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Originally Posted by shackleton  It seems like for the first 1500 years up until the reformation baptism of infants was done to take away the sins of the many dieing babies, and thus regenerate them. They understood total depravity and original sin and did not want their babies to be lost if they died in infancy or at birth, at least this is how it seems. So when or who first came up with the idea of baptism as circumcision that is ascribed to now by modern reformed and Presbyterian folks? |
Well, the Scriptures did of course. I don't have the reference handy but there is at least one reference in early Church History to the baptism of children as a Covenantal thing.
I'll let some Church History heavyweights answer the details but the Swiss Reformation was the place where the Sacraments were Biblically recovered as far as I know.