The bottom line is, not why or when was it done, but should it have been done? And based on Matt. 28:19-20, it should not have been done then, and it should not be done today.
So, the gist of your position hinges on Matthew 28?
I was once with a large group of Lutheran pastors, and their interpretation of that passage was 180 degrees the opposite of yours. In their mind, the command was to make disciples, and baptism along with teaching was a means by which the church was to accomplish this.
Personally, I’ve always understood it as a three-fold command to make disciples, to baptize, and to teach. Though if I remember my reading of it in Greek that is a little simplistic. The imperitive is indeed “make disciples”. “Going”, “baptizing”, and “teaching” are all participles. Because of this, some understand that we are to be making disicples as we go, just in the normal course of “going” about out everyday business. But participles in this position generally take the imperative force also so it is appropriate to say that Jesus commands us to go forth.
Looking at the grammar again, the syntax of the Greek grammar precludes the Lutheran suggestion that baptizing and teaching are to be understood only in the context as a means for the making of disciples. In fact, they are independent of “make disciples”. For although when a participle preceeds an imperative verb it gains the imperative force for itself, this is not the usual case with participles that follow an imperative verb.
So, baptizing and teaching are not the
means of making disciples but they do characterize it. Thus as Jesus disciples go forth making new disciples one of the things they will do subsequent to that is to baptize them and teach them.
Well, that should prove your point. No baptizing until after one is a disciple. EXCEPT, it would then imply that there is to be no teaching until after one is a disicple. My best understanding is that baptizing and teaching is something that we are to do with all who become disciples of Christ. Why? Because once the person is a disciple we are to incorporate them into fully into the body of Christ. The baptism is a sign of entry into the new covenant community, and the teaching is for nurturing a person to spiritual maturity.
This does not preclude these events from happening before the individual is a disciple. Just as we would teach a child raised in the covenant community to be taught about the things of God before he professed faith in them, so too, a child being raised within the covenant community might be baptized as a sign of God’s prevenient grace at work in his life which we trust will bring him to faith.
When Jesus’ disciples saw that Jesus did not baptize any of the infants or small children that their parents brought to Him, and He never instructed His disciples to baptize them, at that point we have children being specifically excluded.
There are many other things that Jesus’ disciples saw that Jesus did not do and did not insturct them to do. That is NOT the same thing as excluding those things. But what we do know is that when the disciples were trying to keep the children from Jesus’ presence that he specifically rebuked them and insisted that they be allowed (i.e. included) in the gathering. He bid them come to him.
If baptism is a declaration of an individual’s own faith, then I would be in total agreement with you. But that type of baptism is more in line with what John the Baptist did. His was a baptism of repentence. Jesus’ baptism we are told is different than John’s. Jesus’ baptism is not a work of the person being baptized. Jesus’ baptism is a work of God.
In Jesus’ baptism, one is baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The following allusion to the winnowing fork and the burning of the chaff seems to be one of purification. And is also reminiscent of eschatalogical language of the day of the Lord. The Holy Spirit comes to convict of us sin and lead us into all righteousness. What could be more appropriate, than for us in baptizing an infant who is going to be raised in the faith to be proclaiming not the child’s work (they can confess nothing, nor repent of anything) – John’s baptism would not be appropriate for them. But we proclaim that the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives. He will lead them into righteousness, the stain of original sin is being removed, they are being purified by God’s prevenient grace so that they will be able to respond in faith and, in their own time, make that declaration of faith. For now, by the grace and promises of God, we affirm that they are part of the covenant community, and we await the day that they confirm this decision for themselves. But we baptize them because Christ bids them to come, and no place does he exclude them.
