Latest / Reformed Thinking / Christ’s Institution and the Case for Infant Baptism | John Calvin

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Christ’s Institution and the Case for Infant Baptism | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. I'm glad you've joined us again
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as we as we open up the archives of Church history and theology.
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It's good. To be here.
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We're here to help you get a handle on the doctrines that
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shape the Reformation and well, honestly, they continue to shape
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how we understand Scripture today.
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We want to take these massive, sometimes intimidating books and
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really see how they apply to our actual lives, our churches.
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And today we're tackling a subject that is well, it's often
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misunderstood, isn't it? It's frequently debated.
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Very frequently. And it's absolutely central to
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how we view the Christian family.
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We're not looking at something obscure today.
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We're looking at the entrance into the visible church.
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That's right, we're doing a thorough examination of John
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Calvin's defense of infant baptism, and we're drawing it
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directly from his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
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The. Foundational text.
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It is. And I have to say, looking at
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the text again, Calvin really does not hold back.
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He starts right out of the gate, talking about frantic spirits
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who are disturbing the peace of the church.
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He certainly did. And you know, you have to
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remember the context here. Calvin isn't writing this in a
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vacuum. No, it's not an academic
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exercise for him. He is responding directly to the
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Anabaptists of his day. OK, and these were groups
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claiming that baptizing a baby was a human invention.
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A corruption? Something with no biblical basis
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at all. 0 biblical basis, they claimed.
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They argued it was a mad raving of tradition that needed to be
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purged from the church. That is a heavy accusation.
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I mean, if they were right, yes, then the church had been getting
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this wrong for centuries. It would mean millions of
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Christians had been participating in a sham.
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The. Stakes were incredibly high.
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Calvin saw this not just as a disagreement over water or, you
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know, a ritual. And it's deeper than that.
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It was a direct attack on the continuity of God's covenant.
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And so the mission for us in this discussion is to look at
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that continuity, right? We need to see if infant baptism
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is indeed a human fabrication or if, as Calvin argues, it is
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firmly rooted in Scripture and the very nature of God's
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promises. I'm really eager to learn how he
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connects the Old and New Testaments here.
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That seems to be the friction point for so many people.
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It is they see this, this kind of disconnect, almost, almost
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like a wall between the two Testaments.
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But Calvin seems to see a straight line.
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He does. And if you miss the connection
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between the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament
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church, you miss the logic of infant baptism entirely.
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You miss the whole thing. The whole thing, it all hinges
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on how God relates to His people across all of history.
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OK, so let's get into the first major section of his argument,
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then. The Anabaptist charge was
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basically that there is no specific command in the New
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Testament, nothing that says thou shalt baptize infants.
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So they argued that because that command is missing, the practice
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itself is invalid. Calvin has to deal with that
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silence. He does deal with it, but he
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really he rejects the whole premise of the question.
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He says we don't need a specific new command if the principle is
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already established by God. So it's not about finding one
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verse. Not at all.
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He argues that if a practice is founded on God's authority,
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rejecting it is actually insolence toward the author.
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Wow, strong words. Very strong, he says.
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We have to look at the substance of the sacrament, not just the
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external element. Right.
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And he makes this distinction between the sign, which is the
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water, and the thing signified. Precisely, Calvin says don't get
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hung up on the water yet. Look at the promise.
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What is the mystery behind the water?
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OK. And he defines baptism as having
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2 primary spiritual meanings. First, the cleansing of sins by
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Christ's blood, forgiveness, forgiveness, and 2nd, the
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mortification of the flesh. Mortification is one of those
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big theological terms we should probably unpack.
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It essentially means the killing of the old self or regeneration,
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right? That is correct.
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It's the dying to sin and being raised to newness of life in
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Christ. So baptism points to cleansing
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and regeneration. That's the spiritual reality.
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That's the reality it signifies. Now here is where he brings in
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the Old Testament before baptism.
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What sign did God give his people?
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Circumcision. Correct.
