow with the brand belongs to the owner. Now if the branded heifer gives birth to a calf, who does the calf belong to? Does it belong to anyone who wants it just because it is born without a brand? No. And the same is true of our children. You can search the Bible from cover to cover and you will not find one verse where the principle of applying the brand to the calves is taken away. Perhaps I should call them little lambkins instead of calves. Three times in Ezekiel, God says that the children who were born to the Jews were “My children” (Ezek. 16:21) and “children you bore to Me” (Ezek. 16:20; 23:37).

So in early church history there was never a question about infant baptism until quite a bit later in history. In fact the earliest controversy that arose surrounding baptism was at a universal gathering of the church in 251 AD And there was a big debate whether a baby should be baptized on the eighth day or whether it could be earlier. Some said it had to be on the eighth day after birth to conform to the Abrahamic covenant. And others said that it could be done on Sunday, which is the eighth day. Well, the Sunday view prevailed, but there was never a hint that infant baptism was inappropriate.

Not one time in the 40 years that the New Testament was recorded do you have any example of a child born to believing parents being baptized after he has grown up and made profession of faith. Not one time. On the other hand, over half of the explicit statements in the New Testament to a baptism taking place explicitly say that the entire household was baptized. And the other references are either general, or as in the case of Paul, there is no wife or children.

You might wonder why this everlasting sign of circumcision was changed. Well, it was for the same reason as Passover was changed to a non-bloody rite. Once Christ had come, there were not allowed to be any bloody rites. Second, there was no longer to be any ethnic divisions between Jew and Gentiles. In fact, why don’t I read the passage that changes the outward form of the sign of the Abrahamic covenant:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek [circumcision divided Jew and Greek as Galatians points out earlier], there is neither slave nor free [the slave had no choice about the sign of circumcision], there is neither male nor female [the females did not have the sign. But in the new covenant, females are baptized because of this change]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:27-29)

All the changes between circumcision and baptism are just as clearly recorded as the changes between Passover and the Lord’s Supper. But there is not a whisper of a hint that infants have been excluded from the Abrahamic covenant. In fact, the very next verse of that baptism passage says that little children are heirs even before they profess faith. Chapter 4:1 says, “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child…” In that section, all heirs were baptized. Chapter 3:26-29 says that believing adults are heirs, and chapter 4:1 says that the children of those believers are also heirs. They are “under guardians and stewards” (4:2). And so we in faithfulness to God’s word call forward [family] to lay claim to God’s promises in faith as the sign and seal of baptism is applied.