When infants are immersed in the waters of baptism, they receive the mystery of baptism which the Lord Himself instituted through His baptism, so that they are granted that free salvation that no one can earn. The infant, like any adult, becomes through baptism a member in the body of the crucified Lord and so receives the right to celebrate along with the rest of the Church the mystery of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection. Therefore, are we to deprive children this opportunity of partaking in the mystery of free salvation together with Christ’s Church?
It is not possible for someone who has experienced the blessings of baptism in his life to deprive his children the healing waters of baptism. A Christian believes that it was God’s abundant grace that showered him and attracted him to the faith, and not because of his righteousness. So how could he deprive his son of relishing this enormous blessing, which
1307 St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 61 (ANF 1:183).
supports him in bringing up his child in the Christian faith? The Church has practiced the baptism of infants since the apostolic era, which shows her faith in the work of abundant divine grace in people’s lives, regardless of their age, circumstances, or capabilities.
St. Paul says, “the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” (1 Cor. 7:14). This related to a married man or woman who accepts the faith while the spouse refuses to believe. The unbelieving spouse is holy in the believing spouse and they has no right to leave each other unless the unbelieving spouse asks for that. So how can we deprive holy children from receiving the sacrament of baptism (that renews their souls) based on the faith and responsibility of one of their parents? “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Eph. 6:1). How can we hold them responsible for obedience and deprive them of membership in the body of Christ who will support them in fulfilling His will?
St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Your fear the Seal on account of the weakness of nature? O what a small-souled mother, and of how little faith! Why, Anna even before Samuel was born (1 Sam. 1:10) promised him to God, and after his birth consecrated him at once, and brought him up in the priestly habit, not fearing anything in human nature, but trusting in God. Give your child to the Trinity, that great and noble Guard.”1308
The resistance to baptism of infants originally reflects an exaggerated individualistic view. Although the child has his own personality, he is not isolated from the holy ecclesiastical congregation, but is an active member of it. In the Old Testament, the male child was circumcised on the eighth day of his birth. If baptism is the circumcision of the New Testament that makes a person a child of God, it is not up to us to deprive children of the New Testament from this grace, nor to deprive the child’s parents of the commitment to provide a proper faith to their children in every possible way. The Apostle says, “and in Him, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11).
1308 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Select Orations of Gregory Nazianzen 40.17 (NPNF II/7:365) amended.
On the Rites of Baptism
The Fathers cited
- St. Gregory of Nazianzus