Question:
Since Paul says that the parents’ faith makes children holy in 1 Corinthians 7:14 and since Paul probably baptized children in Acts 16:33 and Peter called for children to be baptized in Acts 2: 38-39, shouldn’t the baptism of children be an acceptable practice?
I received this via email… the person is outside our church…
Thank you for your question. I think what we have here is a common misconception that may be built upon a faulty interpretative practice. When we interpret Scripture, we are to read from Scripture rather than reading our preferences or preconceived ideas into Scripture. Reading from Scripture, not to be overly technical, is called “exegesis,” and reading into Scripture is called “eisegesis.” The Greek prefixes ex (or ek) and eis mean from or in (into), respectively. Sometimes, we are tempted to hold to a tradition or teaching we received from others, and we look for texts or parts of texts that appear to support this preconceived idea or tradition.
Let’s take Acts 2:38-39 for starters. Let’s take these verses in context. They are part of a larger flow of thought. The passage isn’t about baptism. It’s about the birth of the New Testament church, beginning with those who likely shouted “crucify” before and then coming to faith upon the preaching of the Gospel:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 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.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:36-41)
We can make the following observations from the text:
The call to the listening audience was to repent and be baptized (sequentially) for forgiveness and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (v. 38).
This is the promise for their children and others who do not know the Lord but are called by God to salvation (v. 39)—“those the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Notice in verse 39 that there is an appositive—grammatically—that describes those for whom the promise is for: their children and other unbelievers (“those who are far off”).
What is “the promise?” Those who repent and then are baptized will receive forgiveness and the Holy Spirit—this pertained their unsaved children and other pagans whom the Lord our God would call to himself:
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.”
In response to this, those present in the crowd who received his word were baptized (v. 41). There is no mention of children being baptized in this text. Those who received his word were baptized and it is doubtful that infants or other small children incapable of understanding and embracing the gospel were baptized.
This passage is not about baptism but repentance and what it produces (repentance being synonymous with salvation in this context).
Applying the same diligence to Acts 16:33, we read this from the text:
And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. (Acts 16:32-34)
Let’s make a few observations from the text.
Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer and to all who were in his house.
He was baptized at once and all his family because they heard the word of the Lord; there is no mention of others (i.e., all who were in his house).
This follows the pattern of Acts—those who received the word of the Lord were baptized.
There is no mention of children in the text.
The idea that Paul “probably” baptized children is unsupported by the text and must be read into the text, not from it. Moreover, you want to avoid building an ecclesiological commitment from “probablys.” Some attempt to construct a theology of “household baptism” from this text. However, this isolated passage would not be the place to start or finish.
Let’s consider your understanding of 1 Corinthians 7:14 within its context. Ask yourself, “What is the passage within which I find this verse addressing? What is the point of the passage?
To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 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. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)
The discourse here never mentions or hints at baptism. The passage is about staying in a marriage where there is an unbelieving spouse and is part of a large discussion of marriage and divorce beginning in verse 1. Often, when one spouse comes to Christ and another spouse does not, there is hardship and friction in the home. Paul is answering the question as to whether or not the believing spouse should stay in the marriage and why. Let’s observe from the text what Paul says.
If the unbelieving spouse consents to remain in the marriage the believing spouse should remain in the marriage (vv. 12-13).
One reason given for this is that the unbelieving spouse may become saved through the believing spouse’s witness (v. 16).
However, if the unbelieving spouse divorces the believing spouse, the believing spouse is free to remarry (v. 15).
As for being made holy, this is not defined (v. 14).
It is unlikely that Paul would baptize the unbelieving husband and unbelieving children.
Applying the hermeneutic (interpretive practice), you appear to be suggesting that when you say, “Since the children are made holy by the parents’ belief…” and therefore imply Paul “probably” baptized children, you would have to extend baptism to the unbelieving spouse. This contradicts even Presbyterian and other paedobaptistic notions of baptism. Are you suggesting baptizing an unbelieving spouse (were they to consent to it) and children since they are made holy by the believing spouse’s faith in Christ?
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. (1 Corinthians 7:14)
“They are holy” doesn’t work. According to some commentators, the child's uncleanness speaks to being perceived as a bastard (i.e., fatherless or illegitimate) in Greco-Roman culture. However, let’s stick to the text. Once again, there is no mention of baptism in 1 Corinthians 7:14 or its near context.
Extrapolating the Acts 2 passages and the Acts 16 passage to infer that 1 Corinthians 7:14 in any ways supports household or infant baptism, or the baptism of unregenerate children collapses on itself given the context of the passages above and the flow of the discourse.
Those suggesting this view often point to baptism as a replacement for Old Testament circumcision relating to the Abrahamic Covenant. However, this fails on two fronts. First, Abraham was circumcised after his conversion in Genesis 15:6 (Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness), which is also quoted in Galatians and Romans, not to mention James. Secondly, in the Old Testament economy, only males received circumcision.
We want to be careful here. I have baptized children. But they were believers who had a clear testimony of faith and a grasp of the gospel.
One other helpful point of clarity is found in the teaching of Jesus:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Let’s look to Jesus as our authority (v. 18). Let’s look at his command and how the all-wise Son of God, God the Son, sequences it for us:
Go and make disciples (learners).
Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Teach them God’s word.
You could put it this way: evangelize, baptize, and catechize. Those who receive the word of the Lord (embrace Christ) are baptized (we know as one of the first steps of obedience). Then they are discipled so that they can be equipped and mature in the faith. Scriptural baptism is the baptism of believers. There is no example anywhere in the New Testament where children are baptized. One has to read that into the text rather than from it.
I want to leave you with a final passage that may add additional clarity, from John’s gospel:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:12-13)
Only those whom God calls to himself are saved (v. 13—at the end: “but of God”). Those who receive Christ, those who believe on his name are saved—born of God. There is nothing a bloodline, a family member, or anyone else can do to save someone. The same can be said of baptism. Scriptural baptism is for believers only who decide in obedience to Christ to be baptized. As it says in Acts 2:39, “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.”