Why Baptize Infants?

by Whit Sasser

“Baptizing” infants is practiced in the Roman Catholic church and some of the Protestant denominations as well. But why would one need to subject a baby to such?

1. They are not sinners. Sin cannot be inherited (Ezekiel 18:20). Sin is not passively received but a violation of God’s will (I John 3:4). Sin is not a disease that can be transmitted by blood or genes. Sin is the result of fulfilled temptation (James 1:14-15).
2. They are unable to comply with the Bible prerequisites for baptism. Taught the gospel (John 6:44-45). Believe the gospel (Mark 16:16). Repent of sins (Acts 2:38). Confess Christ (Romans 10:10).
3. They are described as exemplary. Adults must become like them (Matthew 18:3).
4. There is no example of it. There is not one single, solitary, example in all of the New Testament. Not one. And don’t say that households being baptized included infants (eg. Acts 16:33-34). You don’t know that. You are speculating. And if speculating, the weight of evidence is opposite, for it says the entire household believed.
5. Sprinkling is not truly baptism. Bible baptism is immersion. "Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there" (John 3:23). "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism" (Romans 6:4). “Sprinkling” in the Bible is the Greek word “rhantizo” (eg. Hebrews 10:22). “Baptism” is “baptizo” and means to immerse. No one denies this. And so sprinkling or pouring water on anyone’s head, infant or adult, is not truly baptism.
6. Historically it began after the New Testament was completed. It is an added tradition of mere men, a changing of what the Lord has commanded. And one of hundreds of other changes.