NOT for debate. Infant Baptism in Early Church History

[FreeInChrist]

Each person is held accountable for their own salvation. If you mom and dad are saved that does not mean you are or will be. It's all about personal faith. God is going to judge everyone justly and fairly.

Well my mom and dad were baby baptized.... so that means they are not saved? Good to know. Cant be either because
they are both gone. I am the last of a family that for hundreds of years were all baby baptized. So my entire family
is lost? Also good to know.

Wonder if God will hold those accountable 7 or 8 years ago when I tried, along with my mom to receive an immersion and we
could not make it happen? A story you are not going to hear, but it is on here somewhere... The entire thing.

This is a different subject that the age of accountability.

There is no one age in the Bible at which all children are declared to be “accountable.” Neither is there one chronological age in a person’s life in which a person suddenly and automatically knows right from wrong or is capable of understanding God’s plan for salvation.

Or the reason for His plan of salvation? I do, I wonder if you do also?

Dont worry... you need not answer because you will not be read. I dub you #16.

The condition of accountability is what matters. Every infant or child who dies before reaching a condition of moral culpability goes instantly to heaven at death.

 

[Lions Mane]

Well my mom and dad were baby baptized.... so that means they are not saved?

Not by being baptized as infant.

It is tragic that Christians are so sharply divided about these issues. And yet, the divisions and the controversies show that Christians recognize that baptism is a serious matter. After all, no one can read the New Testament, even in a cursory manner, and not clearly see that baptism is a very important element of the Christian faith. So Christians who take their faith seriously also take baptism seriously, and they want to get it right. They care enough about baptism to debate areas of uncertainty.

 

[Affinity]

Not by being baptized as infant.

It is tragic that Christians are so sharply divided about these issues. And yet, the divisions and the controversies show that Christians recognize that baptism is a serious matter. After all, no one can read the New Testament, even in a cursory manner, and not clearly see that baptism is a very important element of the Christian faith. So Christians who take their faith seriously also take baptism seriously, and they want to get it right. They care enough about baptism to debate areas of uncertainty.

God does not promise any of the benefits of salvation to unbelievers. The promise is only to those who believe, and the promise is absolutely sure for them. Infant are not able to believe in Christ but the go to heaven if they die before the age of accountability.

Although baptism is infinitely valuable it is not necessary for salvation.

 

[Lions Mane]

God does not promise any of the benefits of salvation to unbelievers. The promise is only to those who believe, and the promise is absolutely sure for them. Infant are not able to believe in Christ but the go to heaven if they die before the age of accountability.

Although baptism is infinitely valuable it is not necessary for salvation.

David believed in infants going to be with the Lord.

2 Sam 12:23
But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

 

[TibiasDad]

I think it's a bit more than that.

At minimum, it's also a declaration by the church that they have accepted the believer as a member of the group.

Really, it's an adoption ceremony.

I think the church accepts people as a part of the group regardless of baptism. Baptism is an act of public declaration by the believer that he/she has accepted Christ. They are declaring their lives have been saved by grace and are declaring their allegiance to Christ and his teachings publicly. Without such declarations, baptism is just a meaningless dunking.

Doug

 

[civic]

I think the church accepts people as a part of the group regardless of baptism. Baptism is an act of public declaration by the believer that he/she has accepted Christ. They are declaring their lives have been saved by grace and are declaring their allegiance to Christ and his teachings publicly. Without such declarations, baptism is just a meaningless dunking.

Doug

ditto- its a public declaration what has already taken place in the heart of the person being baptized in water.

I've always thought of it as the first act of obedience.

 

[Begotten]

Baptism is often described as an outward sign of an inward change. It is a public testimony that you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Your baptism powerfully proclaims what God has done, and is doing, in your life. In addition, as a follower of Jesus, you are publicly saying that you join with Christians from around the world who are unified by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

[TibiasDad]

ditto- its a public declaration what has already taken place in the heart of the person being baptized in water.

I've always thought of it as the first act of obedience.

I almost said that, it being an act of obedience! Thanks for adding your thunder!

Doug