Infant Baptism

[JeffreyLloyd]

"Peter (said) to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call." - Acts 2:38-39

 

[HappyGiraffe]

Here is a answer from my discussion from the argument's set forth by Polycarp1 on this

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

But Mr. Barnes, though of that school himself, has says of this expression, "It does not refer to children as children, and should not be adduced to establish the propriety of infant baptism, or as applicable particularly to infants. It is a promise, indeed, to parents, that the blessings of salvation shall not be confined to parents, but shall be extended also to their posterity."
As can be demonstrated again by the phrase “unto all generations” meaning that what is in view here is the extend of this promise. A promise to all generations and all people. As you see that makes much more contextual sense.

What is he saying? He’s saying, "This isn’t isolated to the crowd today—this is for anybody who comes into the future." Right? This is for your children, and your children’s children, and your children’s children’s children…He’s simply saying this promise goes on and on and on, and for all who are far off, it’s for Gentiles too. So he’s saying, "For your children, Jews in the future, and for Gentiles as well in the future." Anybody who repents of sin, anybody who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, anybody who receives the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit—that promise is fulfilled to anybody whether they’re Jew or Gentile.

Similar promises occur in Isa 44:3, "I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring,"
Exactly to what they were alluding to with the “ receive the gift of the Spirit” in Acts and then further this with alluding to the time that Isaiah says, in which he tells us that blessing to his offspring, or future generations- to put it contemporary language.

I have expanded more on this for you

It seems that my first answer wasn’t enough. So I shall expand on it.



Joel 2:28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:



Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.



Joel 2:28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:



This is the context, this is what the apostles were talking on, its hugely important we consider what then it is saying and the language used to see what the apostles were saying. The language used is that this promise is not for them but for future generation. As Joel is talking about future generations so to are the apostles.





Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.



Here Isaiah’s foretellign of the description that we have in Acts chapter 2 is that is will go from generation to generation. Just as I said from generation to generation Isaiah supports that.



the additional words, "even as many as the Lord our God shall call." It included, therefore, every individual who should, at any future time, be a subject of the gospel call, and guarantees to us, of the present generation

• Verse 39 says that if you “ repent and be baptised” if the promise is dependant on the clause with baptism it must likewise be with repentance” – Babies do not repent
• Verse 41“Then they that gladly received his word” – Babies do not gladly receive words, there is also the statement that it was those that responded, meaning it was a personal decision- a parent couldn’t make the choice for his son, a husband for his wife and so on.
• Verse 42 “ they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine…..and in breaking break”- babies can’t continually follow steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine, babies cannot break bread.
• Verse 43“ fear came upon every soul”- babies would not know to fear about the apostles.

Neither the actual language used can be said to express what implied it would, nor the historical context of the verse or the immediate context of the verse.

 

[lands21]

I have not yet read all the posts here, but I have one quick thought. Is baptism necessary for salvation? NO! Jesus said repent and believe. Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind. This is what we must do be saved. Do you think God will not allow certain people into heaven because they were imersed instead of sprinkled or vice versa? Do you think non baptized believers will be turned away? Nope, the baptized, the sprinkled, the imersed, the infants that were baptized, and adults that were baptized, the non-baptized, all that believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, as the only way into Heaven, will all be there praising the Lord with us.

 

[WithHisBloodWentOurSin]

Why Baptize a child that will not remember such a important date in their life? why Baptize a child before he has even had a chance to submit to Jesus?
Why make their choices for them?

 

[HappyGiraffe]

I take it then that all the answers given to the verses given to support infant baptism have been answered and no one still believes it can be supported by scripture ??

 

[lands21]

Baptism is not a sign of us choosing God, it is a sign that WE are CHOSEN by God. Just like circumsion was to the Jews.

 

[PilgrimSteve]

"Baptism is not a sign of us choosing God, it is a sign that WE are CHOSEN by God. Just like circumsion was to the Jews."

Not so! Baptism has absolutely nothing to do with physical circumsion let alone replace it.

PilgrimSteve