Beyond Paedo

When my then fiancé and I first started attending the church we now belong to, we were warned by a well-intentioned relative that, "they baptize babies, you know." Well, yes, we did know that. We also knew this church would baptize teens, thirtysomethings, and octogenarians if opportunity presented itself. However hazy on the details, that warning does point to the general perception of the Presbyterian/Reformed view of the sacrament-—that we’re only focused on baptizing infants.

And, we must admit, all too often, we perpetuate the stereotype. Our conferences, books, tracts and other teaching materials focus all too often on words like "infant" or "paedo-" and feature cute pictures of smiling newborns and pastel colors. Of course, the name for our position, "paedobaptism" does not help either. I’m not sure when that label was first applied, but it was a mistake to let it stick. (I half-way expect polymathis to hit me with an answer to this in the comments).

Let’s take a quick look at the Reformed Confessional Standards. How much emphasis do they place on infant baptism?

• It’s about ¼ of the Belgic Confession’s Article 24, "Holy Baptism"
• The Heidelberg Catechism has 6 questions on Baptism, only 1 of which mentions infants
• The Second Helvetic Confession devotes 1 of its 6 paragraphs on Baptism to the subject (in passing, I’d note that paragraph is against the Anabaptist position, not a positive teaching on the doctrine)
• Our Larger Catechism mentions it in 1 of 3 questions
• Our Confession gives one of its seven paragraphs on Baptism to the idea (with a passing reference in another)

It is also interesting to note that on the whole, the topic of infants is the last thing mentioned by the Reformation-era standards.

What’s the point of this survey? As Lyle Bierma wrote recently,

The proportion of space is significant. It suggests that from the perspective of the confessions, there is no such thing as a separate doctrine of infant baptism, only a doctrine of baptism—a baptism of which adults and infants alike are the legitimate recipients. Whether one is an adult being baptized after conversion or an infant being baptized before conversion, the situation is basically the same…Both are called to embrace those promises [of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit] by faith, the adult immediately, and the infant as he or she grows older. Both are saved, not by their baptism, but by God’s grace as they live in faith and obedience as members of the covenant community. The confessions speak of only one doctrine of baptism, therefore, because there is only one covenant, one people of God, one promise, one set of conditions, and one covenantal sing—for adults and children alike.

What really separates us from our baptistic brethren is not that they withhold baptism from their children; it is our doctrine of baptism. Who we consider to be the objects of baptism comes out of that, it does not determine it.