Skip to content

S2 reasoning: Baptism: subjects

Reasoning steps: Baptism: subjects

Verdicts: S2 · Baptism: subjects. Shared notes and post-750 development: baptism.

S02.1 (was baptism/B2): Infant baptism

Step S02.1.1: Scripture

No explicit NT text either baptizes or forbids infants. There are household baptisms (Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Cor 1:16), Acts 2:39 (“to you and to your children”), the circumcision analogy (Col 2:11–12), and Matt 19:14. This is inference only, on both sides.

Step S02.1.2: Patristic evidence

irenaeus-bap-s1 (born again to God, “infants”: inference), tertullian-bap-s2 (advises delay, which presupposes the practice), cyprian-bap-s1 (66 bishops; dispute only about the 8th day), gregory-nazianzen-bap-s1, augustine-bap-s3; Didache 7 assumes candidates able to fast (didache-bap-s1).

Step S02.1.3: Weighing decision

Reading A: infant baptism is apostolic and universal. Reading B: it is a later innovation. Reading C: it is attested from c. 200 as widespread and unchallenged in principle, with some regional advice to delay. C is chosen. Tertullian’s objection is prudential, and Cyprian’s council takes the practice for granted, so B fails. A goes beyond the evidence: before 200 there is only Irenaeus, by inference, and Didache 7 describes believers. The common practice of delay among the 4th-c. elite (Gregory’s sermon is against it) shows the practice was normal but not mandatory.

  • Confidence: High for C (attested from c. 200 and unchallenged in principle). Low–medium for direct apostolic origin.

Step S02.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

See the proximity tiers.

  • Scripture (benchmark): Not scored against Scripture: No explicit NT text; household baptisms and Acts 2:39 are inference only. Developmental: about when the practice is attested.
  • Key sources by tier: Cyprian (T3, w 0.6); Tertullian (T2, w 0.8); Irenaeus (T2, w 0.8). Proximity factor: 1.0 (developmental: proximity weighting skipped).
  • Assessment: Developmental question (date of attestation), so no proximity weighting is applied. The earliest secure witness is T2 (c. 200). There is no explicit Scripture or T1 witness either way. Verdict unchanged.

S02.2: Should baptised infants receive communion?

Step S02.2.1: Scripture

No text addresses infants at the table. 1 Cor 11:28–29 (’let a person examine himself … discerning the body’) is addressed to the Corinthian adults; John 6:53 is read by paedocommunionists as general. The question is indirect.

Step S02.2.2: Patristic evidence

Cyprian (Era II, On the Lapsed 25) narrates a baptised little girl, at the Eucharist, to whom ’the deacon began to offer the cup … and, although against her efforts, forced on her some of the sacrament of the cup’. Infant communion is assumed practice at Carthage c. 251. Sources: cyprian-s02x-s1.

Step S02.2.3: Weighing decision

Era II shows infant communion as ordinary practice; the West dropped it in the high Middle Ages. Scripture neither commands nor clearly forbids it. Verdict: early practice included infants; Scripture is indirect.

  • Confidence: Medium-high on practice; low on Scripture.

Step S02.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): No direct text; 1 Cor 11:28 addresses adults. (Scripture confidence: low)
  • Assessment: Scripture is weak either way, so Scripture scores sit at 3 for most; the patristic evidence favours the Eastern practice.

S02.2 by tradition

  • Catholic (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Latin practice since c. 12th c.: first communion at the age of discretion (Lateran IV canon 21, 1215: ‘after they have reached the age of discernment’; verified).
  • Orthodox (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Infants communed from baptism (living practice).
  • Oriental Orthodox (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Infants communed from baptism (living practice).
  • Lutheran (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Communion after instruction (Small Catechism; practice).
  • Anglican (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): 1662 BCP: none admitted to communion until confirmed.
  • Presbyterian (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): WLC 177: the Lord’s Supper to those ‘of years and ability to examine themselves’ (verified).
  • Reformed Baptist (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not applicable: infants not baptised.
  • General Baptist (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not applicable.
  • Anabaptist (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not applicable.

General Baptist

  • S02.2 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXXIII: ‘Nor are little Infants, that cannot examine themselves … to be admitted to this Sacrament. Though St. Austin taught so … and many of the Greek Churches so believe and practise to this Day’ (verified)

S02.3: Is baptism the new-covenant circumcision, given to believers’ children?

