Is Infant Baptism Analogous to Circumcision of Infants?

This presentation will show that the Old Covenant prefigures Christian Baptism in the New Covenant as the "Rite of Initiation." See the scripture in the "RELEVANT SCRIPTURE COMMENT that is pinned to the Top of this videos comments thread.

If (A) Baptism is analogus to (B) Circumcision as a "Rite of Initiation" then (A) = (B).
If (C) Circumcision is performed on the 8th day, then A = B = C
If (D) Baptism of infants is a Rite of Initiation, then A = B = C = D

If you believe Baptism is symbolic, then that person who is baptized, has received the Holy Symbolic.

Apologetic #1
*INFANT BAPTISM is not found in scripture.*

~ Both Christian Baptism and Jewish Circumcision are analogus as "Rites of Initiation." Jews were circumcised on the 8th day to bring them into the Covenant (we call the Old Covenant). Christians who are born to Catholic parents also Baptize their infants to bring them into the New Covenant instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. It is in Baptism that we receive the Holy Spirit and Fire, sanctifying grace and the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love (Agape in the Greek), see Romans 5:1-5, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

Paul tells us that "we are the true circumcision and worship in spirit and in truth, (Phil 3:3, 1 John 4:24-25). In Baptism, we receive the Circumcision of Christ, the circumcision not made with hands, (Colossians 2:11). Baptism is the Circumcision of Christ who Himself was circumcised on the 8th day, (Colossians 2:12, Luke 2:21). We are not only buried with Him, and raised with Him, but we are Baptised INTO Christ, (Colossians 2:12). We are saved (1 Peter 3:21), born-again (John 3:3), sanctified and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Please give me the Chapter and Verse where there is a PROHIBITION to Baptism of Infants.
You will be waiting for that answer forever and ever.

Apologetic #2
A Person must be able to Repent, Believe and then be Baptized, (Acts 2:38).

~ We agree. Yet the infant of Jewish parents,who is circumcised on the 8th day, is Circumcised to bring them into the Covenant. The same holds true for the Catholic Infant. Baptism brings them into the New Covenant. Baptism and Circumcision are done through the Faith of the Parents and Godparents, ON THEIR PARENTAL AUTHORITY GIVEN THEM BY GOD HIMSELF, (Deuteronomy 6:4-8, Ephesians 6:4).

Infants have no sin other than the stain of Original Sin and that is washed away as the infant receives the Holy Spirit of Truth and sanctifying grace; the infant is sealed with the Holy Spirit. Parents are obligated to bring their children up in the faith. Once they are of the age of reason, Children are equipped by their parents, teachers, and leaders of the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, to live in Obedience to Christ and His Commandments because in their Baptism they are declared and MADE righteous.

Apologetic #3
Babies havent committed any sins.

~ We agree, yet the Catholic Church teaches we are all born with the stain of Original Sin. Christ came into the world to take away all our sins and that is done in Baptism if you are an adult, being validly Baptized then the stain of Original Sin and all sins are washed away. Whether Baptized as an adult or an infant, you are received into Covenant relationship/membership in the family of God. If you do not believe in original sin, that, I suggest may be a good subject for you to study. We are born the Old Adam and once we are Baptized we are sealed with the Holy Spirit INTO CHRIST. Death came into the world because of the sin of Adam, we receive newness of life, through Christ, who sanctified the waters of Baptism.

update 8/18/2021
Today my son had requested a doctor consultation to have a circumcision on his newborn child. A doctor came into his wife's hospital room and told them that they should consider circumcizing their newborn on the 8th day as that is how God commanded the Jews to perform circumcision. LOL.

Is Baptism Analogous to Circumcision of Infants?

[Ryan_Zell]

The example of Timothy’s mother and grandmother evokes this statement in the Catechism: “Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the ‘first heralds’ for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life” (CCC 2225).

[Ryan_Zell]

*John Crystostom Commentary on Colossians.*

Ver. 11. “In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ.” See how near he is come to the thing. He saith, “In the putting” quite away, not putting off merely. “The body of sins.” He means, “the old life.” He is continually adverting to this in different ways, as he said above, “Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and reconciled us who were alienated, ” that we should be “holy and without blemish.” (Col. i. 13, 21.) No longer, he saith, is the circumcision with the knife, but in Christ Himself; for no hand imparts this circumcision, as is the case there, but the Spirit. It circumciseth not a part, but the whole man. It is the body both in the one and the other case, but in the one it is carnally, in the other it is spiritually circumcised; but not as the Jews, for ye have not put off flesh, but sins. When and where? In Baptism. And what he calls circumcision, he again calls burial. Observe how he again passes on to the subject of righteous doings; “of the sins, ” he saith, “of the flesh, ” the things they had done in the flesh. He speaks of a greater thing than circumcision, for they did not merely cast away that of which they were circumcised, but they destroyed it, they annihilated it.

