Children in the Bible and the Ancient World by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

This means the children must belong ‘inside,’ that is, they cannot be excluded. Baptism must be the essential means by which inclusion takes place, even if in (some?) mixed marriages Paul accepts a transitional, but real, belonging that will later be sealed through baptism.

Conclusions

In Galatians the push against circumcision leads more directly to imagining the inclusion of all children through baptism. In 1 Cor 5–7, Paul’s focus seems more on the Church as impermeable body, into which only the pure can belong, and so on the spot a means of recognising the children as part of the body of Christ is advanced. These issues remained to be worked out completely in Paul’s churches. Were children baptised in all of Paul’s churches? Were even infants baptised? It seems they must have been, since they are a part of the community of the holy, the body of Christ. Yet within mixed marriages we cannot be certain of the status of children and it seems Paul was willing to grant entry to children in these hybrid situations in the hope, I would argue, that at some point they themselves would enter the Church on their own or through their parents’ accord.

Given that circumcision brought boys into the Jewish community as infants and Greco-Roman children participated in household rites from a young age, why would children not participate in the rituals of the Church from a young age? There existed in antiquity no modern concerns about children deciding on their faith for themselves, just a desire to incorporate them into the family and larger community. And if the Church is family, why would they not be incorporated at the earliest possible point? The children were present in Paul’s churches, and they became members through baptism, probably baptised immediately after birth or with their families, however old they were, when their parents became members of Paul’s churches. 1 Cor 7:12–14 does not, it seems to me, overturn this basic scenario, except to suggest that children of mixed marriages were sometimes considered nascent members, until some later point at which formal entry through baptism took place, either by their own or their parents’ choice, or until they made the decision to leave the community.

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