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God gave Abraham circumcision and we really need to look at
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what that meant in Genesis 17. God says I will be God to you
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and your descendants. That's the core promise.
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That is the core promise, and Calvin argues this promise
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contains eternal life and forgiveness of sins.
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I think that is where people get tripped up.
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I've heard this a lot. They think circumcision was just
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sort of a national badge. Like a passport?
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Exactly like a passport for living in Canaan or just an
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ethnic marker. But Calvin is saying it was
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deeply spiritual. It was entirely spiritual from
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the very beginning, and Calvin points to Moses and the prophets
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to prove this. He doesn't just state it.
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No, he backs it up. Deuteronomy 10.16 speaks of
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circumcising the foreskin of your heart.
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So it was always about the heart.
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It was never just about the skin, it was always about the
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heart. It signified the cutting away of
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sin, which. That sounds identical to what
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you just said. Baptism signifies that is.
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The big aha moment Calvin wants us to have Circumcision
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signified the spiritual realities of forgiveness of sins
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and the mortification of the flesh.
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So the inner meaning is the same.
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The internal mystery is identical.
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The foundation, which is Christ, is identical.
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OK, so if the meaning is the same, why the change in the
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sign? Why move from cutting to
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washing? Calvin says the difference is
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only in externals. The ceremony itself.
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The ceremony changed because Christ came.
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The shedding of blood in the Old Testament pointed forward to
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Christ's sacrifice. Now that Christ has shed his
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blood once and for all, we have a bloodless sign.
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Water. But the office of the sign, its
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job remains the same. So baptism has replaced
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circumcision. It has replaced circumcision.
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It fulfills the same function in the covenant.
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That makes a lot of sense. If they do the same job and one
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replaces the other, then the rules that applied to the first
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one should, you know, inform how we think about the second.
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One, that is the logic exactly, and that leads us directly into
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the status of infants. This is where Calvin's argument
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regarding God's consistency becomes very, very compelling.
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Right, because, the argument goes, in the Old Testament, God
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explicitly included infants in the.
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Covenant, no question about it. He commanded the sign
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circumcision be applied to them at eight days old.
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Yes. So the question Calvin poses a
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simple one. If God included infants, then
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why would he suddenly kick them out now?
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That is a strong point. I mean, if Christ's coming was
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supposed to bring more grace, a fuller expression of God's love,
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right? Why would it result in a
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smaller, more exclusive covenant?
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Calvin uses very strong language here.
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He says that if Christ's coming had the effect of excluding
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children who were previously included, it would mean God's
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grace was diminished, curtailed, or curtailed.
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He calls that idea execrable blasphemy.
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Wow. He really defends the honor of
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Christ there, doesn't he? He's saying the New Testament is
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an expansion of grace, not a retraction.
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That is correct. The grace is poured out more
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abundantly. It creates a logic problem to
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say in the shadows of the law and God was a father to the
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babies, but in the light of the gospel He is not.
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It just doesn't follow. Calvin argues that would make
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the New Testament dispensation less merciful than the old an
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impossible conclusion. Now I can hear the objection
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coming because I have heard it in modern conversations too.
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It's probably the most common one.
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I know the one you mean. People say but a baby doesn't
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understand what is happening. A baby cannot have faith, so the
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sign is meaningless to them. And Calvin is ready for that.
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He simply points back to the Old Testament.
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Did Jewish baby boys understand what was happening when they
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were circumcised at eight days old?
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Obviously not. They were likely crying and
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completely unaware of the theology involved.
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Of course not. And yet God commanded it.
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Calvin's point is that God does not mock his people with empty,
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meaningless symbols. If God gave the sign to infants,
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then the sign had meaning then. Even without their
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comprehension. Even without their
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comprehension, and if it had meaning then without the
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infant's understanding, it has meaning now.
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Without the infant's understanding, he.
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Brings up a specific verse to support this idea that Christian
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children are, well, different from others.
