Infant Baptism

# 254 Today’s Living Word comes from Mark 2:3-5 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

This is a marvelous verse in connection with the doctrine of infant baptism. Notice that Jesus did not see the faith of the paralytic, He saw the faith of the four who brought the paralytic to Him. And what did He do when he saw their faith? He pronounced FORGIVENESS on the one who was brought to Him.

Just think for a moment as to how this relates to infant baptism. All of us are conceived in sin. Ps 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. We enter this world spiritually paralyzed and certainly in need of forgiveness. We are just like that paralytic, unable to do anything on our own to free us from our condition. We are faithless and still in our sins.

But by faith, parents bring their infant children to Jesus to be baptized, believing that Jesus will wash away the sin of their child and renew the child with the Holy Spirit just as promised in Titus 3:4 , “He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” and in Acts 2:38,39 “Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
"For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

What a blessed assurance for the parents of that child, and what a challenge to nurture the grace given faith of the child day by day.

For the parent also knows the truth of Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

In other words, baptism alone will not save, it must be accompanied by faith.”

But, one may ask, “Can an infant have faith?” The answer is yes! In Ps 22:9,10, we read, “But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God.”

I’m Duane Matz and that’s today’s Living Word.