Household Baptism

Cornelius is called devout in Acts 10, and he is devout with his household, in leading them, and undoubtedly leading them to know and serve the Lord as well, even as Joshua in the O.T. says “choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, Joshua 24:15ff. Now we see that the pattern and expectation the Jews would have, and we should have when reading the New Testament and our passage here in Acts -- that God covenants with households, and the children are included in the covenant, signified in circumcision in the Old Testament/Covenant, but now signified in baptism, including the infant children. For all in the house of Cornelius, which included not only his entire household, his slaves and servants under him, but also those of his close friends and relatives, received the Holy Spirit and were baptized with water, as we saw at the end of Acts 10. Even infant children were to be removed from the Church/Israelites and regarded as covenant breakers if they lacked the sign of circumcision, Gen. 17:14, "And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

There was no dispute among the believing Jews and Gentiles in the book of Acts about whether children/whole households of believers are included in the new covenant and should receive baptism, because households were always included in the covenant. Indeed, the covenant God made with Abraham continues to us today and into eternity, its final form being the new covenant in Christ's blood, by definition includes the children/offspring of Abraham, so that he would become the father of many nations, and all the families of the earth will be blessed in Him and His seed, ultimately Christ, Acts 3:25-26.

The Great Commission, the work of Christ from the right hand of the Father, necessarily blesses whole households, covenanting with them, where there is even but one believing parent. But just as each person in that Israelite household had to personally believe and trust in Christ to be saved and forgiven for all eternity, so it is with each person in a Christian household today. However, note that those born or brought into the house/family of a believer do not need to have faith to be included in the Church/Kingdom/Covenant. Christ received them and said the kingdom belongs to them, because they are born into a household of faith, whether it is just one or both parents who have faith, I Cor. 7:14, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”

The covenant/household principle and the impact of the head of the home devoutly raising and commanding his house to serve the Lord, is seen with Joshua in Joshua 24. He says not he alone, but he and his household will serve the Lord. There were no questions asked. There was no struggle session wondering if he had the authority to command his household to serve the Lord, or if he should give them a choice. He told the other heads of home to decide for themselves, but he took responsibility for his household, and saw to it that they served the Lord. Our doctrine of predestination and election does not compete with the command that the heads of the households should command their families to serve the Lord. Nor does our doctrine of election/predestination mean that we cannot or should not baptize our children. Just the opposite, we ought to, for God commands households to be baptized, as we see with Cornelius and his household all being baptized, and others in the New Testament like Lydia and her household, Acts 16, The Philippian Jailer and his household, Acts 16, Crispus' household, Acts 18, and the mention of Stephanas' household, 1 Cor. 1.

In Joshua 24, the covenant is being renewed. Joshua gathers together the heads of the families, the “elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God” 24:1. So the whole congregation is represented by their headship, the tribal leaders including judges and officers, the elders, and descending down from them the fathers of each household. Joshua and the leaders renew the covenant on behalf of all under their authority, namely, their household/tribes/lines. This is the covenant going back to Abraham, and continuing still in Christ and the new covenant administration today.

There gathered before God, Joshua 24:1, the elders/leaders renew their covenant vows, their church membership vows as it were, that they and their households will serve the Lord. That is precisely what Joshua does, not for himself alone, but also his whole house. And that is what Cornelius has done, not for himself, but his whole household in Acts 10, and thus in God’s kindness the Word of God comes to Cornelius and his household, and all in it are saved, baptized with the Spirit and given the sacrament of water baptism by Peter/the Apostles, who were the Elders/authority in the Church at that time, to formally recognize and receive them into the union and communion of the Church/body of Christ.

In the new covenant, the Gentiles/nations are included, and the children/household get to stay in the inclusion of the covenant as well, even the slaves and servants. While Joshua 24 warns that they will turn away from the Lord, they vow that they will not. And in fact under the leadership of Joshua, and not only his leadership but the leadership of all the elders over Israel who outlived Joshua and knew the works of the LORD which the LORD had done for Israel, they did in fact serve the Lord, not turning back to sin and idolatry, Joshua 24:31.

