By Wyatt Pruitt
Adults are not the only people God wants to save from sin, Jesus wants to save infants too
Jesus said to Nicodemus the Pharisee, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5 ESV”
He also said, ““Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Mark 16:16 ESV
Baptism is how we enter the kingdom of God, why would we block infants from this wonderful gift of faith God wants to give us
One common rebuttal is that infants cannot have faith so they should not be Baptized, but the Bible says otherwise
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Psalm 51:5 ESV
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”
Titus 3:5 ESV
“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5 ESV
“and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?””
Matthew 21:16 ESV
“but whoever causes one of these little ones 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.”
Matthew 18:6 ESV
Infants need God’s grace just as much as you do (they are in sin), and God wants to baptize them and call them His son or daughter. We should not deny this to them.
“Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in His church until the end of the world.”
-Westminster Confession of Faith
How can water do such great things?
Certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.” (Titus 3:5–8)
-Luther’s Smaller Catechism
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