John Owen on Baptism
Infants included, as a covenant sign
Q. To whom doth this sacrament belong? A. Unto all to whom the promise of the covenant is made; that is, to believers, and to their seed.
THE POSITION
Infants of believers are baptised, on the covenant argument rather than on any efficacy in the rite: the sacrament belongs to all to whom the promise of the covenant is made, believers and their seed, and Owen's proofs run through the circumcision of Abraham's household as well as Acts 2:39. He is a paedobaptist inside Congregationalist polity — a combination unusual enough that both halves need stating, since gathered-church principles more often ran the other way.
39 This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
7 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
The most formidable English Puritan theologian: Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford under Cromwell, later a nonconformist pastor in London. This entry rests on The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (1647), The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677), Pneumatologia and the Discourse of Spiritual Gifts (1674), and the Two Short Catechisms (1645), read in the Goold edition of the Works.
Cite this page
"John Owen on Baptism", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/owen/baptism (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/owen/baptism).