Isn’t there a command to baptize babies?

book coverIn my book (scroll down), I spend some initial space talking about how we derive conclusions from Scripture.

One example of a way in which people make uncritical assumptions when dealing with the text, is the common idea that there is no NT command to baptize babies (another problem is assuming there must be a NT command, but let’s forget about that for now).

Doesn’t the Great Commission tell us to baptize and disciple all the nations? Are not infants included in nations
True, this only is for those who are disciples, but this doesn’t change anything.  After all, how long do you wait before discipling a child?  How long before you attempt to mold them by a godly example, singing Christian songs, praying model prayers, etc, before them.

The message in infant baptism is simply that discipleship starts from the beginning.  Baptism can’t come any later.

Other statements are found calling on people to repent of their paganism or their sinful lifestyle and be baptized.  But surely these people are repenting also of raising their children as pagans.  Shouldn’t they then repent by discipling their children for Jesus from the earliest age?

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