Baptizing Babies

I got a question about infant baptism today. Living in Kentucky, our Catholics get hit by Southern Baptists especially, who are working out of the Reformed tradition of John Calvin whether they know it or not - and of course most of the Protestants say they're " simply working from the Bible." Unfortunately most of them know a few Bible passages upon which their pastors construct a theology in accordance with the Calvinist pattern.

Protestants pick and choose among Bible passages; Catholics view Scripture as a totality - you cannot ignore passages you do not like - and furthermore, Catholics interpret Scripture as a community, not individuals.

At any rate, this particular difficulty is the "believers baptism" controversy. Protestants disagree with each other on whether infants can be baptized; Lutherans, for instance, have no difficulty with the practice. Certain other radical groups, such as Mennonites, and I believe some of the Reformed tradition, hold that because an infant cannot make an act of the will, it is unable to receive baptism validly. To put it another way, to receive baptism validly, certain Protestant sects demand that the recipient be of age to be able to make an affirmative act of belief in Jesus.
Notice, in passing, that it is impossible to baptize, according to this theory of the sacrament, not only an infant, but a person in a coma, or person suffering serious mental retardation.

At any rate, the traditional scripture passage that Catholics look to deals with the question of infant baptism is Saturday's Gospel of which was from Mark 10: 13-16.

The disciples are discouraging little children from coming to Jesus. Jesus, when he finds out, reprimands the disciples and tells him to let the little children come to him and "do not hinder them." The verb "hinder" is part of the ancient baptismal rite. Peter is asked the same question about baptizing the pagan Cornelius, and Philip is asked the same question by the Ethiopian eunuch who is seeking baptism in the Book of Acts. The question at issue is whether baptism is something we do with reference to Jesus, or whether Jesus is doing something in us through the sacrament. The answer is that Jesus is acting in us. The four effects of baptism can only come by the divine power which he possesses: forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, enabling a life of personal relationship to Father, Son and Holy Spirit by the implantation of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity; the incorporation of the candidate into the Body of the Church and consequent spiritual adoption by the Father; and finally the gift of eternal life.

Jesus finishes with the children by "placing his hands on them" in blessing; this is also the action of Bishop in confirmation which in the ancient Church is always celebrated immediately after baptism.

A small child, therefore, presents no obstacle to receiving The Kingdom of God, and therefore should not be hindered from baptism - this is the same language that we find about baptism in John 3. Little children are indeed passive; precisely because they cannot mount a real act of disobedience they are good candidates for baptism. But they can truly receive things, even before they can make an morally meaningful act of the will; they have no difficulty receiving food, clothing, shelter, the love of their parents, and the love of God.

Baptism is primarily the act of Christ, not our act. In every sacrament we are the recipient of grace. Every sacrament is an act of divine prophecy, making clear the mind of God to the world. In Baptism, Jesus stretches his hand out from his heavenly throne and truly and really plants seeds of the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity in the soul of the child, which he has chosen for himself, and revealed to the world and to the rebellious spiritual powers of the universe, as his own personal possession and beloved. But faith, hope, and charity are habits - powers in a certain state of development as yet unused-which nonetheless have to be used in act before they redound to our moral credit or debit. Nevertheless, Baptism changes us by the power of Christ, and precisely not by our own power.

Extra arguments in favor of the Catholic position:

In addition to the gospel I already quoted, a passage that opens up the possibility of infant baptism in the Scriptures is the story of the jailer in the book of the Acts the Apostles who is baptized by St. Paul "with his whole household". The jailer is a poor man, with his jail in the basement of his house. He is so poor that he has no guards except himself, and when he finds that the jail is wide-open, he is ready to fall on his sword. St. Paul stops him and converts him and baptizes him "and his whole household.) Since he has no slaves (who would guard his prisoners for him), "his whole household" must mean his wife and children. We don't know how old his children were, but it certainly opens up the possibility of an infant baptism (as well as a baptism done by pouring water rather than immersing somebody in the local river. Poor people went to the public baths to bathe).

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (KJV)

- And therefore little children, however small, can recieve good things from God, including baptism, according to their capacity. For our birth in baptism that makes us sons of God in the Son is NOT "of the will of man, " "but of God."

In addition, circumcision, which brings people into the Jewish people, happens eight days after birth, by the will of the parents of the child and the command of God - not by the will of the child. Traditionally, the eighth day is also the traditional date for baptism for Christian children, who are in a similar way brought into the new Israel and people of God which is the Church by the faith of their parents and the command of God. There is a perfect consonance here..

Believers' baptism is a Protestant innovation from the early modern period. Nobody for three quarters of 2000 years ever believed such a thing. Besides (Romans 6) "do you not know that those who are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death?" Death comes at God's command, not the act of our will; doesn't it fit that the power of baptism works by God's command, that it comes not by our will but by God's?

None of the passages of Scripture above imply that an act of faith is presently required at the moment of baptism; rather, if you think about this correctly, you will see that it is the virtue of faith makes the act of belief possible. The virtue has to come first before it can be expressed in act. So whenever we see an act of faith, the gift of the virtue must have preceded it.

In an adult, we can usually see the presence of the virtue which makes possible the act of belief even before the moment of baptism. In fact, in an adult, the gift of the virtue of faith usually precedes the moment of the celebration of the sacrament. The sacrament is the visible sign that supernatural grace has been given. But the gifts themselves can be given before the prophetic sign of that grace is made visible in the sacrament.

In a child, that grace may also be given before the sacramental moment, but by the time the sacramental moment has arrived we know it has been certainly given. The act of belief that flows from the virtue of faith comes later, when the child is able to come to the age of reason on moral matters. (Customarily that's about seven years old - and at that time most children make their first confession as well as their first Communion.)

So children can be quite reasonably and validly baptized even when they're very tiny. Nevertheless, the job of parents and educators remains precisely to show those children, bit by bit as they grow up, how to use the powerful and supernatural gifts they were given by Jesus when he baptized them through the Church's ministry.