Heidelberg Catechism
Monday, February 9, 2015 at 2:41PM 
As you probably know, I’m baptistic, so I don’t believe infants should be baptized, and I strongly disagree with the answer to this question in the Heidelberg catechism.
Question 74. Should infants, too, be baptized?
Answer: Yes. Infants as well as adults are in God’s covenant and are his people. (a) They, no less than adults are promised the forgiveness of sin trough Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. (b) Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they must be received into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. (c) This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, (d) which was replaced by baptism in the New Testament (e)
(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
… but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses … .
Reader Comments (5)
I'm with you on this one, Rebecca. :)
I've had very obliging paedobaptists share their reasoning with regard to infant baptism, and I'm still not convinced.
It all comes down to how you see the New Covenant, I think. So prooftexts won't be convincing when the framework through which you view the prooftexts differ.
I'm strongly credo baptistic too Becky. Esau, Saul, Ezek 18 - and all those girls who can't be circumcised? Repent? Believe? .etc......
Those scripture proofs are excellent. :)