Purposes of paedobaptism:
- As a parallel with circumcision in the Old Testament, Luke 2:21.
- Initiate the baby into the Christian community because his parent is a Christian, Acts 16:33, 1 Corinthians 7:14.
Neither of those reasons are scripturally valid since there is no recommendation for either.
How is infant baptism a parallel with circumcision when only males were mandated to be circumcised?
The apostle Paul made mention of the children of believers who were married to unbelievers when he said…
“The unbelieving husband is sanctified in relation to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in relation to the brother; otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.” (1 Cor 7:14)
The children and spouse of a believing parent are “sanctified” (viewed as holy by God) until that child or mate decides to make their own free willed choice to become a baptized Christian.
Jesus was 30 years old when he was baptized, so age does not matter.
Baptism is a public demonstration of a person’s commitment to God through Christ to live up to that dedication from that day forward….and a good incentive for parents to raise
their children in the faith….but even the best parents can produce rebellious children….ask God about that….
I baptized all my 5 kids by near submersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when they were 8 days old. I understand that the evidence for infant baptism in the Bible is not explicit and is debatable. So, when my kids were teenagers, I told them that if they believed that was sufficient, there would be no need to be baptized again; but if not, feel free to have an official adult believer's baptism from a reputable local church.
The fact that you baptized your children by “near immersion” shows that you understand the dangers of baptizing infants by “full immersion”…..God would never command something physically dangerous for infants…..and yet it is full immersion that must take place as it is a symbolic ‘death, burial and resurrection’ to one’s former life, and a commitment to live as Christ commanded from then on.
Christ’s own baptism was by full immersion, indicating his commitment to take up his role as Messiah with all that it meant…..and his course was approved by his God and Father by way of the endowment of holy spirit, as well as his voice of approval.