Can Infants Have Faith?

This question sits underneath the whole debate over infant baptism, and it turns on a deeper question: what is faith, and where does it come from? If faith is essentially an intellectual decision an adult makes—understanding the arguments and choosing to agree—then of course a baby cannot have it. But that is not how Scripture describes faith. Faith is trust, and it is a gift created by the Holy Spirit, not a product of mature reasoning (Ephesians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 12:3). And if faith is God’s gift worked by the Spirit, then the real question is not “is the infant capable enough?” but “is the Spirit able to give faith to an infant?"—and the answer is plainly yes.

Scripture actually speaks of infants and faith in striking ways. Jesus refers to “these little ones who believe in me” (Matthew 18:6)—little ones who believe. The psalmist says God made him trust “at my mother’s breasts” and was his God “from my mother’s womb” (Psalm 22:9-10). John the Baptist, still unborn, “leaped for joy” in his mother’s womb at the presence of the unborn Christ (Luke 1:41)—a response of the Spirit’s working before John could reason at all. And when people brought infants to Jesus and the disciples tried to stop them, Jesus was indignant: “let the little children come to me… for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). He does not treat children as too young for his kingdom; he holds them up as the model of how everyone must receive it.

There is a helpful reversal here. We tend to assume adults have the “advantage” in faith because we can understand. But Jesus says the opposite—that we must become like children to enter the kingdom (Matthew 18:3). An infant cannot argue, cannot boast, cannot contribute; it can only receive, utterly dependent. That is not a deficiency in faith; it is nearly a definition of it. The baby who simply rests in its parents’ arms is a truer picture of saving faith than the self-reliant adult.

So yes—by the power of the Holy Spirit, an infant can have faith, receiving in Baptism the very gift God delights to give. None of us, at any age, generates our own faith. We all, infant and elder alike, simply receive what God gives.