Did Augustine Invent Infant Baptism?

What did the preacher say?

At a baptism service, a preacher said this:

• Augustine read Psalm 51 and decided that all babies are born sinners.
• Many babies died in those days. So Augustine suggested baptising them quickly, so they would not go to hell.
• It was “only a suggestion,” and “people ran with it.”
• Rich families paid a priest to come and baptise their dying babies.

This page does not name the preacher or the church. It does not say that baptising babies is right. A preacher may disagree with it and explain why from the Bible. This page asks only one thing: is the history true?

Six points

1. Some of it is true. Augustine taught that babies are born with sin. He made baptising babies seem more urgent.
2. But he did not start it. Christians wrote about baptising babies about 150 years before he was born.
3. Augustine said it came from the apostles. He said the whole church had always done it.
4. Even the people who argued against Augustine agreed that babies should be baptised.
5. When Augustine was a boy, he was very sick. He asked to be baptised, and his mother hurried to do it.
6. You did not need a priest or money. In an emergency, any Christian could baptise.

The dates

Here are some Christian writers who lived before Augustine was born:

• About the year 200: Tertullian, in North Africa. He thought baptism should wait, “especially in the case of little children.” You cannot say “wait” about something that nobody is doing. So people were already baptising little children.
• About 215: a church book called the Apostolic Tradition. It says: baptise the little children first. If they cannot speak, their parents speak for them.
• About 245: Origen, in Palestine. He wrote: “The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants.”
• 253: Cyprian and 66 bishops, in North Africa. Someone asked: should we wait until a baby is eight days old? The bishops all said: no, do not wait.

Some people also point to Irenaeus, about 180. But experts do not agree whether he was speaking about baptism.

What did Augustine himself say?

Augustine did not say, “Let us start something new.” He said the opposite. He wrote that baptising babies is held by “the whole Church,” and was “handed down by apostolical authority.” That means: it came from the apostles.

Some people, called Pelagians, argued with Augustine. They said babies are not born with sin. But they still agreed that babies should be baptised. If Augustine had invented it, they would have said so. They did not.

Augustine as a boy

Augustine wrote a book about his life, called the Confessions. He says that when he was a boy, he became very sick. He thought he would die. He asked his mother and the church to baptise him. His mother hurried to arrange it. But he got better, so they waited. He was baptised much later, when he was 32 years old.

Did rich people pay priests?

No. In an emergency, you did not need a priest.

• About 200, Tertullian wrote that in an emergency, ordinary Christians may baptise.
• About 306, a church meeting in Spain said the same. It also said: people must not give money at baptism. The priest must not seem to sell God’s gift.
• A grave stone in Rome tells of a little boy who was dying. His grandmother asked the church to baptise him.
• In the Middle Ages, priests taught midwives (the women who help at births) how to baptise a baby in danger.

Also, Augustine lived about 1,600 years ago. That is not “thousands of years ago.”

Should preachers check their facts?

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

James 3:1 · World English Bible

In simple words: Teachers have a big responsibility. God will judge them more carefully.

A doctor must know medicine. An engineer must know how to make a building safe. A preacher’s words shape what people believe, and what they teach their children. So a preacher should check the facts too.

Either the preacher did not check, or he knew and said it anyway. We cannot know which. Both are a problem.

What would an honest sermon sound like?

This is honest. It gives the dates. Then it gives the preacher’s opinion. The people can decide for themselves.

Read it yourself

• Read Augustine, Confessions, Book 1, chapter 11. It is short.
• Read Cyprian’s letter to Fidus (Letter 64). It is free online.
• Next time someone tells you when a church practice began, ask kindly: “What is the oldest writing about it?”

The Bible verse in a box on this page comes from the World English Bible, a modern translation that is free for everyone to use. The full dossier quotes it from the Authorised (King James) Version.