Thoughtful Christians often have questions about the baptism of infants and young children prior to their profession of faith. What the Bible teaches about this important subject is beautifully summarized in Westminster Larger Catechism:

To whom is baptism to be administered? . . . Infants descending from parents, either both, or but one of them, professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant, and to be baptized. (Q. 166)

The Biblical Baptism of Infants

Some insist that because there is no command to baptize infants and young children in the New Testament, they must first believe. However, the application of the sacrament of covenant initiation (circumcision in the Old Testament; baptism in the New) to the children of believers is commanded explicitly to Abraham:

I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. . . . Every male among you shall be circumcised. (Gen. 17:7, 10)

This command is relevant to the New Testament believer because the covenant of grace unites the old and new covenants. Paul refers frequently to the covenant with Abraham as prefiguring the promise fulfilled in Christ. In Galatians Paul explicitly connects the Abrahamic covenant of promise to the new covenant of faith: “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. . . . And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:7, 29).

God’s covenant blessing was promised to Abraham and to his “offspring” for an “everlasting covenant” to “a multitude of nations” (Gen. 17:1–14). This promise, restated by the prophet Joel, is referred to by Peter as the reason God poured out the Spirit of the risen Lord on his people at Pentecost: “for the promise is for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39). For over two millennia the expectation of God’s people for Messianic blessing on the nations was rooted in the pattern of God’s dealing with families, including the children of believers in his promise of salvation.

At the historical moment of fulfillment at Pentecost a radical change in God’s way of dealing with the children of his people would be required to exclude children from the sacramental blessings of the visible church. It is inconceivable that, were such a change in view, the New Testament would not deal explicitly with the subject. The silence of the New Testament is an argument for the clear commandment in the Old Testament Scriptures to include the children of believers in the visible community of God’s people. When Peter called “Repent and be baptized every one of you” (Acts 2:38) to over three thousand people at Pentecost, it is inconceivable that there were no infants and young children present in a covenant community in which having many children was considered a great blessing.

The newness of the new covenant church is not undermined by appreciating the essential unity of God’s purposes (Eph. 2:11–22; Gal. 3:7, 29; Rom. 11). There is continuity in having a sign and seal of inclusion in the covenant but also change from a bloody sign to a non-bloody sign.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Col. 2:11–12)

The accomplishment of the crucified and risen Christ is central to the newness of the new covenant. Old covenant bloody rites are replaced with two sacraments celebrating Christ’s accomplishment without further shedding of blood (Heb. 9:12; 10:10). But the need for visible sacramental signs and seals remains. A sign is a visible picture of a spiritual reality. The water of baptism signifies cleansing from sin through the sacrifice of Christ. A seal is the guarantee of a promise. Baptism is an assurance of God’s promise to save sinners by the sacrifice of Christ.

The distinction between the visible and invisible aspects of the church must necessarily remain until sin is no longer present in the church. The membership of the new covenant community is made up of those who profess faith in Christ, not those who are regenerate—something only God can know.

Faith is essential to new covenant salvation. Peter is clearly addressing adults when he commands, “Repent and be baptized.” But because only adults can repent and believe, does this necessarily mean that only adults may be baptized? Paul in Romans 4 stresses the centrality of faith in connection with the sacrament of circumcision. Abraham first believed and only then was he circumcised. But then God commanded Abraham to circumcise all his children without their exercise of faith. What God commanded Abraham is as proper in the new covenant as it was in the old. We would expect, then, to see evidence of the inclusion of baptized infants or young children in the New Testament church, remembering that such evidence will not be by way of explicit command, but rather by way of practices that assume the command already given in the old covenant economy.

Children in the New Testament Church

What is God’s attitude toward the children of believers? In Luke 18:15–17, Jesus blesses the covenant children. It was not mere sentiment that moved these mothers to desire the blessings of the Messiah upon their children. In verse 15, the Greek word brephos means “infant.” Jesus reminds the offended disciples that “to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Jesus is not saying that their childlike trust should be imitated. (That this application is secondary is proved by its absence in Matthew’s account.) He simply asserts that they are part of God’s kingdom and that the disciples’ offense is not God’s way of viewing these helpless babies.

There is no better picture of God’s sovereign grace than the blessing of Christ on helpless infants, or the sprinkling of the water of baptism on an infant in the arms of a minister of the gospel. Is there anyone more helpless than a sinner dead in sin?

Paul addresses the children of believers as part of the visible church in Colossians 3:20 and Ephesians 6:1–3. In 1 Corinthians 7:14 Paul encourages the believing mothers in mixed marriages that their children are “holy.” This does not mean that they are morally pure, but that they are “set apart” by God as members of the visible church.

The five household baptisms recorded in the New Testament are strong presumptive evidence for the baptism of infants. In a culture where birth control did not exist, and extended families were in view, it is stretching credulity to believe that there were no infants present in the households of Cornelius (Acts 10:47–48; 11:14); Lydia (Acts 16:14–15); the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:33–34); Crispus (Acts 18:8); and Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:16). Here the Lord was blessing “all the families of the earth” as he had promised Abraham. The cultural assumption of radical individualism often prevents us from thinking in terms of families.

Early church history confirms the apostolic practice of infant baptism. As early as 180 AD, Origen matter-of-factly reported that he was baptized as an infant. In the fourth century Augustine asserted that infant baptism was “always retained” as the practice of the apostolic church and that no church council had instituted the practice.

The Responsibility of Parents

Infant baptism is a beautiful blessing meant to encourage parents and children alike. Far from mitigating parental responsibility, infant baptism mandates it. Parental baptismal vows are taken because God uses the means of parental nurture and training, along with the means of grace in the church, to bring his children to repentance and faith. God’s Word commands parents to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Treating them as outsiders to God’s grace, by denying them baptism, undermines that nurture. Parents teach their children to pray “Our Father . . .” Thus, every believing parent is bound by God’s covenant commandment to have their children baptized. This is God’s way of dedicating covenant children to the Lord.

Essential to parental nurture is the exhibition of grace in parents’ lives, not leaving the impression that being a Christian simply means obeying God’s commands. Parents should correct their children when they sin and pray with them to trust the forgiveness that is theirs in Jesus. Praying for and with them is a powerful means of moving them to follow their Savior.

The author is pastor emeritus of Amoskeag Presbyterian in Manchester, New Hampshire. New Horizons, January 2026.