DID THE EARLY CHURCH BAPTIZE INFANTS?
Of the five existing apostolic churches, all currently baptize infants. This leads one to conclude that the apostolic church baptized infants–unless the practice of infant baptism developed later and then spread to all the apostolic churches (historically unlikely, but possible).
Some modern-day scholars strongly oppose the idea that the early Christian church practiced infant baptism. Kurt Aland, after looking at early church documents, wrote that “we have an indubitable example of baptism of children [only] of maturer years.”[1] Joachim Jeremias, another baptismal scholar, methodically looked into Aland’s argument and convincingly refuted his conclusion from the original documents that only children of “maturer years” were baptized. Jeremias wrote that
there is not a shred of evidence for Aland’s hypothesis that in the first two centuries children were baptized only when they had reached an age at which they could receive instruction. But there are certainly quite a number of indications which argue against an age limit being observed at baptism. They vary in importance, but taken together they present a conclusive picture.[2]
If one acts from the idea that infant baptism could have been practiced in the early Christian church, then the following statement from Polycarp (69-155AD), a disciple of St. John, seems to be a proof. He said at his martyrdom, “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”[3] Since Polycarp lived 86 years, how else was he considered a “servant” of Christ unless baptized as an infant? Irenaeus (130-200AD), a disciple of Polycarp, wrote sometime around 189AD, that Jesus “came to save all through means of Himself–all, I say, who through Him are born again to God–infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men.”[4]
Hippolytus (160-235AD) described how, at the festival of Easter in the Roman Church, long before his time, that in the families of those being baptized, the children, including infants, were first baptized.[5] Hippolytus wrote, “You are to baptize the little ones first. All those who are able to speak for themselves should speak. With regard to those who cannot speak for themselves their parents, or somebody who belongs to their family should speak.”[6] Tertullian (160-215AD) wrote about the baptismal practices in North Africa. He was the first to report the use of godparents who took part in baptismal ceremonies and made promises for the infants being baptized.[7]
Origen in two sermons in 248AD preached the following:
. . . hear David speaking, “In iniquity I was conceived and in sins my mother brought me forth,” showing that every soul which is born in flesh is polluted by the filth “of iniquity and sin”; and for this reason we can say what we have already recalled above, “No one is pure from uncleanness even if his life is only one day long.” To these things can be added the reason why it is required, since the Baptism of the Church is given for the forgiveness of sins, that, according to the observance of the Church, that baptism also be given to infants; since, certainly, if there were nothing in infants that ought to pertain to forgiveness and indulgence, then the grace of baptism would appear superfluous.[8]
. . . the Church has received the tradition from the Apostles to give baptism even to little children. For they to whom the secrets of the five mysteries were committed were aware that in everyone was sin’s innate defilement, which needed to be washed away through water and the Spirit.[9]
Archaeologists have discovered baptismal epitaphs dating as early as 200AD. Of the earliest epitaphs that exist, they show infant baptism was then a practice of the Christian church. Such epitaphs are the earliest external evidences of Christian baptism. Everett Ferguson concluded:
Early Christian inscriptions, which in the largest numbers come from the environs of Rome, furnish some instances of child and infant baptism for the third century . . . Nearly all the early Christian inscriptions are epitaphs. A considerable number of these are for the graves of children. The vast majority give no indication whether the child was baptized or not. . . . Actually the word “baptism” is seldom used. The idea is expressed by “received grace,” “made a believer” or “neophyte.”[10]
Although Everett Ferguson disagrees with infant baptism and sees such a practice as a late 4th-century development in the Church, he still must concede that infant baptisms did take place, although in deathbed emergencies. In Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries, where Ferguson quotes David F. Wright, he writes: “The fact is that ‘we cannot give the name of anyone before the fourth century not in emergency situation who was not baptized as an infant.’”[11]
In 254AD, contrary to Ferguson’s view, the Council of Carthage stated, “We ought not hinder any person from baptism and the grace of God. . . . especially infants. . . those newly born.”[12]
Among the early Christian church fathers, only Tertullian (160-215AD) in his In Baptism, the earliest surviving work focusing on baptism, voiced any opposition to infant baptism.[13] Such opposition itself shows that infant baptism was the Church practice for him to oppose it. Tertullian, who left Christian orthodoxy and became a Montanist,[14] wanted to delay baptism for all people because he believed that certain post-baptismal sins could not be forgiven.[15]
CONCLUSION
This short exploration into early church history strongly suggests the following.
