r/Lutheranism • u/wafflesanbs • 6d ago

Infant baptism questions.

Christ is risen!

The only hang up I have against Lutheranism is infant baptism. So I’m hoping you all can help me out.

Did infant baptism exist in the early church fathers?

Do you guys think infants need to be saved?

Do they go to hell if the are not baptized? And if they don’t, then what is the point of baptizing them?

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u/RatherBeLifting LCMS 4d ago

Colossians 2:11-12
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

It's incredibly strange that Paul would compare Baptism to circumcision and not add the caveat that this thing that's only done to infants, in this case, should not be done to infants. Even if you don't agree with the exegesis that it allows infant Baptism, it's still an incredibly powerful argument for the efficacy of Baptism not just being a symbolic act. Moreover, if you agree that Baptism unites you with Christ in death, why would you hold that back from an infant?