Infant baptism

Most Christian churches practice
infant baptism, regardless of
liberal or conservative stance.

Most professing Christians believe in infant baptism. Even if the statistics are limited to Protestant denominations, the case is still the same. We may have grown up hearing that only liberal churches choose to baptize babies, but the truth is that just as there are theologically liberal Baptist churches, there are also theologically conservative Paedobaptist congregations.1 Regardless of the sentiments that may have been prevalent in our circles, it is an imperative that we see for ourselves what the Scriptures teach concerning who should be baptized.

Many years ago, God spoke to an Iraqi called Abram and told him, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." He did not know this God personally but decided to take him at his word; he left his extended family, friends, and country in order to follow what he said and receive his blessing. As a result, the Lord counted his faith as righteousness and began to fulfill his promise of turning this Iraqi man into a patriarch. The unknown God of the universe now entered into a covenant with Abram, and subsequently, his family. As a physical sign of having entered this covenant, God told him, "You are to undergo circumcision." He did. Moreover, this promise extended to his household, so Abram (now, Abraham) took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household and circumcised them.

The Christian baptism corresponds with
Old Testament circumcision.

In the Old Testament, whenever God made a covenants with a man, he also included his household. For example, when the Lord made a covenant with Noah, he extended the covenant to his wife, children and childrens' wives. Moreover, God always institutes a physical object or action as a sign of this covenant. Abraham participated of the sign of circumcision, and so did his children, as also part of the covenant. The Scriptures are clear that the only reasons Abraham became circumcised as an adult were because this was the time when God established the ordinance and because he represented the first generation of the household. 

The Bible teaches that we were circumcised as we were buried with him in baptism. 2 After Christ died, resurrected and ascended into Heaven, his apostles began to preach the gospel of the New Covenant. Who were to be the recipients of this New Covenant? Peter told the inquiring people that the promise is for them and their children. When asked how to be saved, the Christians replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household." Were the children of the household to be baptized? The Bible provides at least three instances of entire households receiving the Christian baptism.3  Because of this covenant's extension to one's household, children born to at least a Christian parent are now considered holy. 4 Just like children of the Old Covenant received a circumcision that symbolized the cutting off of their heart's spiritual foreskin, infants born under the New Covenant now receive a baptism that symbolizes their identification with Christ.

Finally, even though the Bible is clear as to who should be baptized, it does not give emphasis to how people should be baptized. The original word for baptism suggests immersion, but it also refers to ceremonial washings, which were often performed by sprinkling. John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan river, where there was much water; Jesus came up out of the water, indicating that his washing may have been done by immersion. On the other hand, there were three thousand people who were baptized in Jerusalem, a city with no bodies of water.5 The Scripture's lack of information about the mode of baptism indicates that there can be flexibility in this area.

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1. Paedobaptist means "baptizers of infants." Paedobaptist denominations include, but are not limited to, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Nazarene. 
2. Colossians 2:10-11 
3. Acts 16:15, 33; I Corinthians 1:16
4. I Corinthians 7:14
5. The nearest river was the Jordan, which was 18 miles to the east. If Peter had decided to escort them to this body of water, the Scriptures would not have been silent about this important (and exhausting) expedition.