The preferred way to baptize in the early church was by immersion. The early church accepted other forms of baptism, but never considered them ideal. Factoring in
1) the meaning of the Greek verb for baptize (bapti,zw), which in classical Greek meant “to sink or drown,”[16]
2) that it seems the early church fathers simply assumed that immersion was the way baptisms were performed, and
3) that three of the five apostolic churches in existence today immerse,
the evidence shows immersion was the preferred and common way baptisms were administered.
The early Christian church widely practiced and accepted infant baptism. The evidence for infant baptism is even stronger than for baptism by immersion. The earliest baptismal information that exists supports infant, child, and adult baptism. No early church evidence exists to show the beginnings of infant baptism; like immersion, it was simply considered the normal baptismal practice from the beginnings of the New Testament church. The first specific mention of infant baptism (around 200AD) is a statement against it, which shows that that infant baptism was widely practiced in the early Christian church.
[1] Kurt Aland, Did the Early Church Baptize Infants?, trans. G.R Beasley-Murray (London: SCM Press, 1963), 74.
[2] Joachim Jeremias, The Origins of Infant Baptism: A Further Study in Reply to Kurt Aland, trans. Dorothea M. Barton (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1963), 63.
[3] “The Martyrdom of Polycarp, [9:3]” in The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 3d ed., trans. Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 317.
[4] “Irenaeus Against Heresies – Book II [22.4],” [online] Early Church Fathers, available from < http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.iii.xxiii.html>.
[5] Joachim Jeremias, Infant Baptism in the First Four Centuries, trans. David Cairns (London: SCM Press, 1960), 41.
[6] Hippolytus, On the Apostolic Tradition [21:4], trans. Alistair Stewart-Sykes (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 110-111.
[7] Joachim Jeremias, Infant Baptism in the First Four Centuries, trans. David Cairns (London: SCM Press, 1960), 41.
[8] Origen, “Homily 8[:5],” in Homilies on Leviticus 1-16, The Fathers of the Church, trans. Gary Wayne Barkley (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1990), 157-158.
[9] Origen, “Book 5 [Chapter 9 (11)],” in Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books 1-5, The Fathers of the Church, trans. Thomas P. Scheck (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2001), 367.
[10] Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak (Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company, 1971), 62.
[11] Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 379.
[12] Dennis Kastens, “Infant Baptism in Early Church History,” [online] Issues, Etc. Journal, available from <http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar40.htm>.
[13] Everett Ferguson, Introduction to the History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002).
[14] Montanists called all Christians to a demanding asceticism. They favored marital relations to be abandoned for celibacy, promoted much fasting, and the eating of dry food. Their main message, however, was the nearness of the end and the return of Christ. Tertullian, the most distinguished Montanist, believed the Holy Spirit perfected the church’s discipline by refusing forgiveness for serious sins after baptism–thus his opposition to infant baptism unless the infant was near death. The Montanists survived until the 5th century in Africa and even longer around the region of Phrygia, now central Turkey.
[15] J.N.D Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (New York: HarperCollins, 1978), 199.
[16] 1 Peter 3:21 shows how the meaning of bapti,zw increased in its semantic range of meaning from classical to koine Greek to include “wash,” as Greek lexica attest. o] kai. u`ma/j avnti,tupon nu/n sw,|zei ba,ptisma( ouv sarko.j avpo,qesij r`u,pou avlla. suneidh,sewj avgaqh/j evperw,thma eivj qeo,n( diV avnasta,sewj VIhsou/ Cristou/( “And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not by the removal of dirt from the flesh, but by the appeal of a good conscience to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” [RKF translation]
