The Spiritual Condition of Infants

A Biblical-Historical Survey and Systematic Proposal

Adam Harwood

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781608998449
  9781498258012
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621892984
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

What is the spiritual condition of infants? According to the Augustinian-Calvinist view, all people inherit from the first Adam both a sinful nature and his guilt. The result is that all infants are subject to the judgment of God against their nature before they knowingly commit any sinful actions. But is this the clear teaching of Scripture? In The Spiritual Condition of Infants, Adam Harwood examines ten relevant biblical texts and the writings of sixteen theologians in order to clarify the spiritual condition of infants. Although no passage explicitly states the spiritual condition of infants, each text makes contributions by addressing the doctrines of man, sin, the church, and salvation. If this biblical-historical analysis exposes the traditional Augustinian-Calvinist view to be inadequate, then is it possible to construct an alternate view of the spiritual condition of infants? Such a view should remain faithful to the biblical emphasis on humankind's connection to Adam and his sin but also recognize the guilt and condemnation of an individual only in the manner and time that God does in Scripture. That is the aim of this book.

Historical Section

In this part of the book, I will survey the views of pastors and teachers who have addressed the spiritual condition of infants throughout church history. I will consider church fathers from both the Eastern (Irenaeus, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) and the Western (Tertullian and Cyprian) traditions. Next I will consider the view of Augustine, who has undoubtedly been the most influential figure on this subject. Due to space constraints and their restatement of previous positions, I will not consider any viewpoints from the medieval period, which dates from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. The study will resume with representatives from the reforming movement, which can loosely be characterized as magisterial reformers (Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin) and Anabaptist reformers (Hubmaier and Marpeck). The historical survey will conclude with the following Baptist representatives from the nineteenth century (James P. Boyce, A. H. Strong, and E. Y. Mullins) and twentieth century (William Hendricks and Millard Erickson).

11

The Eastern Church Fathers (Irenaeus, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa)

The theological world of the patristic period can be roughly divided into the Eastern and Western traditions. Some of the differences between these traditions are widely known. As examples, the Eastern fathers tended to read and write in Greek, but the Western fathers worked in Latin; the Eastern fathers thought of salvation in terms of theosis, deification, or divinization, but the Western fathers thought in terms of justification. Another major distinction is that Eastern theologians denied the idea of inherited guilt, but Western theologians affirmed it. Consider this summary by the International Theological Commission of the Roman Catholic Church, “For the Greek Fathers, as the consequence of Adam’s sin, human beings inherited corruption, possibility and mortality, from which they could be restored by a process of deification made possible through the redemptive work of Christ. The idea of inheritance of sin or guilt—common in the western tradition—was foreign to this perspective since in their view sin could only be a free, personal act.”1

In this chapter, I will examine some of the writings of Irenaeus, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa in order to determine the views of these pre-Augustinian, Eastern theologians on the spiritual condition of infants. I will attempt to demonstrate by their writings that these Eastern theologians considered infants to be free from the guilt and condemnation of Adam’s sin. These three theologians are only representatives of the Eastern view. Other writings could be surveyed for their statements on the spiritual condition of infants. Consider, for example, the following remark from John Chrysostom (374–407): “We do baptize infants, although they are not guilty of any sins.”2

Irenaeus

Robert M. Grant calls Irenaeus of Lyon (ca. 140–200) “the most important Christian controversialist and theologian” between the time of the apostles and the time of Origen.3 He was familiar with most of the New Testament and the writings of the apostolic fathers. Irenaeus knew Justin, Tatian, and Theophilus. Irenaeus had met Polycarp, a disciple of John, and had served as the second bishop of Lyon, a city in present-day southern France.

The theological viewpoint of Irenaeus was shaped in reaction to the heresy of Gnosticism, which taught that the material world was the result of an error by a pair of aeons.4 According to this system, the world should not exist and needs to be redeemed. Against this wrongheaded view of the world and the origin of sin, Irenaeus affirms that the Creator God sent his Son to redeem fallen humanity. In Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, Irenaeus sketched the biblical storyline of God as a good and transcendent creator and man as the one who rebelled against God’s commands.5

How did Irenaeus understand the original state of humanity prior to the fall and the subsequent need for redemption? Should his view of the pre-fall condition of humanity be translated into his understanding of the spiritual condition of infants? Although not explicitly about infants, the following passage by Irenaeus seems to correlate Adam and Eve’s status prior to the fall with that of the innocence and purity of childhood:

Adam and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed, for they were innocent and had only thoughts that were pure, like those of children. Nothing entered their minds that could cause evil desires or shameful impulses to take birth in their souls. They still retained the integrity of their nature because that which had been breathed into them at the moment of creation was the breath of life. Now, as long as this breath retained its intensity and force, it sheltered their thought and their mind from evil. That is why they embraced each other with caresses, just like children.6

Based on the passage above, O. M. Bakke thinks that Irenaeus saw a relationship between Adam and Eve’s lack of sexual desire and the innocence of children.7 It could be argued that the statements comparing Adam and Eve with children were meant only euphemistically rather than as a precise theological statement on the spiritual condition of children. But even if the phases are understood as euphemisms, they still carry the meaning that childhood is a time of innocence and purity. Further, the passage speaks of Adam and Eve as being “sheltered” from evil.

In addition to his view of the human condition prior to the fall, it is helpful to consider his view of the atonement. Irenaeus is probably best known for his view of salvation, which is known as recapitulation. For Irenaeus, Adam was the prototype of humanity and the cross of Christ c...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introductory Section
• Biblical Section
• Historical Section
• Conclusion
• Bibliography