Do Infants Need To Be Baptized?
Most people are not aware that infants are sprinkled, calling it baptism, because of the doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity. Walter Conner, in his book Christian Doctrine, a presentation of Baptist theology for ministers and laymen alike, states:
“…makes it not only possible that he may sin on account of his power of choice, but certain that he will sin on account of his moral weakness and inherent tendency toward evil. This depravity of man’s nature is inherent and universal…but in saying that depravity is inherent in human nature is meant that man as fallen is born depraved.”
To be depraved is to be marked by corruption or evil. The doctrine of “total hereditary depravity” means that every one is born not only with the guilt but also the depravity (wickedness) of his ancestors. This doctrine means that no unregenerate person can properly evaluate the evidence which God has given to man and, as a result, obey the gospel (thus being “born again,” becoming a child of God) without a direct, miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit upon him. We would not deny that many become depraved, but we do deny that babies are born depraved.
Babies are not born depraved because Jesus said this of little children coming to him: “forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Lk. 18:15, 16). They are so holy that they already possess the kingdom of God! This becomes even more emphatically important when we read these words of Jesus, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). According to the doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity, this ought to read, “Except ye turn, and become totally depraved as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.” If Adam’s posterity inherited the corrupt nature described after the fall, then why do not children of Christians inherit their parents’ purified natures after their conversion?
Too, if we are guilty of Adam’s first sin, why are we not guilty of not only all of Adam’s sins, but also of all our ancestors’ sins? But God said, “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezek. 18:20). Clearly, the principle is established that the sins we bare are the sins we do. In the Bible the definition of sin is not something you inherit, but a thing which adheres to a person for his own act. It is simply a person’s own violation of a law of God (I Jno. 3:4), and you and I simply did not eat of the forbidden fruit, for Eden was gone when we arrived on this earth.
Even if sprinkling and pouring were baptism (and they are not) it would not be proper to baptize infants for many reasons, some of which follow:
- The Bible does not say infants were baptized.
- Those who administer what they call infant baptism say they do it in the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but the Godhead does not authorize the baptizing of infants.
- The will of an infant cannot be involved in its being sprinkled for baptism.
- To be scripturally baptized one must first hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mk. 16:15, 16; Acts 2:41) and therefore be convicted of sin (Acts 2:36, 37) and then repent or turn from sin (Acts 2:38) and confess faith in Christ as the Son of God (Acts 8:37; Rom. 10:9-10). An infant can do none of these.
There is absolutely no passage that can be used to teach the doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity. The truth is a little child is so pure he already “possesses the kingdom,” and we must become like him if we too would enter heaven. Infants do not bear the iniquity of Adam or anyone else. Only when they grow up and transgress God’s law will they possess sin. We love those who hold this false doctrine, but the doctrine itself is false, coming from Satan and not God.
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