Step S02.3.1: Scripture

Colossians 2:11–12 links the two directly: ‘you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands … having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith’. The circumcision here is περιτομὴ ἀχειροποίητος, done by Christ, and the passage ties it to baptism and to faith (διὰ τῆς πίστεως). Romans 4:11 calls Abraham’s circumcision ‘a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised’. Acts 2:39 says ’the promise is for you and your children’, and 1 Corinthians 7:14 calls the children of a believing parent ‘holy’. Galatians 3:27–29 says those ‘baptized into Christ’ are ‘Abraham’s seed’. No text says that because infants were circumcised they should be baptised, and no text says they must not be. Both the infant-baptism and the believers-only conclusions are drawn by inference.

Step S02.3.2: Patristic evidence

Justin (Era II, Dialogue 43) says Christians ‘have received not carnal, but spiritual circumcision’ and that they received it ’through baptism’. Cyprian and the Council of Carthage (Era III, Ep. 58 to Fidus) refuse to wait for the eighth day: the eighth-day ‘figure ceased when … spiritual circumcision was given to us’, and an infant should be baptised at once because it ‘has contracted the contagion of the ancient death’. Augustine (Era III, On Baptism IV.24) holds infant baptism to be ‘handed down by apostolic authority’ and argues from ’the parallel of circumcision’: as Isaac received the seal as an infant, ‘so in infants, who are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration is given first’. None of these fathers limits infant baptism to the children of believing parents; their stated reasons are inherited sin and the church’s custom. Sources: justin-martyr-s02x-s1 · cyprian-s02x-s2 · cyprian-s02x-s3 · augustine-s02x-s1 · augustine-s02x-s2.

Step S02.3.3: Weighing decision

Reading A: the fathers treat baptism as the fulfilment of circumcision and use the parallel to support baptising infants, grounding the practice mainly in the forgiveness of inherited sin and in apostolic custom. Reading B: the fathers’ circumcision language concerns only the inward, spiritual circumcision of believers. Reading C: the fathers ground infant baptism in a covenant belonging to believers’ children. A is chosen. Justin’s use fits B, but Cyprian and Augustine apply the parallel to infants in so many words, and neither gives covenant descent as the reason. Verdict, in plain terms: the early church called baptism the Christian circumcision and used that to support baptising babies, but its main reason was washing away inherited sin, not the parents’ faith.

  • Confidence: Medium. Three fathers state the link explicitly; C has no clear early support, and Era I is silent.

Step S02.3.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Col 2:11–12 ties the circumcision ‘made without hands’ to baptism ’through faith’; Rom 4:11; Acts 2:39; 1 Cor 7:14. No text draws the infant inference or forbids it. (Scripture confidence: low)
  • Assessment: Era II (Justin) gives the spiritual-circumcision link without mentioning infants; Era III (Cyprian, Augustine) applies it to infants. No source before 750 restricts baptism to believers or grounds it in parental faith alone. Scripture leaves both inferences open, so the Scripture scores are level.

S02.3 by tradition

  • Catholic (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Trent V.4: infants ’even though they be sprung from baptized parents’ are baptised ‘for the remission of sins’, which is ‘from a tradition of the apostles’. Matches the fathers’ grounds; the Scripture inference goes beyond the texts.
  • Orthodox (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Dositheus, Decree 16: infants are baptised because they are ‘subject to original sin’. Matches the fathers’ grounds.
  • Oriental Orthodox (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Shenouda III, Comparative Theology: ‘There is no doubt that baptism was symbolised by circumcision in the Old Testament’; children are baptised ‘on the belief of their parents’, like the eighth-day circumcision; the Coptic rite reads Luke 2:21 because ‘Baptism is a spiritual circumcision’ (copticchurch.net). Uses the parallel as the fathers do.
  • Lutheran (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Augsburg Confession IX: ‘children are to be baptized who, being offered to God through Baptism are received into God’s grace’. Matches the fathers’ practice and grounds.
  • Anglican (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Art. XXVII: ‘The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ’. Matches the fathers’ practice.
  • Presbyterian (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): WCF XXVIII.4: ’the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized’; WLC 166: such infants are ‘within the covenant’. Keeps the circumcision parallel and infant baptism, but grounds it in covenant descent, which the fathers do not give as the reason.
  • Reformed Baptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): 1689 29.2: those who profess repentance and faith ‘are the only proper subjects’. Accepts baptism as spiritual circumcision of believers (Justin) but rejects the fathers’ infant inference.
  • General Baptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Orthodox Creed XXVIII: believers are the ‘only proper Subjects’; baptism is ‘a Sign of our entrance into the Covenant of Grace’. Same as Reformed Baptist.
  • Anabaptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Schleitheim 1: ‘This excludes all infant baptism’; Menno Simons, ‘Concerning Baptism’ (mennosimons.net): baptism ‘is no more applicable to infants, than circumcision was to the females of the Israelites’. Rejects the infant inference.