Listen here.
Do children also believe? Are they rightly Baptized?
The Baptism of infants is pleasing to Christ, as is proved well enough from His own work. For God sanctifies many of those who have been baptized as infants and has given them the Holy Spirit. There are still many people even today in whom we perceive that they have the Holy Spirit both because of their doctrine and life. It is also given to us by God’s grace that we can explain the Scriptures and come to the knowledge of Christ, which is impossible without the Holy Spirit [1 Cor. 12:3].
For this reason let everyone value his Baptism as a daily dress [Gal. 3:27] in which he is to walk constantly. Then he may ever be found in the faith and its fruit, so that he may suppress the old man and grow up in the new…. [I]f anyone falls away from the Christian life, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy Seat [Ro. 3:25], does not draw back from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. Therefore, if we have received forgiveness of sin once in Baptism, it will remain every day, as long as we live. Baptism will remain as long as we carry the old man about our neck.
Martin Luther’s Large Catechism
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Many times, we Lutherans (along with Roman Catholics and others) are accused of doing something that is not biblical when we Baptize infants. Some well-meaning Christians will say, “The Bible never records an infant being Baptized.” And I have to admit that is correct. There is no verse that says, “Little two-week-old Bobby was Baptized,” or, “Timmy was Baptized as an infant.” The snarky side of me would like to point out that nowhere in Scripture does a woman explicitly receive the Lord’s Supper. If we would deny a child the gifts that God gives in Baptism just because there is no explicit mention of an infant being Baptized in Scripture, should we deny women the Body and Blood of Jesus? No!
Even though the Bible does not have a record of an infant being Baptized, the Scriptures certainly do imply that babies were Baptized. Look again at our first lesson (Act. 2:37-41). Peter has preached his great Pentecost sermon and closes with the horrific words of the Law, “Know for certain that God has made [Jesus] both Lord and Christ, whom you crucified.” The people are terrified, cut to the heart, and ask, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter answers, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” now listen closely, “for the promise is for you and for your children.” In other words, the gift of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit is for the people there and for their children. That doesn’t mean that their children get the promise eventually when they grow up. The natural reading of that text is that Baptism is for the people there and for their children and babies. Peter could have limited it to people who were of a certain age, but he didn’t.
Later, in Act. 16, there are two entire households that are Baptized. First the household of Lydia (Act. 16:11-15), and later the household of the Philippian jailor (Act. 16:25-34 esp. v. 31-33). Remember that in the time of the New Testament, the life expectancy wasn’t that much longer than normal, child-bearing years, and they didn’t have the methods of birth control that we do. Also, children were much more valued back then. It is highly unlikely that neither Lydia, who was a seller of purple goods (Act. 16:14), nor the Philippian jailor had households without any children.
And remember, when Jesus gives the gift of Baptism to the church as the method of making disciples, He says, “Make disciples of all nations (ἔθνος, ‘ethnicities,’ ‘all types of people’) by Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). If Jesus wanted to limit who is eligible to be Baptized, He would have made a limit there, but He didn’t.
Now, very briefly (I don’t want to spend much time on this because it is an absurd thought process): We know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro. 3:23). Our Psalm tonight (Ps. 51) teaches us that we are brought forth in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us (Ps. 51:5). Still, some people teach that God does not hold babies accountable for their sins until they reach some sort of ‘age of accountability’ (which isn’t a biblical term anyway). But just use a little logic: If God isn’t going to punish young children for their sins until they reach a certain level of understanding of their sins, then abortion and infanticide would be evangelistic tools. God forbit it! Enough on that thought.
Back to what Peter says in Act. 2:38-39, some will say that Peter requires things to be done sequentially. First, you have to repent, then you can be Baptized. Or first you have to believe and only after you believe then you can be baptized. First of all, salvation isn’t a three-step program. But also notice that argument implies that babies cannot believe, which is not in line with what Scripture teaches – not at all. The overwhelming teaching of Scripture is that babies can and do believe.
I included an insert in your bulletin tonight titled, “Infant Faith in the Scriptures.” For anyone watching or listening, I’ll include links to it in the description (click here). And I would like us to quickly walk through it.
First, let’s start with Ps. 71:5-6. “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”
One of the reasons this is such a great place to start is the variety of vocabulary used to describe a child. The verses start by saying that the Lord is my hope and trust ‘from my youth.’ In English, we use the word ‘youth’ for a very wide range of ages. Sometimes, churches have ‘youth group’ for middle-school through high school. East Grand Forks has ‘youth soccer’ for preschool through sixth grade. The Hebrew word translated as ‘youth’ here has a wide range of meaning too. One of the nice things about Hebrew poetry is that it’s very repetitive, and the repetition helps us see how expansive the term is. So, in v. 5 God is the object of hope and trust for the psalmist from his youth, and notice in v. 6 how it gets specific. The psalmist has leaned on God from before his birth. He recognizes that God was the one who brought him from his mother’s womb, and he continually (i.e. from before his birth and throughout his youth) praises God.
