Would you kindly inform me through your valuable paper Present Truth, if in the Bible there is any reference made to infant baptism? I should like to hear your opinion.
This is not a case for the expression of an opinion, but only for the statement of a truth. It is not a case admitting of argument; for the Bible either mentions the matter or it does not; and all there is to be done is to say whether it does or not. So I say, without the slightest fear of successful contradiction, that nowhere in the Bible is there any mention whatever of such a thing as infant baptism. The thing is wholly foreign to Scripture.
You ask me to prove this statement. Well, there is only one way to prove it; and that rests with you; you must read the Bible through, with reference to this subject; then you will know that it is not there. If you were asking for something that is in the Bible, the thing to do would of course be to cite the texts; but where there are no texts to cite, all that can be done is to say so.
But I will not leave the matter here. I cannot read the Bible through to you in this "Corner," so as to show you that it does not mention infant baptism; but I can set before you the nature and object of baptism, so that you can see that it is plainly a thing with which infants cannot have anything whatever to do; or, rather, which cannot have anything to do with them.
So let us study the subject briefly. We cannot do better than start with the words of Peter filled with the Holy Spirit: "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38)
Here we see that baptism is connected with repentance; but it is obvious that young infants cannot repent, and have nothing to repent of, having never committed sin. We find, in this instance, that "They that gladly received his word were baptized." (Acts 2:41)
Again, while Philip was preaching Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch, as they journeyed, the chariot passed by a pool or stream of water, and the eunuch proclaimed, "See, here is water: what hinders me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36)
Philip replied, "If you believe with all your heart you may." (Acts 8:37)
Here we see that belief is a prerequisite to baptism. But an, infant can neither believe nor disbelieve; therefore it cannot be baptized.
Again, referring to the text first quoted, we find that baptism, preceded by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, is "for the remission of sins;" (Acts 2:38) but a tender infant has no sins to be remitted, and so again there is no occasion for it to be baptized.
It may be objected that the child is born in sin,--that it has a sinful nature,--and that therefore it should be baptized for the remission of sins. But since the babe cannot exercise faith, and has no will in the matter, not even knowing what is being done if the ceremony is performed, it is evident that if baptism were necessary for an infant, it would prove that there is some magic virtue either to the water of baptism, or to the formula, or both; but if this were so, it would exclude faith on the part of adults; and it would follow that a man baptized even against his will would be saved, just as truly as that physic or poison will operate on a man who takes it even unwillingly, and without believing that it will have any effect. But the Gospel is not magic.
This brings us to what baptism really is, which we read in: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27)
It is the conscious putting on of Christ by intelligent faith. Read: "You are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead." (Colossians 2:10-12)
Here we see that baptism means the recognition and acknowledgment of the fact that one's sins have brought the sentence of death, and the giving up of the life that has been stained by sin so that one actually dies with Christ, and then, through faith in the working of God in raising Jesus from the dead, rises to live a new life in Christ. But all this is impossible for a babe. "If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3)
This exhortation would evidently be meaningless if addressed to a babe.
Now read Romans 6:1-7, following the chapter which shows that "death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Romans 5:12) and that the obedience of Christ gives righteousness and life (Romans 5:17-21): "What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know you not that so many of you as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." (Romans 6:1-7)
There you have the whole subject of baptism. All the way through, it shows a conscious, deliberate acceptance of Christ--the turning from and putting off of an old life, and the resurrection to a new life. There is crucifixion preceding the burial, "that henceforth we should not serve sin;" (Romans 6:6) but an infant has never served sin, having, on the contrary, just begun a new life. All that is required of us is to become as little children.
The death of the Son of God--the gift of His life--has reconciled all men to God. (Romans 5:8-10) Every sinner who accepts the reconciling word, becomes a new creature, just such as the little babe is. The birth of the tiny babe, as innocent as the opening flower, is a manifestation of the life that is given for all mankind; for without that life there could be no existence: "In Him we live, and move, and have our being;" (Acts 17:28) the child is redeemed by the life that gave it existence, and until it commits sin, there is no need for it to be baptized. The free gift has come upon all men unto justification of life; so the child is made accepted in the Beloved. May our faith bring us into the same state of innocence.--Present Truth, January 8, 1903.