My Covenant View, Arguments Against Infant Baptism

Arguments Against Infant Baptism

I did not always hold to the belief of “infant baptism”. I was once a Baptist and was brought to see the truth of infant baptism through God’s word. When I came to hold to infant baptism I had many opportunities to defend my new position. Many of my closest friends are Baptist pastors, and they came to me with their arguments. The arguments against infant baptism are very similar to those against infant communion. Our Baptist brethren will tell us that infants cannot repent and believe therefore they cannot be baptized [Acts 2:38]. At this point we take our Baptist brother back to the Old Testament and show him that this command was for adults and that children of believing adults were admitted into covenant without repentance and faith, but were instead to be raised and nurtured by their parents, to daily repent and trust God. Many in the Reformed camp will use this argument for infant baptism but will then stand in the place of the Baptist in their arguments against children coming to the Table. They will say that children cannot examine themselves therefore they shouldn’t partake. At this we take our brothers back to the Old Testament and show them that children did partake of spiritual food and drink in the Old Covenant [1 Cor 10]. This command [examine yourself] is primarily to adults [as repent and believe was before baptism]. Children may not be able to examine themselves with the maturity of an adult but they are still to take the Table of the Lord and grow in maturity in this area.
We can see in many areas of God’s Word that what is commanded of adults does not hold for children. God commands that if a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat. Does this mean my young children have to go out and find jobs or they are not allowed to eat? That is ridiculous! We understand that this commandment is for adults and young children are exempt from it.
My children eat at my table because they are my children. They do not have to take a test to prove they understand that am really their dad, or how I provide for them, they are my children so they eat at my table. What would we think of a dad who did put his children through adult test in order to eat at his table, or a dad who made his children work [as an adult] so they could eat at his table? This is the kind of dad we portray God the Father to be to our children.
They do not have to earn the right to eat at the Table, they eat because they are a part of the family.

As Christians we should never base our beliefs on mere feelings or traditions of men. God’s Word is our ultimate and final authority and we are obligated to base all of our beliefs and practices upon God’s infallible Word.

I know that this paper is not exhaustive. I know that it doesn’t answer all the questions. I do hope that it has answered some questions and that it encourages the reader to diligently study the Word of God on this issue.