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Infant Baptism & The Abrahamic Covenant: A Theology of Community Initiation

A baby being baptized during a ceremonial Christian baptism, featuring a priest and holy water.
Table Of Contents
  1. Infant Baptism & The Abrahamic Covenant: A Theology of Community Initiation
  2. Introduction
  3. What Is Paedobaptism?
  4. The Covenantal Foundations
  5. Historical Roots: Baptism in the 1st & 2nd Century Judaism.
  6. Conclusion

Snapshot

Infant baptism (paedobaptism) is theologically rooted in the Abrahamic covenant, where circumcision marked infants as members of God’s people. This perspective views Christian baptism as the new covenant sign, aligning historically with Jewish immersion rites that focused on community initiation rather than just personal repentance. Therefore, infant baptism is understood as an act of welcoming a child into the covenant community, similar to the old covenant, rather than requiring a prior confession of faith from the individual.

Introduction

Infant baptism, also known as paedobaptism, is a topic heavily debated in Christian circles. This debate is often presented as a simple dichotomy: baptizing infants versus baptizing only those who profess faith (known as believer’s baptism). This simple view, however, often fails to capture the deep theological beliefs and historical roots of the practice.

As someone who has spent time in circles that practice both, I have become more convinced of the historical and theological basis for paedobaptism and believe it is often misunderstood. This isn’t to discount believer’s baptism, but rather to suggest it may not be the only valid time for baptism.

Let’s first explore what paedobaptism is and what it means theologically. 

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What Is Paedobaptism?

Paedobaptism is the practice of baptizing infants or young children, often when parents bring them forward for the sacrament. The primary theological understanding behind this practice is rooted in covenantal theology.  In the Old Testament, God makes covenants, and one of those covenants was one given to Abram. Abram was given the covenant that he would have many descendants, and they would be God’s people. Whether one was a child or an adult, they were considered part of Abram’s descendants and therefore the covenant applied to them. Notice this is regardless of whether they knew what it meant at the time or even chose for themselves. 

The Covenantal Foundations

At its core, the Bible shows that God often relates to humanity through covenants—relational promises where He makes binding commitments. We see these laced throughout the Old Testament, including the covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.

Old Testament

The covenant that most directly impacts infant baptism is the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12 & 17). God promises Abram many descendants, a land, and that his family would bless all nations. The sign of this covenant was circumcision. This sign was applied to male infants (and all males in the household), indicating their identity as members of God’s chosen people, Israel, regardless of their personal understanding or choice at the time.

 You have other covenants made as well, the Dravidic covenant, in which David is promised to have a descendant always on the throne. In this case, Jesus is that individual, from the line of David, who is always on the throne. He sits at the right hand of God. So we have this Old Testament covenant making itself fulfilled in the New Testament. That is important because it means that the Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled in the New Testament. Proponents of paedobaptism argue the Abrahamic covenant is also fulfilled in the New Testament. The question then becomes: what happens to the sign of the covenant? To understand that, one must look at two different types of Baptism, or rites of immersion, in first and second-century Judaism. 

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Historical Roots: Baptism in the 1st & 2nd Century Judaism.

The practice of baptism has fascinating pre-Christian roots. People tend to assume that baptism was invented by John the Baptist and that Christians continued this tradition, but there are some interesting facts to consider. Historically, ritual cleansings were very common. They would have ritual cleansings in Mikvahs, which one can find mikvahs all over the ancient world. There were two different prominent purposes for these ritual cleanings.

Purpose 1:

One purpose was to cleanse oneself before entering a holy place. For example, before going into the temple, you would go to a Mikvah, go under the water, and then come out before going up to the temple. The imagery is important; a person would ball up under the water, then come out. It gives the imagery of an infant being born as a person, balls up like an infant, and comes out of the water just like a baby comes out of the womb, which they thought was filled with water. This was considered a cleansing from the profane world, and one would be rebirthed, leaving behind the profane world as they entered into the holy area. 

Purpose 2:

The second purpose was done by many communities in the 1st and 2nd century. In this version, it had the same imagery as the first type, but the rebirth imagery was to be born into a new community. It was less about cleansing from the profane and more about being rebirthed into a new community. One was dead to the former life as they entered into a new community, as this was the purpose. This can be seen in communities like the Qumran community. The big question then develops. What type of baptism did Christians build on? Was it baptism for repentance of sin, cleansing from the profane world, or was it baptism of being welcomed into a new community? This is the million-dollar question. 

Conclusion

This is where the paedobaptist argument comes full circle. It links the covenantal foundation with the community initiation model of baptism.

The argument is this: If the old covenant sign (circumcision) was given to infants to mark them as members of the covenant community, and if Christian baptism is the new covenant sign that builds on the Jewish model of community initiation (the second option), then it follows that the new sign would also be given to infants and children.

From this perspective, infant baptism is not about an infant’s personal confession

  • stay tuned for part 2

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