See also: Paedobaptism
📖 Biblical Definition
Paedobaptism is the doctrine and practice of administering baptism to the infant children of believers, who are reckoned members of the visible covenant community by virtue of God’s promise to believers and their seed. Its case rests on the unity of the covenant of grace across both Testaments. God established His covenant with Abraham and his children, commanding that the sign be placed upon the infant on the eighth day, long before the child could profess anything; circumcision was the sign of entrance into the covenant people and a seal of the righteousness of faith. The new covenant does not narrow this gracious arrangement but fulfills and expands it, so that baptism succeeds circumcision as the sign of initiation, and the apostolic promise still runs, “the promise is unto you, and to your children.” Hence the apostles baptized whole households, and Paul reckons the children of even one believing parent as holy, that is, set apart within the covenant. Paedobaptists insist that infant baptism does not presume the child regenerate, nor does it save him by the water; it places the covenant sign upon him, marks him as belonging to the people of God, and lays upon him the obligation and the promise to which he must answer in faith. The Reformed churches hold this as the right reading of one covenant of grace administered through the ages.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines PEDOBAPTISM as the baptism of infants or of children, and PEDOBAPTIST as one who holds to the baptism of infants.
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PEDOBAPTISM, n. — The baptism of infants or of children.
PEDOBAPTIST, n. — One who holds to or practices infant baptism.
(Webster employs the older spelling “pedobaptism” for the same doctrine.)
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 2:39 — "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
Colossians 2:11-12 — "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands... Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God."
Genesis 17:7 — "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."
1 Corinthians 7:14 — "...else were your children unclean; but now are they holy."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition; this is a historic intramural debate between Reformed paedobaptists and Baptists. The real corruption is baptismal presumption—treating the water itself as regeneration apart from faith.
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The dispute between paedobaptists and credobaptists is an honorable disagreement within the household of faith, conducted over centuries by godly men reading the same Scriptures with care. Paedobaptists argue from the unity of the covenant, the continuity of the sign, and the household baptisms of Acts; credobaptists argue from the explicit professions that accompany baptism in the New Testament and the nature of the new covenant. Neither side denies the gospel; both confess salvation by grace through faith. This is a debate about the right administration of a sacrament, not a contest between belief and unbelief.
The genuine corruption of infant baptism is not the practice but its abuse through baptismal presumption—the deadly assumption that the water itself regenerates, so that a man baptized in infancy is reckoned saved regardless of whether he ever comes to living faith. This turns the covenant sign into a charm and breeds a nation of nominal Christians who trust a ceremony rather than Christ. The Reformed paedobaptist guards against this expressly: the sign does not save, does not presume regeneration, and lays upon the child an obligation he must one day answer in personal faith. The covenant promise is not a substitute for conversion but a summons to it.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The argument rests on the unity of one covenant (Hebrew bērith) whose sign passes from circumcision to baptism while the promise to believers and their seed abides.
Usage
"Paedobaptism rests on the covenant promise to believers and their children, the sign passing from circumcision to baptism."
"Infant baptism never presumes the child regenerate; it places the covenant sign upon him and summons him to faith."
"Reformed paedobaptists and Baptists differ honorably over the subjects of baptism while confessing one gospel."