The plain and clear conclusion is that God’s election works through His means of grace, which is chiefly being included in His covenant from birth, or graciously being brought into the covenant by the preaching/evangelization of the Gospel, and then you and your household are all graciously included in the covenant/church, receiving the “oracles of God”, having the means of grace of word, prayer, and sacrament, including baptism for your covenant children.

But when godly leaders perish, and the elders with them, the people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and even fathers forget the faith and go astray, leading their wives and children astray as well. When there are a lack of godly elders, godly men/fathers must step up. If there are godly fathers, then there are or at least can be godly elders, for the elders/leaders are simply godly fathers chosen from the households.

This is why Elders in the new covenant, according to Paul, must rule their own households well, having faithful children, Titus 1:6, or as Paul puts it in 1 Tim. 3:4-5, “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” 

In other words, every father must still say, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” and if he rules well, his children will be submissive, reverent, and faithful. It is hard to see how a child can be these things and yet not be believers. How can you be “faithful” yet lack faith? We can argue the extraordinary, rare, and exceptional circumstances, or details about a faith and reverence that is present but non-salvific, etc., another time.

But the point is, the father is leading his family, his house, with the focus on the children in particular, in the covenant, in the church, in the training and admonition of the Lord, as disciples that are serving the Lord. If the father has the authority to say of his children “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, and he does, then he has the duty to present his children, from infancy, for baptism, since those children who are dedicated for service to the Lord are thereby disciples of the Lord, and Christ commands that all disciples are to be baptized, Matt. 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. 

For baptism is the sign of God’s gracious covenant, which includes those children being raised in the training and admonition of the Lord, as those to whom Christ received into His arms as infants and said “let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). Christ then prays for and blesses those children, Matt. 19:13-15, Mark 10:16. Your children, Christian, have the prayers and blessing of Christ, with Christ’s own comforting words that the Kingdom/Church of God belongs to them. Your children therefore have the promise of regeneration and eternal life in the Lord, which is to be symbolized in baptism with water, and received in your baptized children with a sincere, saving faith as they become old enough to express such faith, while you raise them in the training and admonition of the Lord to do so, Eph. 6:1-4. 

Christ began His earthly ministry with the Gospel of His kingdom in Matthew 4:14, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus in Matthew 24:14 calls His kingdom the Gospel that will be preached in all the world, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Since Christ received into His arms little children, even infants brought to Him, and said the kingdom belongs to them, and then He prays for them and blesses them, why would we not have our children baptized into the Triune name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where they are formally received into the Church, prayed for, blessed, and under rule of Christ and His holy Word? We are told our children are holy if there is even one believing parent. Children of believers were always received by God from infancy, before they could express faith or repentance, symbolized by circumcision prior to Christ's coming in the flesh, and now symbolized by baptism after Christ's coming, shedding His blood for our sin, and filling us with His outpoured Spirit from the Father's right hand in heaven. 

Christ as He is ascending to the Father's right hand in Matt. 28:18ff., as listed above, that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Therefore, the Apostles were to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. 

Why would we teach our children the Bible, have them pray to God the Father, bring them to church, and yet not have them baptized? We would only do this if we thought that our children are not part of God's kingdom/covenant/church, and are not disciples. But they are, and disciples are to be baptized and taught all of God's Word. As we saw above, Christ has already literally opened His arms and touched the infant children brought to Him by faithful parents, and declared that His Kingdom, as proclaimed in the Gospel, belongs to those children. He even blesses them and prays for them. How else can we obey Christ's command today to bring our infant children to Him, except by having our children baptized by the Minister, whom Christ has appointed in His Church for this purpose, for the children to be formally received as members of His Kingdom/Church, regularly worshiping as members of the congregation, being taught and instructed in church and at home, especially led by the fathers? 

Let us obey God's Word, and commit as fathers/heads of home to see to it that our households, including our children, serve the Lord, bringing them to Christ and His Church for baptism, vowing that we indeed we will raise our children in the gracious nurture and admonition of the Lord, trusting God's promises that as we rule our households well, He will work in the hearts of our children and bring them to sincere faith and repentance in due time, and they will then come to the Lord's Supper and partake of the bread and wine, feeding on Christ with the "mouth"/heart of true faith.