Ver. 12. “Buried with him, ” he saith, “in Baptism, wherein ye were also raised with Him, through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” But it is not burial only: for behold what he says, “Wherein ye were also raised with Him, through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” He hath well said, “of faith, ” for it is all of faith. Ye believed that God is able to raise, and so ye were raised. Then note also His worthiness of belief, “Who raised Him, ” he saith, “from the dead.” He now shows the Resurrection. “And you who sometime were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did He quicken together with Him.” For ye lay under judgment of death. But even though ye died, it was a profitable death. Observe how again he shows what they deserved in the words he subjoins:

[Ryan_Zell]

Augustine: Faustus

Accordingly, when you ask why a Christian is not circumcised if Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, my reply is, that a Christian is not circumcised precisely for this reason, that what was prefigured by circumcision is fulfilled in Christ. Circumcision was the type of the removal of our fleshly nature, which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, and which the sacrament of baptism teaches us to look forward to in our own resurrection. The sacrament of the new life is not wholly discontinued, for our resurrection from the dead is still to come; but this sacrament has been improved by the substitution of baptism for circumcision, because now a pattern of the eternal life which is to come is afforded us in the resurrection of Christ, whereas formerly there was nothing of the kind. So, when you ask why a Christian does not keep the Sabbath, if Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, my reply is, that a Christian does not keep the Sabbath precisely because what was prefigured in the Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ. For we have our Sabbath in Him who said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

[Ryan_Zell]

St. AMBROSE of MILAN on Col 2:11

This, too, is plain, that in him who is baptized the Son of God is crucified. Indeed, our flesh could not eliminate sin unless it were crucified in Jesus Christ…. And to the Colossians he says, “Buried with him by baptism, wherein you also rose again with him.” This was written with the intent that we should believe that he is crucified in us, that our sins may be purged through him, that he, who alone can forgive sins, may nail to his cross the handwriting which was against us.

[jimd]

When was Abraham circumcised? Before he believed or after? Asking for a friend....

[cantrait]

Enjoyed your video Zell, makes sense.

[wendymitchell]

MORE LIES ZELL , WE DO NOT SAY JESUS SAID THIS BUT MEANT THAT.

[Ryan_Zell]

*RELEVANT SCRIPTURE* See the description box above for more information

Circumcision of infants is a Rite of Initiation; done to bring the 8 day old infant into Covenant membership.

*Philippians 3:3*
[3] For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Cf: Romans 2:28-29.

*Colossians 2:11-14*
[11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the *circumcision of Christ;*
[12] and you were *buried with him in baptism, * in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
[13] And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
[14] having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

*THE CIRCUMCISION of CHRIST is BAPTISM.*

PARENTS GIVEN AUTHORITY OVER THEIR CHILDREN.

*Deuteronomy 6:4-8*
[4] "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the Lord is one! [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6] These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 👉[7] You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.👈 [8] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

*Ephesians 6:4*
[4] Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

BAPTISM PREFIGURED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:

*Deuteronomy 10:16*
[16] Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

*Jeremiah 4:4*
[4:4] Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.”

*Jeremiah 9:25*
[25] “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised—

*Ezekiel 44:7-9*
[7] in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning it, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.
[8] And you have not kept charge of my holy things; but you have set foreigners to keep my charge in my sanctuary.

[9] “Therefore thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary.

*Ezekiel 36:25-27*
[25] I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
[26] A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
[27] And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

*Romans 2:28-29*
[28] For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is *true circumcision something external and physical.*
[29] He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God.

*Talmud Avodah Zarah.27a.13*
Rather, there is a difference between these two opinions with regard to a woman. According to the one who says that the halakha is derived from the verse: “And as for you, you shall keep My covenant, ” there is no reason to permit a woman to perform circumcision, as a woman is not subject to the mitzva of circumcision, and therefore she is not included in those who must keep God’s covenant. And according to the one who says that the halakha is derived from the verse: “He must be circumcised [himmol yimmol], ” there is reason to permit a woman to perform circumcision, *as a woman is considered as one who is naturally circumcised.*

*Romans 6:3-4*
[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized 👉into Christ Jesus👈 were baptized into his death?
[4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Parents:

Genesis 17:10-12 RSV
This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. [11] You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. [12] He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,

From the book On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil, bishop
By one death and resurrection the world was saved

When mankind was estranged from him by disobedience, God our Savior made a plan for raising us from our fall and restoring us to friendship with himself. According to this plan Christ came in the flesh, he showed us the gospel way of life, he suffered, died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead. He did this so that we could be saved by imitation of him, and recover our original status as sons of God by adoption.

To attain holiness, then, we must not only pattern our lives on Christ’s by being gentle, humble and patient, we must also imitate him in his death. Taking Christ for his model, Paul said that he wanted to become like him in his death in the hope that he too would be raised from death to life.

We imitate Christ’s death by being buried with him in baptism. If we ask what this kind of burial means and what benefit we may hope to derive from it, it means first of all making a complete break with our former way of life, and our Lord himself said that this cannot be done unless a man is born again. In other words, we have to begin a new life, and we cannot do so until our previous life has been brought to an end. When runners reach the turning point on a racecourse, they have to pause briefly before they can go back in the opposite direction. So also when we wish to reverse the direction of our lives there must be a pause, or a death, to mark the end of one life and the beginning of another.

Our descent into hell takes place when we imitate the burial of Christ by our baptism. The bodies of the baptized are in a sense buried in the water as a symbol of their renunciation of the sins of their unregenerate nature. As the Apostle says: The circumcision you have undergone is not an operation performed by human hands, but the complete stripping away of your unregenerate nature. This is the circumcision that Christ gave us, and it is accomplished by our burial with him in baptism. Baptism cleanses the soul from the pollution of worldly thoughts and inclinations: You will wash me,  says the psalmist,  and I shall be whiter than snow. We receive this saving baptism only once because there was only one death and one resurrection for the salvation of the world, and baptism is its symbol.