The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit.
Origen (c. AD 184–c. 253),Commentary on Romans (5:9)
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- Augustine: Infant Baptism Is The Apostolic And Universal Practice Of The Church
- Hippolytus (c. 215 AD): Baptize Infants
Seems the greater takeaway here is that no direct scriptural teaching was cited. And of course so-claimed apostolic tradition is also the clinching basis for apostolic succession (Irenaeus), the real bodily presence in the eucharist (Cyprian), paedo-communion (many), etc. etc. So much for Sola Scriptura I guess…
Phil,
I understand that your tongue is planted in your cheek.
I’ve responded to this objection here.
I’m not claiming that Cyprian’s argumentation was always flawless but it is fairly clear that infant baptism was the ancient practice of the Christian church.
This reading of Cyprian is a bit anachronistic but it seems to be popular these days.
Your comment is tongue-in-cheek but if I may be so bold, this is a typical Baptist binary response to the messiness of church history: “They got it wrong. Away with all of them!” No. As Protestants we receive the ancient church but we don’t do so uncritically. We’re openly selective. We affirm what can be affirmed and criticize what must be criticized. We don’t have to take a binary approach.
Rev. 15:00 6 May 2020
In turn, you have erroneously assumed and characterized my position by reading way too much into one brief, and what I thought would obviously be taken as a hyperbolic quip. 🙂
Sorry Phil.
I get this very kind of stuff from Baptists all the time. So, you’re right, I did assume. What seemed hyperbolic and thus obviously absurd is what I get daily on Twitter and sometimes here.
Sorry for assuming.
I’ve revised my reply (for future reference) to recognize its tongue-in-cheek nature.
But Phil a Roman Catholic once told
me that the Apostle John waited
outside the tomb of Our Lord to let
Peter enter before him thus proving
that Peter was the Pope, see sola sriptura