Why baptism a baby catholic

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Much ink has been spilled by Protestants to accuse Catholics of believing we earn our salvation through works, but just through baptizing our infants we show that this is not so. Saint Peter laid out the importance of baptism in the plan of salvation during his sermon on Pentecost that is recorded in Acts;.

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him. He specifically mentions this gift as being for children, and this partially explains why the early church baptized full households see Acts and 1 Corinthians Some in the first centuries of Christianity insisted that a child not be baptized until the 8th day, to keep in line with the old law of circumcision.

This opinion was disputed by Saint Cyprian of Carthage, his argument being that such a gift not be withheld from anyone, and considering the rates of infant mortality, it would be irresponsible to wait for 8 days.

As to what pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, that the old law of circumcision must be taken into consideration, and that you did not think that one should be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth.

In our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. Yes, Jesus was not baptized as a child, but He was circumcised as an infant, and our baptisms are the new covenant equivalent of circumcision, so why would we withhold such a beautiful gift and grace from the children that God has entrusted to our care?

You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.

Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Search for: Search. Christ chose to be baptized not out of personal necessity, but rather because He thought it fitting to be baptized on behalf of the humanity whose sins He was choosing to take on. His baptism was a fulfillment of righteousness, but not of His own; in the baptism in the Jordan, Christ fulfilled the righteousness of everyone who would ever be born. We can remember the importance of baptizing infants specifically by remembering the importance of the sacrament as we understand it: baptism is not a mere symbol of gaining a new life in Christ, but rather is the actual conferral of grace by which mankind is able to be a part of the Body of Christ.

These two ideas are, in a sense, two sides of the same coin. On the one side, the innocence of a newborn child shows to us the goodness that is still present in the world despite the fall of Adam and Eve. On the other side, the sacrament itself shows to us the possibilities that come into existence when we unite ourselves to Christ and ready ourselves to accept His grace, even in spite of the fall.

Witnessing a baptism, then, reminds us both of the goodness that exists in the present world as well as the infinite goodness that awaits us in the next.

Let us mindfully renew those baptismal promises so that we may love God and our neighbor, be a faithful witness to Christ and prepare ourselves to share in the glory of His resurrection. In none of these accounts is there ever any indication that infants and children are excluded from baptism. Finally, in any discussion of infant baptism we should remember the correlation between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, babies were circumcised when they were eight days old see Gn ; Lv This was the sign by which they entered into the covenant.

Since baptism is the new circumcision of the New Covenant, baptism is for babies as well as adults, just as circumcision in the Old Covenant was for babies as well as adults.

God did not make his New Covenant narrower than the Old Covenant. A covenant that excluded children would have been inferior to the original covenant.

In reality, the grace of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant surpassesthat of the Old Covenant see Rom , to include not only infants, but Gentiles as well. God continues to extend His covenantal grace through the generations, then — not only to adults but to children as well, through the Church who offers His sacrament of baptism.

John Salza is a lawyer and the creator of ScriptureCatholic. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Why Do Catholics Baptize Babies?

You may be interested in these:. Why is Jujube Wood Important? Early Teachings on Infant Baptism. How to Choose Godparents. Close dialog. Session expired Please log in again.