HC 74

Q74. Should infants, too, be baptized?

Yes. Infants as well as adults belong to God's covenant and congregation. Through Christ's blood the redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to adults. Therefore, by baptism, as sign of the covenant, they must be grafted into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the old covenant by circumcision, in place of which baptism was instituted in the new covenant.

Proof texts

• Gen. 17:7 — [7] And 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.
• Matt. 19:14 — [14] but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
• Ps. 22:11 — [11] Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
• Isa. 44:1-3 — [1] “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! [2] Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. [3] For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
• Acts 2:38-39 — [38] And 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. [39] For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
• Acts 16:31 — [31] And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
• Acts 10:47 — [47] “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
• 1 Cor. 7:14 — [14] For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
• Gen. 17:9-14 — [9] And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. [10] This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. [11] You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. [12] He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, [13] both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. [14] Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
• Col. 2:11-13 — [11] 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, [12] 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. [13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Gen. 17:7 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 10 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q88 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. WLC Q149 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q88 · WLC Q149 · WCF 27.1 · BC 8.1 · BC 8.2 · BC 8.3 · 1689 28.1