Examining the Truth
Examining the Truth:
To bring an infant to a minister or priest for baptism and blessing would actually be accusing God of not loving little babies. Would one dare insinuate that the God of the Universe does not care for; or, extend His watchful blessings to a baby until it is baptized? Is baptism the "switch" that activates God's love to the child? In other words, prior to baptism, God does not love the child. This is what tradition and false doctrine does in a very subtle way; it falsely accuses God of not loving little babies until they are baptized.
Infant baptism also substitutes the minister or priest, in place of Christ, as the Mediator who confers the blessings to the child by means of baptism. Would not 1 Timothy 2:5 be applicable here:
"For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" No priest or minister has any power to confer blessings upon anyone—infant, or adult! This power rests solely in the hands of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. In the Synoptics, we have the record of little children and infants being brought to Christ, unbaptized, to receive His blessings. Matthew 19 and Mark 10 tell us that children (Gr. "a young child") were brought to Christ; while Luke 18 lets us know that some of the mothers brought their babies (Gr. BROPHOS, "infants") to be touched by the Lord. Does this constitute a contradiction, we ask? Absolutely not! —since we have both infants and young children being brought to the Lord at the same time; therefore, the Gospels are not contradictory, but, complementary and complete. Here is Dr. Luke's account in Luke 18:15-16 :
"And they brought unto him ALSO INFANTS, that he would touch them:...(15). But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God" (16). The Greek word for "children" in Luke 18:16 is "paidion," and is used of both infants and young children. Our Lord summoned both the mothers with infants, and those with young children. To these He stated, "...for of such is the kingdom of God." Should one of these infants die unbaptized, Christ assures the parent that they belong to the kingdom of God. Baptism has absolutely no place in any person's life until after they are saved! When these parents brought their children, Christian Baptism had not yet been introduced for the Church. Matthew 28:19-20, instructing the eleven disciples to baptize, occurred after the Resurrection of our Lord. From Luke 18:15-16 we are assured of several facts:
Infants and small children were brought to Christ (Matthew 19:13) Christ rebuked the disciples for interfering.
Christ loved the infants and young children, held them, and blessed them; yet they were unbaptized.
"And He (Christ) took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them." -Mark 10:16
Christ assured their parents and all present that these little ones, even though unbaptized, belonged to Him and His kingdom:
"...for of such (children) is the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 19:14
One may ask, what did Christ do to bless these Children? Here the Greek word for "blessed" is "EULOGEO"; and means "to speak well of, praise, thank, or invoke a benediction upon." Verbally, our Lord was letting everyone present, know how much He loved these babies and little children—the product of His creation!
Now, we are going to list, for a simple comparison, man's religious tradition: No unbaptized baby can receive blessing from the priest or minister. (Tradition) No unbaptized babies are going to heaven. (False) The priest or minister will confer the blessing. (False)
One can easily see that church tradition is diametrically opposed to God's Word. Who will you believe? The Lord's plea is found in Psalms 118:8 :
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."