Question
I would like you to help me explain baptism to a relative of mine, because he tells me that we should not baptize children until they are grown, since they have no sin and have neither awareness nor faith.
Besides, he tells me that it must necessarily be in a river, that this is how Jesus did it and this is how we must do it.
Answer
With great pleasure I give you the answer to that question or objection which Catholics are often asked. Let us look at it:
1.- Children at birth do have sin.
This is something that is very clear in the Bible, even in the versions used by our Protestant brethren; in all of them this truth is stated:
“Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.”
Psalm 51:5-7
For more than two thousand years this phrase of the psalmist has reflected the deep conviction of being a sinner even before birth, and if one is a sinner, then that is one of the reasons to baptize children, since baptism serves to remove sins. Where can this sin come from simply by the fact of being born?
The biblical answer to this is found in the letter that Saint Paul wrote to the Romans, which says:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all because all sinned… For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Rom 5:12, 19
For this reason, we have always believed that the misery which oppresses human beings in their inclination toward evil and death cannot be understood without its connection with Adam’s sin and with the fact that he has transmitted a sin to us; hence we call it original sin.
That means the deprivation of original holiness and justice. So biblically there is a “sin” from birth; that is why baptism from infancy is important and good. But let us look at other reasons the Bible gives us for this.
2.- Let the children come to me.
This phrase of Our Lord Jesus Christ is like an indicator regarding what we are talking about. Jesus said textually:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them;
for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
Mt 19:14
If Jesus Christ wants children to be near him, what is the best way to be fully united to him in this time? Baptism precisely. Let us go once again to the Word of God to know the answer to this:
“For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”
1 Cor 12:13
According to Saint Paul, it is through baptism that we come to form part of the body of Christ, which is the Church. Thus, for this second reason of obedience to Jesus and love for children, they are baptized from infancy
3.- Baptism is necessary to enter the Kingdom.
In addition to what has been stated above, Jesus Christ speaks to us of Baptism as something necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven. We find this in the Gospel of John:
“Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.'”
Jn 3:5-6
By being born of our parents we were born of the flesh, but one thing necessary to enter the Kingdom is to be born of the Spirit, and this is precisely another of the reasons for baptizing the child. Let us remember that it was not in a catechism that we read this, but Jesus Christ himself in the Word of God who affirmed it.
4.- The promise is for your children.
When it comes to seeing why we believe in one truth or another, it is essential to know the Scriptures well. Once we know them, the second step is to believe what we find in them and not try to find what we want to see.
That is what once happened on a television program, which I came across by chance. It was a Protestant pastor giving a Bible study and saying that he believed that baptizing children was something founded on Sacred Scripture. Although he was not Catholic, he had accepted that it was true, that the Bible taught the baptism of children, because he found the following evidence of it:
“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. For the promise is for you, for your children.'”
Acts 2:38-39
It was clear. If the promise of the Holy Spirit is also for “your children,” then why deprive them of that great gift through baptism? There was no need to look for another interpretation than what it plainly affirmed. Therefore, although he was Protestant, based on the Bible, the path to follow was to give that sacrament to children because “the promise of receiving the Spirit is also for your children.”
5.- The faith of the father is enough for baptism.
Studying the Word of God a little more, we find the case of the jailer, from whom Faith was requested before his family was baptized.
“They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.”
Acts 16:31-33
Something similar happens when baptism is administered in the Catholic Church, for faith is asked of the parents and godparents so that the child may receive the spiritual benefits of baptism. In reality, this matter of asking faith of others is not something strange in the Bible.
Did Lazarus have faith when he was raised? (Jn 11); or what faith did he see in the blind and mute man whom he healed? Mt 12:22
In these and many other cases, what Jesus looked at was not the faith of the sick person, much less of the one who had died; it was the faith of those who brought him that he looked at. Neither faith nor being conscious was a requirement for healing the mute man and raising Lazarus.
All the more will Jesus look at the faith of the parents and godparents when they request baptism for the little one (Acts 16:31-33; Lk 11:11-13).
To someone who thinks differently one could ask: Does a sick child need to be conscious for the medicine to take effect? Or is citizenship invalid because the child was not conscious of what he was acquiring? Of course the medicine works, and so does citizenship!
If they believe in that, how can they not believe in the power of God to give his Spirit? It is a matter of believing and obeying Jesus Christ.
How incredible. The Protestant who shouts so much and says he has faith, when the truth comes out, believes more in medicine and in laws than in the Power of God to send his Spirit.
6.- Jesus did not receive the Holy Spirit in the River, but when he came out. The water is only a symbol.
Just as you are reading it. Let us look directly at the Bible to confirm it:
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
Mk 1:9-10 (original reference: Mk 1:8-9)
Thus, biblically, Jesus did not receive the Holy Spirit in the water, but outside of it. The water is only a symbol; it is a mistake to think that the more water there is, the more Spirit there is. It is like a traffic light: if it is green, it means we should go ahead, no matter the size of the bulb. Let no one think, as some Protestants do regarding baptism, that if the green light is bigger it means he should go faster. Water is only a symbol of the Spirit; the amount does not matter.
That is why it is not obligatory for it to be in a river, but it can be with a little water as a symbol and nothing more. In fact, the Apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they were in a house where obviously there was no river (Acts 2:1-4).
7.- One must do what Jesus taught, not what he Did.
Finally, brother, when someone tells you that it must be as an adult, as Jesus did it, one would have to tell him that if he does as Jesus did, then after being baptized he has to go into the desert and fast forty days and forty nights like Jesus, dress like Jesus, be circumcised like Jesus, and die like Jesus.
That is why it is not a matter of doing everything he did, but what he taught us to do.
The phrase that “we must do everything like Jesus” is an old trick that they use when it suits them and set aside when it does not. Rather, it is about living what Jesus Christ taught us, and that is why children are baptized, for there is a biblical foundation.
P.S. There are people who do not know the Scriptures and have themselves baptized several times, as if the previous baptism did not count, and every time they change religious sect they are baptized again. We must remind them that Saint Paul said, “There is ONE Baptism.” Eph 4:4-5
We hope we have answered your concern.
Author: Martín Zavala M.P.D.
Source: Defiendetufe.org
