When did some churches and denominations start baptizing infants and what were their reasons for doing so?
Only a few generations passed in the life of the early church, when some leaders began to teach that sins are actually forgiven by means of baptism. Because baptism and the moment of salvation are seen so closely together in the Scriptures, it was easy to come to that conclusion. Soon, salvation itself was believed to come through the act of baptism. If salvation no longer depended upon an act of faith on the part of the convert, and if the act of baptism was actually the means of salvation, logically, the sooner one was baptized, the better. Thus, infant baptism came about. In fact, if the life of the mother or child was in peril during or prior to childbirth, some even sought ways of baptizing ‘in utero’. Of course, we believe the Bible teaches that baptism follows salvation and signifies the washing away of all sin. The assurance of the forgiveness of sin can occur the moment a person trusts in Christ and is born again. Our sins are forgiven on the basis of the following word: “But
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