Except Water and Spirit

Catholics have long held the need for babies to be baptized, stating they can be lost. Their idea is that Jesus said we must be born of water and spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven. They say this would include babes since Jesus made no exceptions.

This teaching is off, since Jesus required two parts to the New birth.

Water and Spirit.

Catholics teach the priest lays hands on the baby to give the Holy Spirit, but this is a deviation from scripture.

Act 19:2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Belief was one of the prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit.

Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Faith was present when giving the Holy Spirit.

As in Acts 19, they believed and were baptized, then Paul laid hands and passed gifts to demonstrate the Spirit was present just as promised.

Tongues were a sign to unbelievers, so in Acts 19 they believed in Christ and baptism, but needed proof of the existence of the Holy Spirit. To be baptized they did not have to have the Holy Spirit yet.

There does not seem to be an exception in New Testament scripture.

Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

It seems that the Holy Spirit came through the hearing of faith, which a babe can't receive.

The point is, infant baptism does no good if the babe has not been born of Spirit also, which requires hearing the Gospel as well as being baptized in water.

Christ's except clause requires both, which requires hearing the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit could fall upon people as a sign, but to be sealed it required hearing the Gospel and baptism.