Jesus Loves the Little Children
When we joined a Presbyterian church in 2011, my wife and I were faced with the decision of whether to baptize our children or to be “conscientious objectors” to the Reformed doctrine of infant baptism. I dedicated myself to a study of the question over the next two years, reading many book-length treatments of the issue from both credobaptist and pedobaptist perspectives, as well as chapters on the subject from many systematic theologies on both sides.
At the end of those two years, I had become persuaded of the covenantal infant baptism position, but felt there was no single concise, accessible, and convincing resource on the topic to which I could point inquiring friends and family. I had even set out to write a book about it myself—I may still finish it some day—but then I discovered Daniel Hyde’s Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children.
Hyde hits all the right notes in under 100 pages (in fact, the core of his argument fits in under 40 pages). He does a great job demonstrating the implications of covenant for the issue of baptism and the connection between the two important covenant signs of circumcision and baptism. I especially appreciated his section showing why anyone who believes in baby dedication should affirm infant baptism instead.
On the whole, this is the best single resource I know of for understanding covenantal infant baptism, and the irenic and winsome tone throughout makes me comfortable sharing it with friends and family of all backgrounds. This is the book I wish I had read first.
CONTENTS
THE COVENANT OF GRACE
First up, Hyde does a great job explaining covenant theology, the bedrock for covenantal infant baptism. The basic logic goes like this: if the old and new covenants are essentially one and the same covenant of grace, and if baptism is a sign and seal of the new covenant in the same way that circumcision was the sign and seal of the old covenant, then we should place the sign of baptism on our infant children just as the sign of circumcision was placed on infants.
I found Hyde’s explanation of the word sacrament helpful. “Sacrament” comes from the Latin sacramentum, which was “an oath of allegiance by Roman soldiers.”[1] The very word we use for sacred ordinances like baptism is rooted in the idea of covenant! What is remarkable in Hyde’s view is that this oath is not ours to make to God, but God’s oath made to us. As he points out, Romans 4:10–11 tells us Abraham’s circumcision was the seal of a righteousness imputed to him by God because of his faith. So as we talk about covenant, it’s important to keep in mind we are not talking about a covenant we enter into with God, but a covenant God enters into with us. God is the prime mover here, as in every other sphere.
Spending an entire chapter, Hyde shows persuasively from Scripture that the covenant God made with the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets is synonymous and continuous with the new covenant we are members of in the New Testament era. His key passage for showing this is Romans 11:11–24, where Paul explains that the Gentile church has been grafted into the same olive tree with Israel. Just as Ephesians 2:11–22teaches, there are not therefore two peoples of God with separate covenants and promises, but one people of God united in the same covenant of grace. Among many other passages, Hyde also cites Galatians 3 where Paul teaches that if we are Christ’s then we are Abraham’s offspring and heirs with him to one and the same promise.
CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM
Hyde also convincingly establishes the biblical link between the old covenant sign of circumcision and the new covenant sign of baptism. He provides a number of scriptural parallels between circumcision and baptism:
They are both initiatory rites signifying and sealing (confirming) entrance into a covenant with God.
In both, the outward aspects symbolize inward realities—circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; Romans 2:28–29) and baptism in the spirit (Acts 1:5; Titus 3:5).
They both symbolize the putting away (cutting away or washing away) of sin.
Both also symbolize curses for breaking the covenant. Circumcision symbolizes being cut off from God and the covenant community (Genesis 17:14). Baptism corresponds to Noah’s flood by which the whole world was judged (1 Corinthians 10:1–6; 1 Peter 3:20–22).
They both symbolize death and resurrection, putting off the old man and putting on Christ.
In addition to these parallels, Hyde shows most importantly that circumcision and baptism are directly equated in Colossians 2:11–12.
THE PROPER SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM
Following from the connections between the old and new covenants and between circumcision and baptism, Hyde comes to the question of who are the proper subjects of baptism. If our children are still members of the covenant the way the children of believers were members of the covenant anciently, then they should have the covenant sign of baptism placed upon them just as the covenant sign of circumcision was administered anciently.
Hyde proceeds to argue that our children are indeed members of the covenant, fully owning that he is making an argument from silence:
. . . after the people of God placed the sign of the covenant on their children for two thousand years, an explicit revoking of this practice is necessary if this practice is to end. Continuity between the Old and New Testaments exists unless the New Testament states otherwise by revoking a practice. Those who deny infant baptism have labeled this an argument from silence. But the silence is deafening! Arguments from silence are not weak arguments when it can be demonstrated that the reason for the silence is an assumed truth.[2]
But although Scripture may not make explicit statements, Hyde demonstrates a number of passages that imply or infer that children are still in the covenant. In addition to a careful study of passages describing household baptisms and the oft-cited statement that children of at least one believing parent are holy in 1 Corinthians 7:14, two important passages Hyde uses are Ephesians 6:1–4 and Colossians 3:20. In these passages, Paul teaches that children are still obligated to keep the commandment to honor their parents, which obligation implies they are members of the covenant community. Hyde calls special attention to the phrase in Ephesians 6:1, “obey your parents in the Lord,” arguing from the way “in the Lord” is used elsewhere that it can only mean they are in Christ and therefore in the covenant.
BABY DEDICATION OR INFANT BAPTISM?
