With regard to belief, we baptise little children

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





With regard to belief, we baptise little children on the belief of their parents which in essence has many examples in the Holy Bible:
(a) Circumcision in the Old Testament symbolised baptism as we have previously explained. The circumcised was considered a member of God's people according to the covenant between God and Abraham (Gen.l7: 11). It is known that circumcision was to be done on the eighth day after birth, according to God's command (Gen.l7: 12). What understanding did the eight-day old baby boy have regarding the covenant between God and Abraham? To what extent was he aware of this membership in God's people? Undoubtedly, he had nothing of the sort, but he was circumcised on his parents' belief in such a covenant; he became a member of God's people and was entitled to the promises which God endowed upon our Father Abraham. The baby attained all these through the belief of his parents.
(b) The crossing of the Red Sea was a symbol of baptism or a baptism itself as St. Paul the Apostle explained in (l Cor. 10:2). It represented salvation from the slavery of death, Satan and sin. Adults who were aware of God's promise to the Prophet Moses crossed the Red Sea; they knew that they were slaves to Pharaoh; they knew the meaning of salvation from slavery by the Mighty Hand of God and when they crossed the Red Sea (baptism), they were saved. What was the position of the little children who were carried by their mothers and fathers across the Sea? Of course they received salvation from slavery; they were baptised, not on their own faith but on the faith of their parents because those children were not aware of any of the occurring events.
(c) Another important and very strong example 1s the salvation of the little children, through the blood of the Passover lamb, from the hand of the Angel who killed every firstborn son. The Lord commanded Moses to kill a one-year-old male goat or sheep without any defect and put its blood on the sides and tops of their doors, and said: "And when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex. 12:13).
The blood of the Passover lamb was a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ's Blood through which we have received salvation, as St. Paul the Apostle said: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1Cor.5: 7).
And the question now is: What was the belief of the little children who were saved by the blood of the Passover lamb? What did they know about the covenant between God and Moses or of the Passover and the salvation from death by the blood of the Passover lamb? Undoubtedly they were not aware of anything but they were saved by the faith of their parents; the parents who believed in the blood, its effect and the importance of the blood of the Passover lamb for salvation from death.
These little children who were saved by circumcision, by the blood of the Passover lamb and by the crossing of the Red Sea, came to know the meaning of all these things later on when they grew up. Nevertheless, they received salvation freely in their childhood through the belief of their parents in God's promises and covenants with men. When the children grew up, they entered into this belief practically.