infant baptism

Justin Martyr (b.100) speaks of baptism as "the washing for forgiveness of sins and rebirth" (First Apology 66).

St. Irenaeus (b.125) said, "Christ came to save all who are reborn through Him to God, infants, children, and youths" (CH II, 22).

Tertullian (b.160) spoke of baptism as "our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life" (On Baptism 1).

Origen (b.185) said: "There may be added to the aforementioned considerations the fact that in the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants" (Homilies on Leviticus 8:3); and later Origen writes: "The Church received from the Apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. For the Apostles . . . knew that there is in everyone the innate stains of sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit" (Commentary on Romans 5:9).

St. Hippolytus of Rome (d.236) said: "Baptize first the children; and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them" (The Apostolic Tradition 21).

St. Cyprian (c.246) wrote: "As to what pertains to the case of infants: you said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth . . . and that you did not think that one should be baptized . . . within the eighth day after his birth . . . we all judged that the mercy and grace of God ought to be denied to no man born" (Letter to Fidus, 64(59):2).

And an anonymous treatise on baptism (c.255) speaks of sins which "were without doubt put away by the baptism of the Holy Spirit" (Treatise on Re-Baptism 6).

Also, Gregory Nazianzen (b.325) wrote: "Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity, but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Fearest thou the seal [of baptism] on account of the weakness of nature?" (Oration XL, On Holy Baptism, XVII); and again he wrote: "Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children, and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated. A proof of this is found in the Circumcision on the eighth day, which was a sort of typical seal, and was conferred on children before they had the use of reason. And so is the anointing of the doorposts, which preserved the firstborn, though applied to things which had no consciousness" (Oration XL, XXVIII).

St. John Chrysostom (b.347) said: "You see how many are the benefits of Baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins; but we have enumerated ten honors. For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by sin: so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be His members (qtd. by Augustine in Contra Iulianum 1:6:21).

And in a letter to a friend Augustine (b.354) refuted those who "refuse to believe that in infants original sin is remitted through baptism" (On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 9); and again St. Augustine wrote: "And if any one seek for divine authority in this matter, though what is held by the whole Church, and that not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by apostolical authority, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the sacrament of baptism in the case of infants, from the parallel of circumcision... so in infants who die baptized, we must believe that the same grace of the Almighty supplies the want, that, not from perversity of will, but from insufficiency of age, they can neither believe with the heart unto righteousness, nor make confession with the mouth unto salvation. Therefore, when others take the vows for them, that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete in their behalf, it is unquestionably of avail for their dedication to God, because they cannot answer for themselves" (On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4:24:32).