We can also respond to the argument that infants have no choice with
another parallel. According to God’s original plan, Adam and Eve were to
be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with their descendants. These
children, by simply being offspring of Adam, were to be born in grace and
hence friends of God. In this they had no choice. With the fall of Adam
from grace, disastrous consequences were to befall his children as well.
Having a father who was now spiritually bankrupt, Adam’s children were
no longer going to be born in grace and friends of God, but disgraced and
“children of wrath.” Again, in this, Adam’s children had no choice. With
the coming of Christ all things were restored. After His redemption and the
subsequent abundant flow of grace Christian parents would again have the
privilege Adam and Eve had for their children, that is, to place them in
grace and make them friends of God––and this by infant baptism. As we
are all born in original sin through no choice of our own, it is seems
inappropriate to argue about being made a child of God without our
consent. Rather, we should be grateful for the grace!
With the enormous growth of the Church after Pentecost, large numbers of
adult Jews and pagans were being converted (Acts 2:41). This is why the
New Testament speaks explicitly of adult baptisms only. Obviously, these
new Christians first had to also express belief in Jesus Christ before being
baptized. However, in the case of some of these adults their entire families
were baptized with them. Probably some of these families would have had
infant children:
(The family of Cornelius and all the persons present in his house during St.
Peter’s visit) “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people
who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47).
“A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us
... The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
When she and her household were baptized, she urged us...” (Acts 16:14-
15).
“At the same hour of the night he (the jailer) took them and washed their
wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay” (Acts
16:33).
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