The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism

by Gregg Strawbridge

a believing Jewish parent would not have known how to interpret a continuing Abrahamic covenant that did not administer the sign of the covenant to children.

An assertion lacking evidence.

Consider how the head of a Jewish household would have reacted when others in the household (including servants and resident relatives) were baptized on the basis of his faith while his own children were denied the covenant sign.

The absence of a scriptural command to prohibit administering the sign of the covenant to children after two thousand years of such practice weighs significantly against the view that the apostles wanted only th...

Actually, one doesn't need a command to the contrary if a clear, concise command is already given. For example, if I instruct a person cleaning my car to wash my windows with soap and water, I am not obligated to command not washing my windows with Windex, bleach, or vinegar. If someone washes my windows with anything other than soap and water, he or she has violated my clear, concise command.

Are there any examples of households being baptized because of the faith of th...

Before listing these household baptisms, we should ask who were considered to be members of one's household in the ancient world.

Problem: We're dealing with Gentile families here, not Israelites who were the covenant people of God. And as a matter of common sense, those who lived as a family (and slaves) were considered a household.

No effort was made by the New Testament writers to indicate that children were no longer included in households-an exclusion that even today would be alien to our thought.

It's missing the point: Did the apostles purposefully give the sign to unrepentant, unbelieving people or is it assumed in these household cases that everyone in the household believed?

Thus, when the Philippian jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" it was natural and scriptural for the apostle to reply, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household" (Acts 16:30-31).

Paul's words do not mean that the rest of the household would automatically come to faith in Christ, but his presumption was that the faith of the head of the household would ultimately gov...

How does the author of this section know this?

As a result, the jailer's entire household was baptized t...

a singular verb to describe who rejoiced and believed in God ...

As a result, some assume that entire households were baptized in the New Testament because everyone...

Yeah, because unbelievers don't rejoice over people becoming believers!

it is unlikely that all those households consisted only of those who were old enough to make an i...

Further, the assumption that everyone in those households must have made a faith commitment does not take notice of the careful distinction that Luke makes between those who...

Cornelius and his household (...

Lydia and her household (A...

Acts...

We do not know all of the circumstances of the men and women whom Scripture says were...

Further, whenever an individual baptism is described in detail in the New Testament, the members of the household, if they were present, also...

The frequency of the household baptism accounts demonstrates...

heads of hou...

absence of any command to exclude children, indicate that household bapti...

In baptism we honor God by marking out and acting on the promises that reflect his grace both in blessing parents who act in devotion to God and in blessing the child being devoted to him in covenantal faith.

Abraham devoted all that he had to God in the covenant of faith,

In the sacrament of baptism, we as parents demonstrate our commitment to be faithful stewards of the precious gift of a child's soul that God gra...

Through the devotion that is demonstrated in baptism, parents begin to reap the blessings of obedience that come from building the founda...

As an act of devotion, the baptism sets the family on the path of blessing that God promises to ...

Tell that to reformed baptists or other denominations that raise children who eventually profess faith.

but also to do what they cannot do to make the child ...

As a public act of devotion, baptism also makes the parents accountable to the church before which they take vows to raise their child in ...

In baptism, parents link the spiritual livelihood of their child to the spiri...

s...

The devotion of the parents who present their children for baptism places each child in a privileged position both to hear and to understand the truths of the gospel.

the child lives in a home that through the child's baptism has promised to provide Christian nurture and to use the resources of the church to make that nurture truly biblical in character.

The parents publicly promise in the sacrament of baptism to pray with and for their child, so that early in life he might know the reali...

In the public sacrament of baptism, the people of the church vow to pray for the parents and the child, and to p...

Thus, the church becomes God's instrument of presenting the reality of himself to the mi...

breathes the truths of grace as naturally and unconsciously a...

faith nat...

covenant child

A covenant child apart from faith? Have we really forgotten what the New Testament clearly teaches? "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham." Galatians 3:5‭-‬7 ESV

God declared

covenant they entered at birth.

As a result, many of the words of institution that are repeated during infant baptisms refer generally to God's love for his children or to Christ's willingness to allow children to approach him (e.g., Matt. 19:14; Luke 18:16). While such references accurately communicate the compassion of God, I have found them unconvincing as the reason we should baptize infants.

Throughout biblical history, God promised to bless through a covenant relationship with his people. He said to Abraham, "I will be a God to you and to your children after you."

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Galatians 3:7 ESV

for you and for your children

for all who are far off-for

whom the Lord our God wi...

Paul told the Colossian believers that the sign of this co...

the disciples should obey

I'm curious to see what a disciple is in his view. So far, I am agreeing from a credobaptist standpoint.

We are disciples if we hear and obey everything Jesus says,

Ah ha!

The Fourth Gospel reveals that early in Jesus' ministry, his disciples performed baptisms roughly like those of John the Baptist (John 3:22; 4:1-2). Jesus never personally baptized anyone, and it seems that the disciples only briefly imitated John's baptism.`' Thus, the baptism that Jesus inaugurates is distinct from John's. John's baptism belonged to the old covenant. It signified repentance and cleansing from sin. By receiving it, Jewish believers affirmed their loyalty to the old covenant. The baptism that Jesus institutes differs also from his disciples' baptism. Both baptisms show allegiance to Jesus, but Jesus' baptism follows his crucifixion and In the Great Commission, Jesus inaugurates something new-baptism into Christ.

Why weren't the disciples given Christian baptism afterwards then? John Calvin didn't differentiate between John's baptism and the baptisms performed in Acts (See Institute')

Second, since we must make disciples, we ought to use all available means to achieve the goal.

This includes feeding them the Lord's meal too! "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:20 ESV