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First Corinthians 7.13. The Holy Seed passage.
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This is crucial for his argument.
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Paul says that the children of believers are holy.
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If they were not, he says, they would be unclean.
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Calvin argues this distinction is federal.
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It's about the covenant. It means they belong to the
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covenant people. They're set apart.
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So because they are considered holy in God's sight.
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They have a right to the sign of that holiness which is baptism.
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And then of course, we have to talk about Jesus and the
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children, That story in Matthew 19.
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You cannot discuss this topic without it, and the Anabaptist
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tried to argue around it. They said, well, Jesus just
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blessed them, He didn't baptize them.
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A common argument today. But Calvin looks closer at the
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text. He says Jesus didn't just look
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at them from a distance. He embraced them.
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He laid hands on them. He prayed for them.
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And he declared that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as
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these. That is the clincher.
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That's the knockout punch, Calvin asks.
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If Jesus gives them the reality which is the Kingdom of heaven,
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why would we deny them the sign which is the water?
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It's illogical. It is deeply illogical to say
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you can have heaven, but you cannot have baptism.
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That's a powerful image. It's like giving someone the
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deed to the house but refusing to give them the key to the
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front door. A perfect analogy, and Calvin
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refutes a very specific argument the Anabaptist made about the
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age of these children. Oh, right.
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They tried to claim these were older children who could walk
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and talk and, you know, understand.
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But Calvin goes to the Greek. And what does he find?
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The evangelists use the term brephos, which refers to infants
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at the breast. These were babies.
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So we've established the covenant continuity and the
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status of infants in that covenant, but we still have to
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hurdle the biggest objection, the big one, the faith before
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baptism argument, the idea that Scripture says believe and be
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baptized, and since babies can't believe, they shouldn't be
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baptized. This is where Calvin's
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distinction between the missionary context and the
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covenant context is so, so helpful.
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He uses the examples of Abraham and Isaac.
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Walk us through that comparison. It's a really clear one.
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It is. Abraham is the adult convert.
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He was a paid in from ER. He had to hear the promise and
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believe it first, and then you receive the sign of
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circumcision. OK.
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That is like an adult today who did not grow up in the church.
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They hear the gospel, they believe, and then they are
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baptized. OK, so that is the missionary
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model that applies to anyone coming into the church from the
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outside? Right.
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But then you look at Isaac. Isaac is the covenant child.
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He was born into the promise. He's born into the promise.
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Yeah, he received the sign first at 8 days old, and then he grew
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into the understanding and faith of that sign.
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So Calvin is saying you cannot take the rules for Abraham the
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adult stranger, and force them onto Isaac the child of the
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house. That is it precisely.
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Calvin says. It's a category error.
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You cannot apply the rules for aliens to the covenant, to the
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children of the covenant. God has always had a different
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order, a different pattern for the children of believers.
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But Calvin goes even further here, doesn't he?
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He touches on something quite well, mysterious.
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He argues that infants can actually have a form of
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regeneration. He does, and this is heavy
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theology, but it is fascinating. Calvin argues that we should not
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limit the power of the Holy Spirit.
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He asked the very logical question, how can infants be
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saved at all if they are not regenerated?
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We know they're born in sin, in Adam.
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To be in heaven, they must be in Christ.
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So if a baby dies in infancy and goes to heaven, which we believe
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they do, yes, they must have been regenerated by the Spirit
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at some point. Correct.
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And if they can be regenerated by the Spirit to enter heaven,
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why can they not be regenerated to receive the sign of baptism?
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It makes sense. Calvin calls it a seed of faith.
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It may not be a formed intellectual faith like an adult
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has, but the Spirit can work within them in a way we don't
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fully understand. He uses John the Baptist as the
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proof of concept here. Yes, John leaping in his
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mother's womb in the presence of Jesus.
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It shows that the Spirit can operate on a human soul even
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before birth, right? Calvin warns us not to put God
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in a box and say he can't work there or he can only work in
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this way. That I can understand.
