Question:
Answer:
St. Justin Martyr was born around A.D. 100 and martyred about the year 165. He discussed baptism in his writings, including chapters 61 and 65 of his First Apology, although he did not address infant baptism in particular.
Apparently it wasn’t an issue in his writings. We say “apparently” because St. Irenaeus, who was born around A.D. 140—i.e., during St. Justin’s lifetime—affirms the practice of infant baptism in his magnum opus Against Heresies, which he wrote about A.D. 189. As we note in our “Early Teachings on Infant Baptism” tract:
. . . [Early Church] Fathers raised in Christian homes (such as Irenaeus) would hardly have upheld infant baptism as apostolic if their own baptisms had been deferred until the age of reason.
For example, infant baptism is assumed in Irenaeus’ writings . . . since he affirms both that regeneration happens in baptism, and also that Jesus came so even infants could be regenerated. Since he was born in a Christian home in Smyrna around the year 140, this means he was probably baptized around 140. He was also probably baptized by the bishop of Smyrna at that time—Polycarp, a personal disciple of the apostle John, who had died only a few decades before.
For more information on this issue, including citations from the writings of St. Irenaeus and other early Church Fathers, see our aforementioned tract, as well as our related “Infant Baptism” tract.