Can an infant be a Christian?

[Ransom]

No one goes to hell for the sins of Adam...

Pelagius is glad to hear it. However, "sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).

"Original sin" means that the guilt of Adam is imputed to his descendants. Have a care when you deny original sin, following Pelagius by denying that one person can bear guilt for the sins of another. Because what you are doing is undermining the foundations of the doctrine of salvation.

‭For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:17-19)​

Adam was the federal head of the human race, and his guilt for the fall was imputed to all people who are part of his family by birth, resulting in condemnation: "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22).

But Jesus Christ is the federal head of the church, and his perfect righteousness is imputed to all people who are part of his family by the new birth, resulting in eternal life: "so also in Christ shall all be made alive." What Adam did to his people, Christ undid for his.

If an infant were to die before having the opportunity to sin in word, thought, or deed, then he would be blameless for his own sins, but still accounted guilty of Adam's. That child needs to have Christ's righteousness imputed for forgiveness of Adam s imputed guilt. There is a thoughtful and persuasive case to be made for infant salvation, but nonetheless, the bottom line is that we cannot know in this life which babies have been given to Christ. That is a mystery yet to be revealed.

 

[Ekklesian]

In answer to the title of the thread...if your definition of a Christian is one who is indeed saved by grace through faith, then yes, an infant can be a Christian.

 

[ALAYMAN]

"Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18). If God gave faith to an infant, how could anyone tell? This is just "we can't know the fate of infants who die in infancy for certain" with extra steps.

Right, and Ekklesian doesn’t know either, but he seems to be leaning heavily into intimating that those babies born to believers are specially chosen as the elect, with less evidence than is probably able to be conjured by those advocating for an infant soteriological position espoused by the likes of Spurgeon’s/Macarthur et al.

 

[Ekklesian]

Ekklesian doesn’t know either, but he seems to be leaning heavily into intimating that those babies born to believers are specially chosen as the elect

Riiiiiiiiight, 'cause...

God's purpose, and His purpose alone, is the determining factor in election. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

...sounds a LOT like 'babies born to believers are specially chosen as the elect.'

 

[ALAYMAN]

Riiiiiiiiight, 'cause...


...sounds a LOT like 'babies born to believers are specially chosen as the elect.'

So you’re reformed, but not Canons of Dort reformed?

 

[Ekklesian]

So you’re reformed, but not Canons of Dort reformed?

There is no council or creed or confession that I have read, except for The Apostles' Creed, in which every single statement rings true.

So, no, we can't presume election in the infants of believers. Why withold baptism from them if we could?

But the question about how infants are saved, is really about how anyone is saved. The agony over the thought of the eternal state of a child that was taken is due in large part over 'ghost stories,' that is, the thinking that the spirit of a child is a child itself.

I think once that superstition is dispelled, then much of the difficulty with the thought of unelect infants is dispelled as well. At least, that has been my experience.