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It really challenges our modern, maybe hyper rational view where
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we think everything depends on our conscious intellectual
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processing. Yes, Calvin is saying, God's
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work goes deeper than our intellect.
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It is God's initiative, not ours, that is the Reformed
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emphasis through and through. God acts first.
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Now I want to move to the section where, well, it feels
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like Calvin takes the gloves off.
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He does. He engages directly with
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Servitus and other opponents, and he dismantles their specific
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arguments 1 by 1. This section felt a bit more
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spirited. It is spirited.
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Cervedus was a primary opponent and he threw everything he could
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think of every possible objection at infant baptism, and
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Calvin just methodically takes them apart.
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So let's look at the Age of Christ argument.
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Cervedus argued that Jesus wasn't baptized until he was 30,
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so we should wait until 30. Calvin finds this almost
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laughable. He points out first that Jesus
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wasn't a Sinner needing regeneration.
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A pretty big difference. A huge difference.
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He wasn't baptized to have his sins washed away.
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He was baptized to establish the ordinance and to begin his
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public ministry. And if we followed that
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literally, I mean, no one could get baptized at 20 or 40.
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You would have to be exactly 30. And you'd have to be baptized in
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the Jordan River by a man named John.
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It's kind of wooden literalism that misses the entire point,
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right? Calvin says.
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Jesus sanctified baptism for us, but the timing was about his
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unique role as Messiah, not a rule for every believer.
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Then there is the eating argument.
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This one comes up often even today.
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If babies cannot eat the Lords supper, which is for Christians,
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why should they be baptized? This is a very helpful
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distinction Calvin makes. He says baptism is the entrance
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into the house. It's like birth.
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You are born, you enter life. The Lord's Supper is solid food.
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It is for sustenance, for nutrition, for those who are
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already in the house. So a baby exists is born long
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before it can eat a steak. That is the reality, and Paul
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explicitly says in First Corinthians 11 that a person
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must examine himself before taking the supper.
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A baby can't do that. Maybe cannot do that, but
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nowhere does scripture demand self examination for baptism.
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The requirements for the two sacraments are different because
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their functions are different. One is initiation, the other is
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nutrition. That is a very clear way to put
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it. I like that.
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Initiation versus nutrition. Then there is the argument about
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the order of words. The Bible says teach and baptize
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in the Great Commission. The opponents say, see, teaching
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comes first. It's right there in the text.
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And Calvin calls this playing word games.
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He points out again that this instruction was for the apostles
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going out to the nation's. The missionary context again.
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The missionary context, of course.
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You teach adults before you baptize them.
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How else would they come to faith?
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But he also points out other places in Scripture where the
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word order is flipped, doesn't he?
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He does. Scripture speaks of baptizing
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unto repentance. If we're going to be rigid about
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word order, we would have to say baptism comes before repentance
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there. I see.
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Calvin warns against building a major doctrine on the
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happenstance of word order rather than the clear teaching
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of the whole scope of Scripture. Cervantes also used some well,
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some strange allegories. He said David only took strong
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soldiers into Zion, so the church should only have strong
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believers. Or that the apostles were
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fishers of men, not fishers of babes?
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And Calvin just dismisses these as trifles.
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He says they're silly. He counters with the parable of
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the banquet where the blind and the lame are invited.
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And regarding the fishing net, Jesus said the net catches all
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kinds of fish, good and bad. Calvin essentially says if you
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want to play the allegory game, I can play too, but let's stick
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to the clear Word of God. It really shows how desperate
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the arguments against infant baptism can get when you have to
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resort to a strained metaphor rather than covenant theology.
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It reveals a misunderstanding of the very nature of the church.
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Is the church a club for the perfect and the strong, or is it
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a hospital and a nursery for God's people?
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Yeah, Calvin argues. It is the family of God, which
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by definition includes the littlest members.
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Which brings us to the practical application of all this.
