Against Infant Baptism or ‘Christening’

By Prophet Jacob R. Blandford

See Acts 8:36-37 (cf. Rom. 10:9-10)

Baptism means an immersion, not a sprinkling. There is no Scriptural ground for infant water baptism, and certainly not infant water sprinkling whatsoever. You can’t find even ONE instance of any baby being sprinkled or baptized in the New Testament. Baptism began with John the Baptist and he preached the baptism of repentance. If you look at Matt. 3:16 and Mark 1:10: when Jesus was baptized HE CAME UP OUT OF THE WATER. You don’t come up out of water if you’ve just been sprinkled: that’s what you do when you’ve been immersed. Again, in Acts 8:38, the eunuch and Philip WENT DOWN to the water together: and again, that implies immersion. So here you have two points against the pagan practice of baby sprinkling or ‘christening’: (1) Baptism began as an act of repentance, and a baby has nothing to repent of or yet understand the concept. (2) The person is immersed not sprinkled: it is not even safe to immerse an infant. However, I have poured water on the heads of a few converts that needed baptism; but, they were adults and believers first. Baptism is connected with belief in Acts 8:12-13, 36-37, 10:47-48, 16:14-15, 31-33, 19:1-7.

In Mark 16:16 the Lord Jesus Christ adjoined belief and baptism. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus Christ commands the disciples to “teach” Christian doctrine in the same sentence He speaks of baptism. The context of Mark 16 and Matthew 28 is the Great Commission, i.e. evangelism, soul-winning preaching the Gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. It’s the Gospel that saves. (1 Cor. 15:1-4) The ministration of the Lord’s good word. A baby has no ability to understand these things. A baby cannot receive or perceive instruction, much less believe and obey. Therefore a baby can in no wise meet the criteria the Lord Jesus Christ sets forth concerning baptism. When that child grows up, by the grace of God, if he’s old enough to understand doctrine—that he was born a sinner (Rom. 3:23), and he needs Jesus Christ’s substitutional death on the Cross (2 Cor. 5:21) to be saved him from sin, death, and hell; then he can be saved, because he can believe. (see John 3:16, 18, 36) Again baptism is connected with instruction of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. No baby can get the “principal thing”—i.e. wisdom and understanding. (see Prov. 4:7) Let the child at least learn to talk and walk! Give him some training in Bible colouring books and read a King James Bible (AV 1611) to him at home. Talk about the Virgin Birth, Calvary, sing Psalms and hymns to him, etc. (cf. Deut. 6:7, 11:19) Pray for the grace of God to lead that child to Christ and belief of Gospel of grace as he develops into childhood and has some understanding about spiritual matters. “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deut. 30:6) And, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22:6)

The idea that baptism can save someone is a heresy called ‘baptismal regeneration’. Baptism is a work. You are saved by grace through faith. (Eph. 2:8) You should get baptized and you should join a church and you should tithe and you should witness and you should have communion at least once a month. But those are works. They can affect your ‘state’ of being, but your ‘stance’ as a saved person is based on your belief or faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus wasn’t baptized as an infant, He was 30 years old! (Luke 3:21-23) Water baptism is a “figure” (1 Pet. 3:21 KJV) or type or picture of a spiritual baptism and a spiritual circumcision that occurs when you are born-again (John 3:1-8; Col. 2:11-12). The heretics at the RCC and her whore daughters (Rev. 17:5) use corrupted (2 Cor. 2:17) bibles that remove Acts 8:37, (along with hundreds of other important words from the New Testament,) to justify their errors.

¶1 John 5:6 explains the inadequacy regarding the intrinsic value of a water baptism in itself. Water baptism (in itself) doesn’t bring you in contact with the blood of Christ. Only the Spirit of truth can bring you into contact with the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here John shews that the blood and water are together not separate. And how else does a man receive the Spirit of truth, than through hearing the word of God? (see Rom. 10:17)

¶ Look at Hebrews 11:28-29. These two verses give you the right pattern for salvation and water baptism. STEP ONE (Hebrews 11:28)—Belief in the blood atonement of Christ (cf. Rom. 3:25; 1 Cor. 5:7). STEP TWO (Hebrews 11:29)—Water baptism (cf. 1 Cor. 10:2). Do you see the pattern set forth here in Scripture? Belief comes before baptism—exactly as it is in Acts 8:26-40 KJV. That is why we Baptists call the ordinance of baptism “Believer’s Baptism”.