Is Infant Sprinkling Right

Is Infant Sprinkling Right?

The answer that the apostles once gave to inquirers concerning baptism are no longer being given by many churches. This is a strange fact which calls for an explanation. Baptism has truly become the Devil’s Workshop. We shall study the subject from many perspectives in this brief booklet.

History

History of Sprinkling.

1. When does Church history record the first account of any attempt to baptize by any other mode than by immersion?

In about 250 A.D. there lived a man named Novation, who was on his deathbed. He had never been immersed. His friends laid around him many bed sheets and poured water all over him, trying to immerse him in his bed. This was accepted by the populace as his baptism. He later recovered, but was never immersed. He then became a leader of a group called "Novationists," which other Christians considered a heretical sect. This is the first account of anyone substituting for immersion. This is confirmed by numerous encyclopedias and ancient authors. Euebius (260-340 A.D.) for example, was a church historian. He says in his Church History:

"Novation, aided by the exorcists, when attacked with an obstinate disease, and being supposed at the point of death, was baptized by aspersion (pouring) in the bed on which he lay; if indeed it be proper to say that one like him did receive baptism."

2. When did the Roman Catholic Church accept sprinkling?

"The first law for sprinkling was obtained in the following matter: Pope Stephen II being driven from Rome by Adolphus, King of Lombards, in 753, fled to Pepin, who a short time before had usurped the crown of France. While he remained there, the Monks of Cressy, in Britany, consulted him whether in case of necessity, baptism poured on the head of the infant would be lawful.

Stephen replied that it would, yet pouring and sprinkling were not allowed except in cases of necessity. It was not till the year 1311 that the legislature in council held at Ravenna, declared sprinkling or immersion to be indifferent. In Scotland however, sprinkling was never practiced in ordinary cases until after the Reformation - about the middle of the 16^th century. From Scotland in made its way into England, in the reign of Elizabeth, but was not authorized in the Established Church." (Edinburg Encyclopedia)

Why Does my Bible use the word "Baptize" instead of immerse?

1. "Baptizo" is the Greek word for immerse or dip. To this all Greek Lexicons and Greek scholars agree. However, sprinkling had already been introduced into the Protestant church by John Calvin, who, by the way, admitted that the word "baptizo" signified "to immerse" (Inst. B. 4C15). The church practiced sprinkling and not immersion. In 1561 a group of the bishops produced a translation of the Bible known as "The Bishops Bible." When confronted with the Greek word "baptizo" they were forced either to translate it or to transfer it, untranslated, into English. Had they translated it, they would have been obligated to use either "immerse" or "dip", and this would have brought them into sharp contrast with their teaching. On the one hand, had they translated it "sprinkle" to fit their practice, they would have been accused of dishonesty. So they chose to "transliterate" it, or simply transfer it into English, substituting the English alphabet for the Greek, and coming up with a new word "baptize."

When King James authorized the translation of a new version of the Bible in 1611, he laid down two rules: 1) "Old ecclesiastical words must be kept, as the word ‘church’ must not be translated congregation, etc." 2) "The ordinary Bible, read in the church, commonly called the Bishop’s Bible, was to be followed and altered as little as the original will permit." Since the word "baptism" had become an "old ecclesiastical word" and was in the Bishop’s Bible, it was retained in the King James Version.

What Does The Greek Say?

The word "sprinkle" is used in the New Testament.

To say that the Greek word, Baptizo (baptizo) means "to sprinkle" is to say that the Greeks had two words meaning "to sprinkle" and none meaning "to immerse." The Greek word Rantizo (Phantizo) is used often in the Bible and means:

1) "Sprinkle" (Greek-English Lexicon of the N. T. by Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich. Page 741)

"To sprinkle, besprinkle" (An Internediate Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott. Page 715)

The term is used six times in the N.T.

a. "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:13-14)

b. "When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people." (Hebrews 9:21)

c. "In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. (Hebrews 9:21)

d. "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:22)

e. "To Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." (Hebrews 12:24)

f. "To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Ponus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosed according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience of Jesus Christ, and the sprinkling by his blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance." (I Peter 1:1-2)

What does the Greek word Baptizo really mean?