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Calvin spends a good amount of time explaining the benefit and
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comfort of infant baptism. Yes, because I think for a lot
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of people, even if they accepted intellectually, they still
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wonder, but does it really change anything practically?
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What's the point? And Calvin would say it changes
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everything for the parents. Imagine the assurance it offers
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when you see the mark of the covenant placed on your child.
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It is a visual confirmation of God's promise.
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It's tangible. It's tangible.
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It tells you that God's promise to be your God extends to the
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thousandth generation. It takes the pressure off the
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parent to somehow create a spiritual status for their
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child. It does.
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It comforts the heart to know God is acting as a father to
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your offspring. It's not about your perfect
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parenting. It's about his perfect covenant.
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And Calvin adds that it prevents negligence.
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If you view your child as God's sealed property, you are far
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more motivated to train them in the fear of the Lord.
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You're raising God's child, not just your own.
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And. What about the benefit to the
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child? Obviously at the moment of
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baptism they don't know what's happening, but later in life.
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Well, first, they're objectively engrafted into the body of the
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church. That's a real thing.
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They are commended to the prayers of the entire body.
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But later in life, it becomes a massive spur to piety.
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How does that work? Explain that.
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When they grow up, they look back at their baptism.
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They realize God adopted me into his family before I even knew
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him. He chose me.
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It encourages them to live up to that calling.
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It's a powerful argument against sin.
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I am a baptized child of God. I cannot live like the world.
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It gives them an identity to grow into, rather than an
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identity they have to somehow earn for themselves.
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Precisely, it is the difference between working for approval and
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working from approval. Baptism says you belong here,
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you are loved. Now live like it.
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Calvin also issues a warning, though at the end of this he
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talks about the danger of neglect.
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He does, he says. To despise the sign is to reject
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the proffered grace. It's not superfluous or optional
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in that sense. So if God offers a seal for our
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children. And we say no thanks, we don't
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need that. We are being ungrateful for a
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tremendous gift. We are refusing the comfort God
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wants to give us as parents. That brings us right back to the
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start, doesn't it? The Anabaptist thought they were
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being more spiritual by waiting for a profession of faith, but
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Calvin argues they were actually being less spiritual because
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they were rejecting God's ordained method of assurance.
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That is the irony in trying to protect the purity of the
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church. They were, in his view,
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dismantling the foundation of the Christian families hope.
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So to summarize what we've covered today, Calvin argues
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that baptism is the New Testament equivalent of
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circumcision. It's grounded in the same
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eternal covenant. It is about God's initiative,
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not our human capacity. That's.
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The heart of. It and just as infants were
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included in the sign in the Old Testament, they are to be
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included in the sign and the new.
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That is the heart of it. The sign changes, but the God of
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the covenant does not change. His promises to families do not
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shrink, they expand. As we wrap up, I want to leave
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our listeners with the provocative thought from Calvin
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that really stuck with me as I was reading this.
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Again, he suggests that there is a spiritual warfare aspect to
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this whole debate. Yes, that's a powerful point he
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makes at the end. Yeah, Calvin suggests that Satan
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attacks infant baptism specifically, and his goal isn't
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just to win a theological argument.
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His goal is to rob parents of the joy and the assurance of
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God's promise. That is a chilling thought.
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It is if Satan can make us doubt that God cares for our children.
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If he can strip away that tangible sign of assurance, he
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can make us negligent. Or just anxious.
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Or anxious. The fight for infant baptism, in
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Calvin's view, is actually a fight for the comfort and the
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assurance of the Christian family.
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It is a fight for joy. That puts the whole debate in a
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different light. It is not just about water, it's
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about the security of God's love for our households.
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I agree. Completely.
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It's about how God relates to us as families.
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Thank you for walking us through this deep dive into the
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Institute's. This has been incredibly
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clarifying. It's my pleasure.
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And thank you to our listeners for joining us on Reformed
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thinking. We hope this has strengthened
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your understanding of the Covenant and your confidence in
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God's promises. Until next time.