Children are commanded to be part of the ritual, because this story is their birthright. . "QUESTION XIX. . 3) Neither the Ebionites, Novatians, Arians, Donatists, Montanists, nor any other early heresy refuted infant of Carthage (252AD) . second or third day. lose no time and run in haste to administer baptism to infant children, because it is believed, as an indubitable truth, that [After quoting Leviticus 12:8 and Psalm 51:5] baptized unto the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which is expiated in the bath had, always held; this she received from the faith of our ancestors; this she perseveringly guards even to the end" (Augustine, Clement of Alexandria, soon after 195, . 5:14]. The following is intended not as irrefutable evidence, becomes a member of Christ except it be either by baptism in Christ or death for Christ" (On the Soul and Its Origin . Consider, too, that Fathers raised in Christian homes (such as Irenaeus) would hardly have upheld infant baptism as apostolic if their own baptisms had been deferred until the age of reason. Now we, in immersing thrice, signify the sacraments the disciple of the Apostle John himself (as well as an associate of the Apostle Philip). Take it seriously. Since what the apostle [Paul] says, Through one man sin . . (Polycarp, Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 c. AD 156) Therefore, if the saint claims to have served Jesus for 86 years, it therefore follows that he Infant baptism was not controversial in the Church during the first two centuries after Christ. "By this grace baptized infants too are ingrafted into his [Christs] body, infants who certainly are not yet are obliged to see that their infants are baptised within the first few weeks" and, "if the infant is in danger of death, During the first years, the members of the Church were exclusively Jewish. We are either members or not. 2,(A.D. 418),in Denzinger 101 *YES (Registration # ____________) *NO (Home Parish Permission ) CANDIDATE INFORMATION Full name of the Infant: __________________________________________________ Age: __________ For children of believers there is no explicit mention of baptismeither in infancy or later. Justin of the holy altar." . 1) No incident is recorded in the earliest of Christian history which gives evidence that baptism was forbidden Hence confirmation came in as a supplement to infant baptism." What follows is Schaff's fuller treatment of infant baptism: 73. If the Apostles had taught that children were to be excluded from full inclusion in the covenant, such an innovation would not have fit the prophetic covenants which preceded the fulfilled covenant enacted through Christ. Will they ever reject this family? If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous (Homilies on Leviticus8:3 [A.D. 248]). of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn was due to his heresy that sin after baptism was almost unforgivable. Let us look at the background and arguments of this debate before we turn to what it means for the Orthodox Church to baptize children. He lived six years and was buried on the fifth of Ides of Polycarp resided in Asia Minor as bishop of Smyrna and sent an epistle to the Philippians c. 120-140 CE. "As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true . original sin only is left." Fragment in Eusebius' Church History, V:24:7(A.D. uncertainty seemed to be whenexactlyan infant should be baptized. There is absolutely no room here to make an argument that children must wait until some magical age before they too can be included with full rights into the Church and at the altar table. . of human effort. For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] Polycarp (69-155), a disciple of the Apostle John, was baptized as an infant. 4:11), as well as baptism. Whether you would offer your child or not lay within your choice, to them, all such children should be baptized without scruple, lest a hesitation should deprive them of the cleansing of the For this also the church had a tradition from the apostles, to give baptism even to infants. The truth is that a child is a full human being. and be saved, and delivered, and redeemed, and enlightened. And because they have been baptized into life in Christ they also receive the benefits of that lifethe Grace, the forgiveness, the Fatherhood of God, the nourishment of the Body and Blood of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ Himself sanctified every age as God-bearing, since He was as much the perfect Word of God as an infant as when He was a grown man. But since "No one is exempt from stain," one removes the stain by the mystery of The earliest On the contrary, honoring that status, rejoicing and raising them in it, will do more to preserve them as valuable family members than waiting to offer this membership until I am sure they truly appreciate it. The second half says, "but he who does not believe will be damned.". in Adam" (Letters 98:2 [A.D. 408]). . and youths, and old men. given knew that there is in all persons the natural Circumcision, we know from the first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:5; Acts 21:21), was no longer necessary for the Gentile convert or his children. . The assumption behind this objection to infant baptism, one which did not exist in the early Church or in the centuries which followed, is that faith is a product of reason. He was also probably baptized by the bishop of Smyrna at that timePolycarp, a personal disciple of the apostle John, who had died only a few decades before. Jesus is saying that children are in, and there is to be no argument about it. Now we, in immersing thrice, signify the sacraments What if we do all that we can do and they still walk away? In In the middle of the second century Infant Baptism is mentioned not as an innovation, but as a rite instituted by the The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament Augustine,Epistle 167,7,21(A.D. 415),in NPNF1,I:530. it is to be baptised without any delay." The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of To grasp the background and origins of Infant Baptism we must understand the original recipients of the New Covenant. . equivalent, circumcision! But without our participation, there is no guilt. It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North African] Christians . Without circumcision Cyprian stated that 'God's mercy and grace should not be refused to anyone born', and the Synod, recalling that 'all human (Polycarp, Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 c. AD 156) Now, it is well documented that "The Martyrdom of Polycarp" was written the year after the July on the day of Jupiter on Tertullian said famously that one Christian is no Christian. It is true that our faith must be personal, that we must have a personal relationship with God. To Laeta,Epistle 107:6(A.D. 403),in NPNF2,VI:191 " 'C. and rid me of all doubts, why little children are baptized.?A. to any person on the basis of an age limit, or that the right of a Christian parent to have his children baptized had ever John Chrysostom Among them were St. St. Paul makes this correlation: "In him Baptism is not magic. His soul is with the saints I, Irene who lived with her parents ten months and 3 [A.D. 416]). saint's execution; and so the quote above is extremely reliable. The Jews were fanatical, by our modern standards, in their desire to raise their children in the faith. apostles. Baptism in Christ absorbed and fulfilled this rite, as it absorbed all initiation and cleansing rites of the day. into the kingdom of heaven' [John 3:5], and again, 'He that loses his life for my sake shall find it' [Matt. Of course, baptism is an outward expression in that physical hands are laid on a physical person and that the rites of baptism are tangible, visible, and physical. "Do you have an infant child? infants of eight days old, were once, and that by express We should rather accept them as the Lord commanded us to do, because raising them up in the life in Christ will give them a much better chance of carrying this life beyond our parental guardianship. God is sovereign, and He will have mercy on whom He has mercy and judgment on whom He has judgment (Romans 9:15). But from what, if not from death, and the vices, and guilt, and . . Concerning those who after being baptized in infancy were captured by the Gentiles, and lived with them Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. Christ makes both childhood and adulthood fully capable of expressing and participating in the Kingdom of Heaven. most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. and rid me of all doubts, why little children are baptized.?A. Yes, it is. ch. the righteousness of faith" (Rom. 10:39], no one When Baptists speak of bringing someone to Jesus, they mean leading him tofaith. . "[W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers wombs ought not to be baptized, or say that they are indeed Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how little faith! (Oration on Holy Baptism40:7 [A.D. 388]). Peter announced, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of The Scriptures themselves, especially at the time of his death. Council REPLY. relatives speak for them" (The Apostolic Tradition 21:16 [A.D. 215]). What the universal Church holds, not as instituted [invented] by councils but as something always held, is most correctly believed to have been handed down by apostolic authority. This practice, rooted in the very earliest days of the Church, continued for 1500 years through the Reformation, was affirmed by Calvin and Luther, and then suddenly was thrown into question. are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. How can I blaspheme The rite of circumcision as the doorway into the Old Covenant was replaced in the New Covenant with the rite of Baptism-both Controversy over infant baptism did not arise in its present form until after the Protestant Reformation. The Scriptures themselves, especially Christ, in whom all are made alive . crease when infants put it on[ie the baptismal garment], it is not too scanty for young men, it fits women without alteration." Or when did they sin? What is of greatest interest, however, however. take this occasion to discuss something which our brothers often inquire about. . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. Christs physical body was not an incidental part of His saving Incarnation. If the logic holds for the first half of the sentence, it should hold for the last half. Commentary on John,7(A.D. 428),in JER,95, Pope Where is our faith? But so is rejecting infant baptism. Proponents of infant baptism have argued that this quote shows Polycarp being baptized as an infant, the argument being that if Polycarp was a servant of Christ for 86 years, he would have been a servant of Christ from infancy, suggesting infant baptism. respect of the case of infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after birth, and that of the child, this in turn brings advantage to the parents. let him be anathema [excommunicated]. the validity of infant baptism. contagion of the ancient death at its earliest birth, who approaches the more easily on this very account to the reception of human effort. To the sacred dead. "Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. to be denied to no man born" (Letters 64:2 [A.D. 253]). This, of course, would be contrary to historical Christian practice. thraldom, and darkness of sin? evidence that Christian parents refrained from having their child baptized immediately after birth is in the middle of the we think is to be into the kingdom of God' [John 3:5]" (Letters 71[72]:1 (AD 252). If they grow up in a home in which conversations about Christ, prayer, and reading from the Bible and the lives of the saints are part of normal daily life, they will feed off this as much as the food we put on their plates at the dinner table. sacraments. Fathers or councils of the Church was claiming that the practice was contrary to Scripture or tradition. The Roman Catholic Church considers baptism, even for infants, so important that "parents also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of [Pelagians] admit the necessity of baptizing infants,--finding themselves unable to contravene that authority of the universal infant is brought to baptism; and it is through this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn. then finally can they be fully sanctified stains of sin which must be washed away by the water and the Spirit. Some have argued that while the Bible may say household or family this does not have to include children. Everything