The term Baptizo (baptizo) and its other forms are used 125 times in the New Testament. Not one time are they translated anything like "sprinkle." They are either transliterated "baptize" or "baptism" or else translated "dip" as in Luke 16:24, John 13:26 and Revelation 19:13. Occasionally they are translated "wash" as in Mark 7:4&8 and Hebrews 9:10. Since they are speaking about washing cups and pots, etc., this can only be understood in the sense of immersion. Below is a small sampling of definitions for the word "baptizo" as found in the Lexicons. More Lexicons could be cited.

1) Bagster: "to dip; to immerse"

2) Bloomfield: "to immerse; to sink"

3) Bretschneider: "to dip or wash repeatedly: to immerse into water, or submerge"

4) Bullinger: "to dip or dye; immerse"

5) Constantine: "immerse, submerge"

6) Cremer: "immerse, submerge"

7) Dawson: "to dip or immerse in water"

8) Donnegan: "to immerse repeatedly into a liquid, to submerge; to sink"

9) Dunbar: "to dip, immerse, submerge, plunge, or sink"

10) Ewing: "to cover with water or some other liquid"

11) Green: "to dip, immerse"

12) Greenfield: "immerse; immerge; submerge; sink"

13) Grimm: "dip repeatedly; immerge; submerge"

14) Groves: "to dip; immerse; cover with water"

15) Hendricks: "to plunge; immerse; cover with water"

16) Jones: "plunge; dip; bury; overhelm"

17) Leigh: "the native and proper signification of it is to dip into water, or to plunge under"

18) Liddell and Scott: "to dip in, or underneath water"

19) Maltby: "immerse; to plunge; to immerse"

20) Norell: "plunge; immerse; cover with water"

21) Parkhurst: "to dip, immerse, or plunge in water"

22) Pickering: "to dip, immerse, submerge; to plunge, sink"

23) Robinson: "to immerse, to sink"

24) Robson: "immerse; sink"

25) Scapula: "to dip, or immerse"

26) Schleusner: "properly, to immerse, to dip in, to dip into water, from Bapto, and corresponds to the Hebrew ‘tabal.’" II Kings 5:14

27) Schrevelius: "to dip, immerse; wash; cleanse"

28) Sophocles: "to dip; to immerse; to sink"

29) Stockieus: "generally, and by force of the word, it has the notion of dipping in and immersing."

30) Thayer: "to dip repeatedly; to immerge; to submerge"

The leaders of the great churches which sprinkle also testify that immersion is the Bible’s way of baptism.

1. Melanethon - Baptism is immersion in water, which is performed with the accompanying benediction of admiration: "I baptize thee etc..... Plunging signifies ablution from sin and immersion into the death of Christ." (Catechesis De Sacramentis, Opera Omnia, Vol. I., Pg. 25.)

2. John Wesley (Methodist) in his Journal, Feb. 21, 1736, said: "Mary Welck, age eleven days, was baptized according to the custom of the first church, and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion." Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament on Romans 6:4 - "‘We are buried with Him’ - alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion."

3. Dr. Wall, an Episcopalian, says: "Pouring was the substitute for baptism which Calvin first adopted and his sprinkling was only the substitute of a substitute and was the most scandalous thing ever adopted for baptism."

4) Brenner, (Catholic): "For thirteen hundred years baptism was an immersion of the person under water."

5) MacKnight, (Presbyterian): "In baptism, the baptized person is buried under the water. Christ submitted to be baptized, that is, to be buried under water."

6) Georger Whitefield, (the colleague of Wesley), preached from Romans 6:4 and said: "It is certain that in the words of our text there is an allusion to the manner of baptism, which was by immersion."

