The early
Reformers struggled with their doctrines of forensic justification, the nature
of man’s depravity, and other belief, with their acceptance of infant baptism,
even ascribing “infantile faith” to certain children, and as a result, often
contradicted their belief in total depravity and other key doctrines of
Reformation theology. J.V. Fesko, commenting on Calvin’s belief in the nature
of infantile faith in 1559 (only 5 years before his death) wrote:
By 1559, Calvin had moderated his position on
fides infantium and affirmed that,
though it is beyond human ability to understand how God accomplishes it,
infants can be regenerated at the earliest of ages. Calvin readily acknowledged
that all people are born with original sin and the pollution that it brings,
but he nonetheless believed that an infant either is unpleasing and hateful to
God or that it is justified in His sight. In support of this claim, Calvin offers
John the Baptist as one who was “sanctified in his mother’s womb—something he
could do to others.” Calvin points out that since John could be filled with the
Holy Spirit while yet unborn, “let us not attempt, then, to impose a law upon God
to keep him from sanctifying whom he pleases, just as he sanctified this child”
(Institutes, 4.16.17).
Critics of this argument countered that it
was impossible for an infant to have either faith or repentance. Calvin
responded: “Infants are baptized into future repentance and faith, even though
these have not yet been formed in them, the seed of both lies hidden within
them by the secret working of the Spirit” (Institutes,
4.16.20). (J.V. Fesko, Word, Water, and
Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Reformation
Heritage Press, 2010], 92)
In light of
such theological nonsense (which is what the theology of Calvin himself and Calvinism truly are [see An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology]), I will say this:
Thank goodness for the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph
Smith.