14 Circumcision/Infant Baptism
Circumcision/Infant Baptism
4. The fourth practice Calvinism copied from Judaism wasInfant Baptism-as a substitute for circumcision. God provided circumcision as a covenant with Israel, but they perverted the practice, as they did so many things. Many years before, God had given circumcision as a sign to Abraham that he was righteous. “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11). Circumcision did not make him righteous; it was a sign that he was righteous.
Circumcision was a seal of righteousness to Abraham only; it was not a seal of righteousness to anybody else. Many of those who were circumcised were not righteous. Some of them were unspeakably wicked. To them it was a sign they were the natural male offspring of Abraham, and as such, they had a right to the natural benefits that belonged to the offspring of Abraham-so long as they obeyed the Law given. It did not guarantee heaven to anybody. But they began to look to circumcision for salvation. It was circumcision that separated them from other nations, and they thought that made them superior. They were sure salvation reached as far as circumcision reached. Circumcision gave them a monopoly on God; if you were circumcised, you were safe; otherwise you were doomed.
Paul put an end to that notion. “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgression the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”Romans 2:1-29.
First, Augustine, and later the Protestant Reformers perverted baptism, as Judaism had perverted circumcision. The Jews looked to circumcision for salvation, and insisted that salvation only reached so far as circumcision reached. If one was not circumcised he was doomed.
Augustine preached that baptism took the place of circumcision. The Law called for babies to be circumcised; therefore babies ought to be baptized. Judaism taught that salvation reached as far as circumcision reached; Augustine taught that salvation only reached as far as baptism reached, and he pursued to the death those who refused to submit their babies for baptism.
More than anything else, believers’ baptism-as opposed to infant baptism-marks the boundary line between the Lord’s church, and the world’s counterfeit-between the bride of Christ and the scarlet woman (Revelation 17:1-7). To put it in simple terms, the Lord commanded his people to repent and be baptized. Augustine and his Catholic party said, “We will have you killed if you do.”It is impossible to imagine Augustine and his Catholic party were engaged in anything less than all out war against the Lord and his people. With no other persuasion than the power of the Spirit the Lord’s ministers call on believers to repent and be baptized. Until the First Amendment put a stop to the practice in America, the opposite system used the power of the sword to prevent believers’ baptism and force infant baptism on their subjects.