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Baptism and Circumcision

Is New Testament Baptism Analogous To Old Testament Circumcision?

 Among some Christians, an analogy is drawn between circumcision in the Old

Testament and baptism in the New Testament, and this analogy is used to justify thebaptism of infants in Christian households.

The history of this circumcision/baptism analogy among Protestants can be traced backat least to the Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1562 as an expression of Reformedbeliefs. In answer to Question #74 - "Are infants also to be baptised?", this answer isgiven: "Yes; for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and peopleof God, and both redemption from sin and the Holy Ghost, who works faith, are thoughthe blood of Christ promised to them no less than to their parents, they are also byBaptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be ingrafted into the Christian Church, anddistinguished from the children of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Testament byCircumcision, in place of which in the New Testament Baptism is appointed". This is

basically how Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, and some other denominations have viewed baptism for hundreds of years, but the analogy simply failsthe test of Scripture. (Lutherans and Roman Catholics view infant baptism somewhatdifferently, believing that the act of baptism actually regenerates.)

The Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God, adopted in 1645, states, inthe section on baptism, "The seed and posterity of the faithful born within the churchhave, by their birth, interest in the covenant and right to the seal of it, and to theoutward privileges of the church, under the gospel, not less than the children of  Abraham in the time of the Old Testament". This Anglican view of baptism considerschildren of Christian believers today as belonging to the visible church by virtue of their birth and believes that they should receive baptism as the sign and seal of thecovenant just as the eight-day-old infants of Israelites did in the Old Testament.

However, baptism in New Testament times is not analagous to circumcision in OldTestament times and certainly does not "supersede" it, as some have suggested. TheIsraelites were both circumcised and baptised when they came out of Egypt. According to Joshua 5:5, all the people who came out of Egypt were circumcised andaccording to Exodus 12:48, no uncircumcised person was to eat the passover. Thiscircumcision is a distinct matter from the Israelites passing through the Red Sea inExodus 14, of which Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:2, "all were baptised unto Moses inthe cloud and in the sea". Also, in Colossians 2:11-12, "circumcision not done byhand" and baptism both have their application to the Christian. Circumcision is the

cutting off of the flesh, while baptism is burial with Christ, as we see in these twoverses.

Christian author James B. Stoney distinguishes helpfully between baptism andcircumcision, writing as to Colossians 2:11-12: "'Circumcised with the circumcision ...of Christ'. That is what God did on the cross. And now I am 'buried with him inbaptism'". (From Ministry by J. B. Stoney , New Series, volume 3, page 131). Stoneyalso writes as to these verses, "Now you get two things; one is circumcision - the cross,the other is baptism". (Ministry by J. B. Stoney , New Series, volume 5, page 88).

In a Bible study, when Christian teacher James Taylor is asked about the the differencebetween circumcision and baptism, he replies: "Circumcision deals with the flesh

viewed in its power. Baptism refers to what is outside you; you reckon yourselves dead

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indeed to sin. It is what is outside of you, but circumcision is what is inside you; thework of the flesh inside." (FromMinistry by J. Taylor , New Series, volume 14, page 9).

See also Romans 2:29, which reads, "but he is a Jew who is so inwardly; andcircumcision, of the heart, in spirit, not in letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God". Clearly circumcision (of the heart) and baptism both apply to New TestamentChristians.

Consider also Acts 15, where "certain persons, having come down from Judea, taughtthe brethren, If ye shall not have been circumcised according to the custom of Moses,ye cannot be saved". A council was arranged to consider this matter and there is not asingle mention of baptism in this chapter. Surely if baptism is the New Testamentcounterpart of circumcision, the whole question could have been resolved simply bystating that the Gentile believers had been baptised!

In conclusion, it is clear that the attempt to liken New Testament baptism to OldTestament circumcision is not Biblically sound, and should not be used, as the 1562

Heidelberg Catechism and the 1645 Westminster Directory use it, to justify baptisinginfants in a believer's household.

Stephen Hesterman