One chapter I found especially intriguing is concerned with baby dedication. This is something I’ve never come across in any of the books I’ve read on the subject, but it immediately struck me as an obvious and important topic to cover in a book like this.
Hyde points out that the four biblical examples for baby dedication (Samuel, 1 Samuel 1:11, 24–28; Samson, Judges 13:3–5; John the Baptist,Luke 1:13–17; and Jesus, Luke 2:22–24) were each exceptions to the norm, and were all done in addition to circumcision. Hyde claims these examples of baby dedication actually serve as further evidence that children should be baptized in the new covenant. At the very least, one cannot make a valid argument from these texts that baby dedication can or should replace the covenant sign.
ONE COMPLAINT
I have only one gripe about this book. Coming from a credobaptist background, the only thing that could have convinced me (and ultimately did convince me) of the validity of pedobaptism is Scripture. Hyde’s book is, as I hope I have already shown, thoroughly biblical, but in a few places he appeals to various authorities outside the Bible for support of his position.
First, throughout the book he frequently quotes Reformed confessions and catechisms such as the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism. Sometimes he is careful to state that these are secondary sources, but other times he seems to quote them as if they are primary authorities in and of themselves. Now, I love these documents, and have personally come to see them as faithful distillations of Scripture (I would self-identify as a confessional Presbyterian), but Hyde’s not infrequent use of them weakens his argument with Baptists and non-denominational Christians who pride themselves on being “people of the book,” never appealing to extra-biblical sources for a defense of their faith and practice.
Second, Hyde includes a chapter of quotes from early church fathers, but most of the fathers seem to have in mind something closer to the Roman Catholic view of baptismal regeneration when they comment on infant baptism. Hyde’s point in bringing up the quotes is simply to show that infant baptism has been around since the earliest days of the church, but he has to do so much explaining that this point gets lost in the weeds, so to speak. I fear some will see this chapter as an appeal to tradition or human authority, though I am certain that was not Hyde’s intention. I’ve read other reviews that say they found this section very helpful, but I wish he would have stuck to quoting the Bible instead of venturing into this territory.
CONCLUSION
My one complaint aside, this is the best resource on infant baptism I have found. It is inviting and conversational in its tone and thoroughly scriptural and persuasive in its arguments. If you read only one book about covenantal infant baptism, make it this one.
Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace
What is it that you worry about? We’ve heard that there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. But perhaps we could add worry to that list. We all face worries, when we’re young they may be wrapped up in questions like who we’ll marry. But as we get older the worries change: How will my kids turn out? Will I be able to retire? What worries do you face today?
In his booklet Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace, David Powlison walks us through Christ’s teachings about worry in the Sermon on the Mount. Our worries can be stated in terms of, “If only...” “If only I could have this.” “If only this wouldn’t happen.” Underlying worry is a desire for us to control things mixed with the reality we have have very little control. Powlison says that, “anxiety and control are two sides of one coin.”
So how can we live a life free from worry? Powlison is helpful in that he acknowledges the real pressures and reasons we have to worry, but he also points us to seven better reasons why we should not worry, these are based on Luke 12. Powlison then provides six tools that will give us practical ways to address the temptation to worry.
Perhaps what I like best about this booklet is that it’s only thirty pages. I finished reading it in less than a half-hour.
This book is available on our book table.
The Big Picture
Imagine if you happened upon an old scrap of paper. It was a few verses from the Bible, but you didn’t know that. In fact, in this alternate world, you had never heard of Jesus before. Imagine if this short excerpt of Scripture was from Mark 15:16-32, the account of Jesus crucifixion. As you read this passage you learn of a man, you don’t know his name though. Perhaps he wasn’t that important in the long run. This man appeared to try and make himself king. He opposed the rulers of the day, but was caught. He was beaten and mocked the guards. Any followers this unnamed man had have now all fled–there isn’t a single person there showing support. The passers-by mock him, the religious leaders mock him, even the two other criminals sentenced to die with him mock him. As you read this passage you undoubtedly would get the impression that this man’s life was an utter failure. You return the scrap of paper and think, “wow, what tragic life” and then perhaps you never remember that story again.
Without the whole story you would never know that this man’s name was Jesus. That his life would change the course of history. That over the course of two thousand years there would be several billion people who would call themselves Christians. You see, it’s important to know the whole story.
I wonder if we too often live our lives like that person who only found a scrap of the Scripture story. We focus so much on our present circumstances that we miss the bigger story. We don’t put our days, our months into the context of our life, and more importantly into the context of how God is working in the world. Instead, we feel the temptation to evaluate our lives by only looking at our present situation.
Perhaps you are struggling with some event in your life, and you feel like God is silent. But remember, God was completely silent in this passage of Mark. Perhaps you feel like you’ve been forgotten, in this passage, we are never given Jesus name. But just as this one section of Mark is not the end of the story of Jesus’ life, neither are your present circumstances the end of your story.
Perhaps, instead you feel like everything is going really well, you’re finding success in this life, you're having fun, and honestly you don’t feel the need to have much, if any, relationship with God. Well this passage serves as a warning for you too. The Roman Soldiers, the religious leaders, the masses, they too thought they were doing just fine–they didn’t need what Jesus offered. But this passage wasn’t the end of their story either. They would eventually see how wrong they were.
Whatever you're facing, I’d encourage you to put your days into perspective, to step back and look at the whole picture. To remember that neither your suffering nor success, is the end of your story.