Those verses are very instructive, but let’s turn to the New Testament, and specifically what Jesus teaches about the faith of children. To do that, we need to understand some of the vocabulary of the Greek New Testament. In English, we have lots of words for a kid: infant, baby, toddler, tyke, little one, child, youth. Greek does the same. I’ve included five words (there are more) that deal with children. And I put them in different colors so they pop out in the verses that follow. Let’s quickly go through and define them:
βρέφος (brephos) – very small child; baby; infant; unborn baby in the womb
παιδίον (paidion) – a child below the age of puberty; it’s maybe the most basic words for ‘child,’ but it has a wide range of ages that it can apply to.
μικρός (mikros) – ‘little one’; one who is small; it’s even used to describe Zacchaeus
νήπιος (nēpios) – a very young child; infant; a minor not yet of legal age
θηλάζω (thēlazō) – v. ‘to nurse’; can also be used as a noun meaning ‘one who nurses’
So, let’s go through the verses on that sheet. First, Luke 18:15-17 which is the same account as our Gospel lesson tonight (Mk. 10:13-16). Now, to be fair, Mark only uses the word παιδίον when he records this, but that’s why I used Luke’s account here. According to Luke, the doctor, people are bringing even their βρέφος (infants) to Jesus to be blessed by His touch. The disciples didn’t like it, but Jesus says, “Let the children (παιδίον) come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child (παιδίον) shall not enter it.” Jesus here plainly says that the kingdom of God belongs to children to παιδίον – and notice that includes infants, βρέφος. And if we say that the kingdom belongs to children apart from faith, we are going to end up in a very bad place theologically.
Next passage, Matthew 18:1-6: The disciples want to know who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus brings a child (a παιδίον) into their circle and says, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children (παιδίον), you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child (παιδίον) is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child (παιδίον) in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones (μικρός ‘little guys’ and notice what Jesus says next) who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” According to Jesus, children, even little ones believe in Him.
Next verse, Matthew 21:15-16: This is after Jesus has entered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the shouts of “Hosanna!” The chief priests and scribes get furious when they see all the things Jesus is doing, and they see children (παιδίον again) crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They want Jesus to get them to quiet down by asking, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus responds, “Yup! Have you never read,(then He quotes Ps. 8:2) “‘Out of the mouth of infants (νήπιος) and nursing babies (θηλάζω) you have prepared praise’?” Right praise of God is only possible through faith (Ro. 14:23b).
Chugging right along, Matthew 11:25-27: Jesus praises His heavenly Father, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children (νήπιος infants); yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” God is more than capable of hiding things from the wise and understanding and able to reveal the things of faith to the infants.
Two more, 2 Timothy 3:14-15: Paul tells pastor Timothy, “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” Pause for a second: remember from the previous verse, who does the teaching and revealing? God does. Continue at v. 15 “and how from childhood (βρέφος from ‘infancy’) you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Since his infancy, and maybe even before his birth (as we’ll see in a minute), Timothy was acquainted with the sacred writings, the Scriptures, through which God makes even infants wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Finally, we see this actually happen in our final passage, Lk. 1:15, 41: This is about John the Baptizer. In v. 15, the angel Gabriel announces to Zechariah that he will have a son, that’s John. And that John will, according to v. 15, “be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.” Later on in v. 41, Mary visits Elizabeth, John’s mother and Mary’s relative. When Mary got to her house and greeted Elizabeth, the baby (βρέφος the pre-born baby, John) leaped in her womb. Elizabeth goes on to say that pre-born John leaped precisely at the sound of Mary’s greeting, which, if I remember rightly, was shalom, ‘peace.’
With that text in particular, we see that babies can hear in the womb. But even more importantly, that the Word of God, that proclamation and greeting of God’s peace, is effective to give the Holy Spirit and create faith even for pre-born babies. So, all you dads and moms, take note. Read the Scriptures to all your children, even before they are born. God works through His Word.
So, Scripture teaches that children, infants, and even pre-born babies can have faith. So, if someone objects to infant baptism based on the idea that infants can’t believe, they are arguing against Scripture.
And we can admit that it’s difficult to know how babies believe. How can infants who can’t talk or express themselves believe? But that’s the miracle of faith. How can any sinner, dead in their sin believe? Faith is always a gracious, life-giving gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9).
Think back to what we’ve covered the past five weeks and see what Scripture says that Baptism does: Baptism saves (1 Pe. 3:21). It forgives sins (Act. 2:38). Baptism delivers from death and the devil (Col. 1:13). It gives the new begetting from above (Jn. 3:3, 5-6). In Baptism, God joins you to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-11) and clothes you with Christ (Gal. 3:27). And nowhere does Scripture limit that work. All sinners, even infants, need God to do those things. And, God be praised, God promises that Baptism does all of these things, and God cannot and does not lie. So, continue believing what God has done for you in your Baptism.
I want to close with the second paragraph from the Large Catechism in your bulletin:
“For this reason let everyone value his Baptism as a daily dress [Gal. 3:27] in which he is to walk constantly. Then he may ever be found in the faith and its fruit, so that he may suppress the old man and grow up in the new. [I]f anyone falls away from the Christian life, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy Seat [Ro. 3:25], does not draw back from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. Therefore, if we have received forgiveness of sin once in Baptism, it will remain every day, as long as we live. Baptism will remain as long as we carry the old man about our neck.”
Even though we can (and, sadly, some do) walk away from the faith and deny the benefits of their Baptism, God remains faithful to His promises (2 Tim. 2:13). Those promises are always there for you to return to. Live in those promises trusting what God has done for you through your Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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