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Biblical Infant Baptism & Protestant Divisions

Biblical Infant Baptism & Protestant Divisions

Last updated on: June 13, 2026 at 1:07 pm by Dave Armstrong

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Biblical Infant Baptism & Protestant Divisions 2026-06-13T13:07:58-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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This is the transcript of the initial portion of the video, Jordan Cooper vs. Gavin Ortlund & the Infant Baptism Debate (9-19-25).

Rev. Dr. Jordan Cooper is a Lutheran pastor who hosts the YouTube channel Just & Sinner, which currently has 72,000 subscribers. Reformed Baptist Dr. Gavin Ortlund runs the channel Truth Unites, which has 137,000 subscribers. They have engaged in an ongoing lively back-and-forth on the doctrine of baptism: sometimes appearing together in videos and other times making friendly reply-videos to each other. It seems to be a “hot” topic on YouTube these days, and it always has been within Protestantism.

I respect the work and the demeanor of these two men, and the fact that neither one is anti-Catholic: that is, they don’t deny that Catholicism is a form of Christianity, just as other Protestant denominations and the Eastern Orthodox are. It’s a breath of fresh air, given so many hostile apologists I have dealt with over 35 years of Catholic apologetics: the last 28 online. I’ve replied to both many times in writing, on my blog, and now that I am on YouTube, I will continue responding to both of them in videos, because I want to interact with the best opponents, not the worst or the unqualified folks. It’s a friendly “in-house” dialogue.

Today I’m an ally of Rev. Cooper over against Dr. Ortlund, because he defends infant baptism, and his Lutheran view is, of course, very similar to my Catholic view. Dr. Ortlund goes against most of his fellow Calvinists in holding to an adult believer’s baptism: the outlook I used to hold, myself. I had been baptized as a Methodist when I was a baby. But in 1982 I acted consistently my Baptist-like views on baptism and did what I thought was a “baptism” in nice warm water in a big tub.

Let’s talk about household baptism . . .

I’d like to strengthen the case Rev. Cooper makes regarding household baptisms in the New Testament – including very likely, also infant baptisms — with some data from history. He says in his video, “Five Reasons Why Babies Should be Baptized” – dated March 28th, 2017, with over 77,000 views, from 5:59 through 7:16:

Scripture speaks repeatedly about household baptisms. Many people say there are no examples in Scripture at all of infant baptisms and that in Scripture everyone who believes in Jesus is baptized — they repent, they believe and then they’re baptized. But scripture actually has several examples of . . . several households that are baptized, and we see several instances where someone is baptized and then following their baptism, their entire household receives the gift of baptism as well.

So we see the examples of Lydia in Acts 16:15, the Philippian Jailer acts 16:33-34, Stephanas: 1 Corinthians 1:16, and Cornelius: Acts 11:14 [cf. 10:47-48], and these are just some examples of people that we know had households, which means they had children, and as soon as they received the gift of baptism, the children received it as well. We don’t have any examples of somebody in Scripture who we know has children . . . converted to the faith and then don’t baptize their children.

Now, we don’t know how big their households were; how many kids they had, or exactly what ages they are, but we see the principle that when somebody receives the gift of baptism, they bring their family to the font and they receive the gift of baptism as well, as they join together into the family of God. Following up on Rev. Cooper’s examples, here are all the passages I have found in the New Testament that describe baptisms of entire households:

Acts 10:47-48 (RSV) “Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” [48] And he commanded them [that is, Cornelius and “his kinsmen”: 10:24] to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. . . . .

Then in Acts 11:13-14 Peter recalled how Cornlius had said to him that an “angel” said that he (Peter) would “declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.”

Acts 16:14-15 . . . Lydia, . . . was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul. [15] . . . she was baptized, with her household, . . .

Acts 16:33-34 . . . he [the Philippian jailer] was baptized at once, with all his family. [34] . . . and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.

1 Corinthians 1:16 I did baptize also the household of Steph’anas. . . .

Entire Households Being Saved

In four other passages, entire households are referred to in a similar way as being saved:

Luke 19:9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, . . .”

John 4:53 . . . he himself believed, and all his household.

Acts 16:31 And they [Paul and Silas] said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 18:8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his household; . . .

Moreover, at least ten biblical passages directly connect “household” and “children”. I won’t read all of ‘em, but we’ll list them on the screen: Genesis 18:19; 31:41; 36:6; 45:9-11; 47:12; Numbers 18:11; 1 Chronicles 10:6; Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:30; 1 Timothy 3:12.

The argument against infant baptism has to grapple with this biblical data. It’s very difficult to assert that none of these households included children, including babies, infants, toddlers, etc. That’s the sort of “universal negative” statement that comes back to haunt almost everyone who makes it. But if the households did include them, on the other hand, infant baptism is clearly proven from the Bible, before we even get to historical practice. Once the inspired Word of God speaks, the case is closed, whatever the earliest disciples of Christ may have practiced in the early days.

In ancient Israel a household included children

On a Reddit AskHistorians page (“What was the average number of children a Christian family had around 0 – 100 A.D.?”), one of the historians stated: “Ancient Hebrew peasant families typically had 4-8 children, . . .”

Leo Perdue, in his book, Families in Ancient Israel (Westminster John Knox Press: 1997, p.175) observed:

Those who belong to the family household are mentioned a number of times in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 7:1, 7; 36:6; 45:10; cf. Gen. 46:26; Ex. 20:8-10, 17; Deut. 5:12-15, 21; Josh. 7:16-18; Judg. 6:11, 27, 30; 8:20). These texts indicate that the family household was primarily a kinship system that included . . . adult male children and their wives and children, unmarried children, and widowed and divorced adult daughters who may have had children.

This makes it all the more likely that children would typically be present in a household in biblical times. In sum, it’s quite likely that baptisms of entire households 2000 years ago in Israel would include baptisms of infants, at least in some cases, if not in all. Conversely, it’s exceedingly unlikely that baptisms of entire households would never include children.

Therefore, infants (in the greatest likelihood; almost certainly, I submit) were baptized. Anyone, therefore, who claims to hold the Bible as a supreme authority can’t, I submit, with all due respect, categorically say that infant baptism is unbiblical, improper, or impermissible.

Related Web Page

Baptism and Sacramentalism

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Summary: In this video we agree with and expand upon an argument from Lutheran Rev. Jordan Cooper about household baptisms in the NT as an argument in favor of infant baptism.

Baptism and Sacramentalism

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