Infant Baptism

Name some arguments for and against infant baptism.  Do you agree that "the baptism of children should be limited to those who are likely to be nurtured in the church?"  Why or why not?

Wesley, in his Treatise on Baptism, sets forth several arguments for infant baptism including the belief that infants are guilty of original sin (as we all are), and that infants are capable of making a covenant, as we see in the Hebrew Bible.  In addition, that baptism is a successor to circumcision as a sign of the covenant, and that infants were circumcised, so then they were to be baptized, and that infants are capable of coming to Christ and of admission to the church.  Acts provides historical evidence that infants were baptized by the early church.

 

Arguments against infant baptism include the idea that infants are incapable to making a mature response of faith to baptism. There is no opportunity to teach infants about Christ or for infants to repent of sins prior to baptism.

 

For me, the question of whether or not to baptize infants who are unlikely to be nurtured in the church is where the evangelical and sacramental tensions in our beliefs about baptism are at their highest. If baptism is a sacrament and the work of God (not of ourselves), then why would be deny children baptism? I also think there could be situations where it is difficult to assess if a child will be nurture in the faith in the church. However, I also see the need for nurture in order that the child will experience the grace of sanctification. It is in Christian Community where we learn to practice the means of grace that will help us to mature in our faith, and a child who does not have the nurturing experience of community could miss that.