Because to infants belongs the kingdom of heaven according to the declaration of Christ: “Little children were brought unto Christ, that he should put his hands on them and pray” (Mt. 19:13*). Since the disciples would repel them, Christ said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:14). It is confirmed from this—that he is said “to have taken them up in his arms [enankalisasthai],” by his blessing and prayers commended them to God. Now if it was right for infants to be brought to Christ, why not also to be received to baptism, the symbol of our communion with Christ? Why should the church not receive into her bosom those whom Christ received into his? How unjust we should be to drive away those whom he willingly received. Nor are they to be heard who hold that “they are called little children on account of their humility, not age.” For they are meant who were brought to Christ and whom he embraced in his arms; such were not called infants mystically as to humility, but properly as to age. It is true, when he called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them saying, “Except ye become as this child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:2, 3*), Christ refers to spiritual infancy or humility and innocence. But it is another story related in Mt. 19, where it refers to the presentation of little children (as also in Lk. 18:15); for there children pretty well grown up cannot be understood because they are called brephē (Lk. 18:15). However, brephos is an infant still in the cradle, somewhat delicate and for the most part sucking (Lk. 1:41, 44; Lk. 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:2). For they are said to have been brought to Christ (prosepheron auto) and Christ is said to have taken them up in his arms. Nor is it an objection that they are said “to come,” because this is taken broadly for “to be admitted.” Nor if Christ is said only to have prayed for and to have laid his hands on them and not formally to have baptized them, does it follow that it does not avail for their baptism. Because (by parity) if hands could be placed upon them by Christ, why could they not also have been baptized?
Francis Turretin | Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger, vol. 3 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992–97), 19.20.8, (page 417).
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Mike Brown
Mike Brown is pastor of Chiesa Riformata Filadelfia, Milan, Italy. Prior to serving in Italy he was pastor of Christ Reformed Church, Santee, CA. He is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California, a veteran of the United States Army, and author of Christ and the Condition: The Covenant Theology of Samuel Petto (1624–1711) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012) and co-author (with Zach Keele) of Sacred Bond : Covenant Theology Explored (Grandville, MI: Reformation Fellowship, 2017).
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