7) Calvin Institutes, (Presbyterian), Chapter 15: "It is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church."

8) Beza: "Christ commanded us to be baptized, by which word it is certain that immersion is signified."

9) Philip Schaff: "The baptism of Christ in the river Jordan, and the illustrations of baptism used in the New Testament, are all in favor of immersion, rather than sprinkling, as is freely admitted by the best exegetes, Catholic and Protestant, English and German. Nothing can be gained by unnatural exegesis. The aggressiveness of the Baptists had driven Pedobaptists to the opposite extreme."

10) Dr. Doddridge, a Greek scholar who gave us one of the best, if not the best translations of Acts extant, says regarding Romans 6:4: "Buried in Baptism," "It seems but the part of candor to confess that here is an allusion to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion."

11) Cardinal Gibbons (Roman Catholic): "For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity, baptism was ususally conferred by immersion; but since the 12^th century, the practice of baptizing by affusion has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than baptism by immersion."

12) MacKnicht (a Presbyterian commentator) says: "In baptism the baptized person is buried under the water. Christ submitted to be baptized; that is, to be buried under the water."

13) Stoudza, a native Greek, says, "The verb ‘baptize’ has only one meaning; Baptism and immersion are identical."

14) Weiss, (Luthern) says: "After confessing their sins they went down, man by man, into the water of the Jordan, in order to immerge newborn, a people prepared for the Lord."

15) Neander (Luthern Historian), in "History of the Christian Church and Religion," Vol. 1, Page 311: "Baptism was administered at first only to adults, as men were accustomed to conceive baptism and faith as strictly connected."

16) Bishop Burnett, (Episcopalian), in "Exposition of the 39 Articles." Article 27: "There is no express precept, or rule, given in the N.T. for the baptism of infants."

17) Dr. Wall, (Episcopalian), in "History of Infant Baptism," introduction, Page 1: "Among all the persons that are recorded as baptized by the Apostles, there is no express mention of any infant."

Now did sprinkling spread among Protestants?

In the Assembly of Divines, held at Westminster, in 1643, it was keenly debated, whether immersion or sprinkling should be adopted; 25 voted for sprinkling, and 24 voted for immersion; and even this small majority was obtained at the earnest request of Dr. Lightfoot, who had acquired great influence in that assembly. Sprinkling is therefore the general practice of this country. Many Christians, however, especially the Baptists reject it. The Greek Church universally adheres to immersion. Art. Bapt. Vol. III, pp. 245-246. (Edinburgh Cyclopedia).

III. Where did they get the idea of sprinkling infants rather than adults?

A. Infant sprinkling is based on the false premise of "orginal sin," which is the idea that the quilt of Adam’s sin is passed on from generation to generation.. Therefore, should a child die un-sprinkled, he would be under God’s eternal wrath because of Adam’s sin. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the following scriptures will demonstrate.

1. "But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things: 17 He withholds his hand from sin and takes no usury or excessive interest. He keeps my laws and follows my decrees. He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live. 20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him." Ezekiel 18:14, 17, 20.

2. "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin."

Deuteronomy 24:16

3. "In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’ 30 Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes__ his own teeth will be set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29-30 (Also see: II Kings 14:6 & II Chonicles 25:4)

4. "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’" Romans 2:5-6

5. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." II Corinthians 5:10

6. "...Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done." Revelation 20:12b-13

7. "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:10

8: "Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." I Peter 1:17

Conclusion:

The New Testament is God’s "Will" - His "Testament." In it He bequeaths His eternal inheritance to His children. "...We are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ..." (Romans 8:17). Since the New Testament is His will, and since the inheritance is more precious than anything money could ever buy, it seems reasonable that one should made every effort to fulfill the provisions of that will exactly as the author of the will intended them to be carried out! When a teaching touches on a subject as great in importance as your salvation, it ought never be viewed lightly. We challenge you to serve the Lord in the manner He has asked of you.

"Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’

and not do as I say?"

Luke 6:46