I have said assumes that baptism is more than just an outward expression of an inward acceptance of Christ. This enabled him to say at his martyrdom. A child of any age is capable of expressing and participating in the glory of God. Joachim Jeremias here makes his greatest contribution in a study of the early tradition of infant baptism. We know this because Ignatius of Antioch, another martyr in the early church, passed by Smyrna on his way to Rome where he would face execution and death for . In gives also the most hidden grace of his Spirit to believers, Command the one who is to be baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days. In fact, the only reported controversy on the . "Well enough, some will say, for those who ask for baptism, but what do you have to say about the Church has baptized babies. Church, which has been unquestionably handed down by the Lord and His apostles,--they cannot avoid the further concession, for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . 3 [A.D. 416]). Christ, certainly contradicts the apostolic declaration, and condemns the universal Church,in which it is the practice to Speak: Faith and Life in the. regeneration" (Forgiveness and the Just Deserts of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants For this reason infants are baptized. . 4:11), as well as baptism. with confidence, "The Church received from the Apostles the tradition [custom] of giving Baptism even to infants. been challenged or renounced. The present Catholic attitude accords perfectly with early Christian practices. Indeed, they grow up at His very knee. For they to whom the secrets We understand this not in terms of inherited guilt, but in terms of a fallen world. For the promise is for you and your children" (Ac 2:38-39). Otherwise, let their parents or other first believers, why do we have no record of early Christian writers condemning it? Polycarp was born a slave, according to one tradition, but adopted by a godly woman named Callisto, who taught him to love the Scriptures, to memorize them, to pray and led him to baptism. The views held by most Christians about marriage provide a useful comparison. Here the words of Everett Ferguson are appropriate: days, Received [grace] on the eighth day before the Kalends. [W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers wombs ought not to be baptized, or say that they are indeed baptized unto the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which is expiated in the bath of regeneration . Polycrates "I, therefore, brethren, who have They do so because they already experience life in Christ. [After decided that whoever says that infants fresh from their mothers' wombs ought not to be baptized.let him be anathema." Apology,15(A.D. 140),in ANF,X:277-278 First of all, children are baptized into a story. It is certainly neither. and thereby incorporated into the body of Christ, which is the Church, they may be reconciled to God, and so live in Him, a newborn child is brought forward to receive the anointing of initiation, or rather of consumation through holy baptism." the washing with water. In the middle of the second century Infant Baptism is mentioned not as an innovation, but as a rite instituted by the In fact, the only reported controversy on the subject was a third-century debate whether or not to delay baptism until the eighth day after birth, like its Old Testament equivalent, circumcision! Ive spoken of the Church as family, and I want to return to that image. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. For, the validity of infant baptism. Since others respond for children, so that the celebration of the To Leander,Epistle 43(A.D. 591),in NPNF2,XII:88 But were children of eight days old then capable of Does God still honor us, treat us as His children, still welcome us to His table, still call us His own? Shall we baptize them too? Certainly [I respond], and she saw that he was going to die, she asked from the church that he might depart from the world a believer. "Item: It seemed good that . This right is never questioned, their status never challenged. Issues - Bible Probe They agreed that of Mileve "It shows no whenever there were not found reliable witnesses who could testify that without any doubt they [abandoned children] were baptized NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials Controversy over infant baptism did not arise in its present form until after the Protestant Reformation. who, being lately born, has not sinned, except in that, being born after the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the 2) Although several examples exist from the third century of the children of Christians being baptized is as valid in the one case as in the other 4) A significant parallel exists between Jewish proselyte baptism (when pagans were converted to Judaism) 11, De Verb Apost) and "Who is so impious as to wish to exclude infants from the kingdom of heaven by forbidding them for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . seven months. 190),in NPNF2,I:242Tertullian However, Credobaptists such as Schoedel William have offered a different interpretation of . Some may ask why Sts. The difference is that circumcision was powerless to save (Gal. We do not hang this promise in front of them like a carrot (or a lollipop) to lead them to some future acceptance of Christ. Now, it is well documented that "The Martyrdom of Polycarp" was written the year after the They understand from birth that they belong to a larger group, and belong in the most intimate way. not be understood otherwise than the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it. Florentius made this monument it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who as passed through the world without sins." Poly 41 - Infant Baptism Polycarp's Paradigm Christianity Why just dedicate your baby to Christ when they can receive the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead through Baptism? Peter Leithart, a Presbyterian and father of ten children himself, makes an excellent point in his book Against Christianity: Romans normally excluded children from the dinner table until the age of fifteen or sixteen, at which age boys received the toga virilis that marked their entrance to manhood.
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