Acts 16:14-15—“… she was baptized, and her household …”

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.  And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us (Acts 16:14-15).

BAPTIST ARGUMENT:

“How does this text imply infant baptism?”

(I)

Rev. Ronald Hanko

[Source: Sprinkling, Infant Baptism and the Bible]

This passage is one of the principle grounds for household baptism and speaks of something the Baptists do not and cannot practice.  The whole question of whether or not Lydia was married and had children is beside the point.  That example and the example of the Philippian jailor are clear warrant for household baptism, and some households inevitably will include children.

We are willing and even eager to baptize households on the basis of God’s sure family promises.  No Baptist can do it, because baptism, in his opinion, must follow upon the faith and repentance of the individual.

Our willingness to baptize households or families, therefore, follows in part from what is sometimes referred to as “covenant” or “federal”  theology—that is, the belief that God does not deal with men individually, but always in their relationships to others, as members of the family, of the church, of a nation, even of the human race (cf. the whole doctrine of original sin), of the body of Christ, or of an elect and redeemed world (John 3:16).  Covenant theology is always federal and communal.

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(II)

More to come! (DV)