Are People Granted Second Birth in Infant Baptism?
The Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation starts with infant baptism. Catholic Answers defines infant baptism as follows:
Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth (CCC 1250).
The very idea that people are born again in baptism is nowhere in the Scriptures. They do try to justify it with Luke 18:15-17 to say that infants need to be baptized when Jesus touched the infants. However, there is the presumptuous insertion of infant baptism there. I don't even read it one bit that someone there was baptized as an infant. Acts 16 doesn't even show a single hint that anybody was baptized there. Who was the Philippian jailer's family? The Bible is silent about it. You really can't show me infant baptism in that verse.
I always find it strange that Roman Catholicism teaches that infant baptism saves their souls by granting the new birth. Roman Catholics need to really examine the Book of Acts and nobody baptized there was an infant. None! Acts 2:38 in the Good News Translation (GNT) says the following:
I always find it strange that Roman Catholicism teaches that infant baptism saves their souls by granting the new birth. Roman Catholics need to really examine the Book of Acts and nobody baptized there was an infant. None! Acts 2:38 in the Good News Translation (GNT) says the following:
38 Peter said to them, “Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. 39 For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away—all whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 Peter made his appeal to them and with many other words he urged them, saying, “Save yourselves from the punishment coming on this wicked people!” 41 Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day.
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Catholic edition also states it as:
38 Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
Also, even without Acts 8:37, we do still see that the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch was still a believer's baptism. It also refuted the idea of baptism by sprinkling. Instead, we read the following:
38 The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
They went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Obviously, it was a baptism by immersion. The baptism of Jesus was done by immersion. How can some amateur Catholic apologists wannabe say that baptism by immersion is not biblical? They might as well tell that to John the Baptist who baptized people in the Jordan River!
We need to consider can a baby turn away from sin or repent of one's sins? To turn from sins means to change one's mind about one's sin and to trust the Savior. Babies have no moral compass whatsoever and have no need for salvation. 2nd Samuel 12 had David with full confidence that his baby conceived in sin was going to be with the Lord. Another excuse I receive is that babies are supposedly still innocent so they are the perfect candidate for baptism. However, the Bible makes it clear that baptism is for repentant sinners and not for infants incapable of doing so. How can a baby repent? A baby has no need of repentance. The time a person actually needs to repent is when they sin. Babies are still below the age of accountability and they don't need to be saved.
Perhaps, what I could remember was that I was told why would I want a believer's baptism if I were "baptized" as an infant? The big irony is that baptism means immersion yet babies aren't even immersed in the Roman Catholic institution. The dedication of infants is one thing but adding baptismal salvation to infant baptism is another. Some Protestant denominations such as Lutheran and Presbyterian practice infant baptism. It's one thing to practice infant baptism. It's another to believe that infant baptism saves the person. Salvation precedes baptism and not the other way around.
Unfortunately, too many people still think that their infant baptism had them born again. However, to be truly born again in Christ Jesus is to repent of one's sins and then receive Him as one's personal Lord and Savior. Being born again is not a denomination or religion - it's all about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior.
Unfortunately, too many people still think that their infant baptism had them born again. However, to be truly born again in Christ Jesus is to repent of one's sins and then receive Him as one's personal Lord and Savior. Being born again is not a denomination or religion - it's all about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior.