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Update 42 page 9.
In Update 42:
New name
Why infants?
Baptism in CW
Baptism & Fathers
Does history compel?
Is history so clear?
Baptists' integrity
Table fellowship
If God gave
Reborn again
And is the history really so clear?
Two extracts from Alan Wright's contribution to "Reforming Infant Baptism", Hodder 1990
The problem is that those who ought to know cannot agree. Certainly baptism was part of the rite by which a gentile convert became a Jew. But the bath seems to have been more to do with the ritual purification of the new Jew than with the becoming, which was through an act of faith sealed by male circumcision. Over the years the baptism part of the ceremony became more important, but this does not seem to have happened until after the Christian church had become established. There seem to be as many differences as similarities. Reputable theologians cannot agree on the correct interpretation of the facts, making it very dangerous to put any weight on arguments relying on such a tie-up.
There is not a single reported instance in the whole of the New Testament of a baby being baptised. It seems clear from archaeology that the practice was common by the second or third century. A case can be made that ‘households’ includes children, and that Peter’s reference to babies in Acts 2:39 extends baptism to babies. The fact remains, however, that these are mere suppositions.
Baptism demands a response from the person becoming a Christian. How then can baptism be undertaken by a person too young to speak for themselves? In Acts 2, repentance is called for. Clearly it is not possible for a babe-in-arms to repent. At baptism the gift of the Holy Spirit is given. The Holy Spirit at Pentecost was so obvious that Peter had to explain to the crowd that he and his friends were not drunk. Is this the scene at the baptismal font today? We may speak of the baby receiving the Holy Spirit at the font, but where is the evidence to support this incredible claim? To quote one pastor, ‘this will be no more than a sheep dip.’
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