Matthew 19:15

Sunday, 3 May 2026   And He laid His hands on them and departed from there. Matthew 19:15   “And having laid the hands on them, He went thence.” (CG)   In the previous verse, Jesus told the disciples they should not prohibit the little children from coming to Him because it is those like them to whom belong the kingdom of the heavens. Matthew next records, “And having laid the hands on them, He went thence.”   Mark, as before, gives a fuller rendering of the event, saying, “And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” The fact that Jesus laid His hands on the children means that He blessed them. It wasn’t just that He rubbed their heads and told them they were cute.   What Matthew says is fully sufficient to convey implicitly that which Mark makes explicit. The reason for the difference is that a Jewish audience would know very well what the laying on of hands signified, whereas a Gentile audience may need a fuller explanation.   In verse 19:13, it said the children were brought so that Jesus might put His hands on them and pray. Because of this, scholars struggle to connect those words with what Jesus does here. For example, Bengel says, “Our Lord is not said to have prayed, as He had been asked to do in Matthew 19:13, by those forsooth who were not fully aware of His oneness with the Father.”   Bengel is saying that Jesus didn’t need to pray because He is One with the Father. That is faulty logic. Elsewhere, Jesus prays to the Father. The Pulpit Commentary follows suit with Bengel’s logic, saying, “Doubtless there was meaning in this omission. In conferring blessing he was acting in his Divine nature, and had no need of prayer.”   That assumes too much. The people did not know Jesus was God incarnate. The disciples struggled with this until it became explicit after the resurrection. Rather, the act of blessing is to be taken as an act of prayer. This would be true with any person who blesses another. The very act of blessing in this context implies that the words are a petition to God for the blessing to be realized.   Life application: Of this verse, Charles Ellicott says –   “The words and the act have rightly been regarded, as in the Baptismal Office of the Church of England, as the true warrant for infant baptism. More than doubtful passages in the Acts and Epistles; more than the authority, real or supposed, of primitive antiquity; more than the legal fiction that they fulfil the condition of baptism by their sponsors—they justify the Church of Christ at large in commending infants, as such, to the blessing of their Father. The blessing and the prayer of Christ cannot be regarded as a mere sympathising compliance with the fond wishes of the parents, and if infants were capable of spiritual blessings then, why, it may well be asked, should they be thought incapable now?”   Ellicott and others see Jesus’ act in these verses as justification for infant baptism. And yet, to him, the steady stream of baptisms which follow belief for every person in the book of Acts, along with the prescriptive words found in the epistles, are “doubtful” in justifying immersion after belief? How can that be?   Jesus explicitly said to make disciples and baptize them, implying belief followed by baptism. His words are after the resurrection and are to be taken as a prescriptive command.   Further, Jesus did not baptize the children in this passage. He took them in His arms, and He blessed them. Blessing is not baptism. At best, an infant can be prayed over and dedicated to God. This is appropriate, and it is an act for the parents to openly make a commitment to raise their children in a godly, Christian manner. There is nothing wrong and everything right about that.   But to somehow try to justify infant baptism, while also denying the need for believers’ baptism based on the Bible, is an impossible task because such a doctrine cannot be inferred, much less be found in Scripture.   Just because tradition is introduced into a church or denomination, it cannot be held as acceptable, no matter how long it has been practiced, if it does not conform to what the Bible says. If you have never been scripturally baptized after putting your faith in Jesus, it is time to do so. The Lord commanded it, the book of Acts makes it a normative event, and the epistles confirm that it is the proper practice to follow for all who believe.   O God, thank You that Jesus died, was interred, and rose again! In honor of that wonderfully good news, help us to be obedient to follow Him in believers’ baptism, just as He instructed us to do. Praises to You, O God, for what You have done in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.