Early Christian Teaching on Exposing Infants
Early Christians condemned abandoning or exposing infants as wicked and often linked it to child murder. Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Lactantius all speak plainly against it, and several passages also stress God’s care for children. The Bible cards here mostly support that same concern for infants and the vulnerable.
122 early-church witnesses · 201 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about abandoning Infants?
Early Christian writings treat exposing or abandoning infants as a grave evil, not a normal family choice. Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Lactantius, and Minucius Felix all condemn it, and some say it amounts to child murder or leads to later abuse. Irenaeus, Hermas, and Cyprian also speak of infants as valued by God, which fits the wider Christian view that children should be protected and cared for.
The evidence is broad across the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and the Bible passages selected here mainly support the same pro-life and child-protecting pattern, though some are only background or typology rather than direct commands about exposure. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christian writers repeatedly call exposing infants wicked and, in some places, child murder.
- Justin Martyr says Christians had learned not to expose newborn children.
- Athenagoras and Lactantius treat exposure as the same kind of evil as killing.
- Several writers also stress that infants are precious to God and should be protected.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians reject exposing newborn children?
The supplied sources explicitly present infant exposure as wicked, immoral, or equivalent to child-murder. Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Lactantius all give direct anti-exposure language, with some also noting that Christians avoided the practice entirely.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
But as for us, we have learned that exposing newborn children is the behavior of wicked men; and this we have learned to avoid harming anyone and sinning against God. First, because we see that almost all exposed children (not just the girls, but also the boys) end up in prostitution. And just as the ancients are said to have raised herds of oxen, goats, sheep, or grazing horses, so now we see you raising children for this disgraceful purpose. As a result of this corruption, many females and hermaphrodites, as well as those committing unspeakable iniquities, are present in every nation. You collect payment, duties, and taxes from them, whom you ought to remove from your realm. Anyone who engages with such persons, besides the godless and shameful impurities, might unknowingly be involved with their own child, relative, or sibling. There are some who even prostitute their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy; these acts are attributed to the mother of the gods, and with each deity you honor, there is depicted a serpent, symbolizing a great secret and mystery. Indeed, the things you do openly and celebrate, as if divine light were overturned
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching
and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it.
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Tertullian, Apology Direct teaching
You first of all expose your children, that they may be taken up by any compassionate passer-by, to whom they are quite unknown;
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Minucius Felix, Octavius Direct teaching
...once the same as you. Formerly, while still blind and dull, we thought the same things as you: that Christians worshiped monsters, devoured infants, and mingled in incestuous banquets. And we did not understand that fables like these were always spread abroad by those newsmongers, and were never either inquired into or proved. Nor did we understand that, in so long a time, no one had appeared to betray their doings, and so obtain not only pardon for his crime, but also favor for its discovery. Moreover, we did not understand that it was so far from evil that, when a Christian was accused, he neither blushed nor feared, and only repented that he had not been one before. We, however, when we undertook to defend and protect sacrilegious and incestuous persons, and even parricides, did not think that these Christians were to be heard at all. Sometimes even, when we pretended to pity them, we were more cruelly violent against them. We tortured them when they confessed, so that they might deny, that is, so that they might not perish. We used a perverse inquisition against them, not to draw out the truth, but to compel a falsehood. And if anyone, because of greater weakness, overcome b
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
Can they be considered innocent who expose their own offspring as a prey to dogs, and as far as it depends upon themselves, kill them in a more cruel manner than if they had strangled them?
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
It is therefore as wicked to expose as it is to kill.
More related quotations from this section 4 shown
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Tertullian, Ad Nationes Supporting witness
In the first place, when you expose your infants to the mercy of others, or leave them for adoption to better parents than yourselves, do you forget what an opportunity for incest is furnished, how wide a scope is opened for its accidental commission?
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Supporting witness
And again [we fear to expose children], lest some of them be not picked up, but die, and we become murderers.
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
And that nothing might be wanting to aggravate the crime, infants also, in the arms of their parents, either carried or conducted, lost, while yet little ones, what in the very first beginning of their nativity they had gained.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Background
For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fœtus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it;
How did early Christians speak about babies who were exposed or abandoned?
These sources portray exposed infants as victims of cruelty, neglect, or injustice, not as disposable lives. Some writers also describe Christians rescuing or caring for abandoned children, while others say such abandonment was morally blameworthy.
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
And those who believed from the twelfth mountain, which was white, are these: they are like infant children, in whose hearts no evil begins. They did not know what wickedness is, but always remained like children. So then, without doubt, people like this live in the kingdom of God, because they did not defile the commandments of God in any way. Instead, they remained like children all the days of their life, with the same mind. All of you, then, who remain steadfast and become like children, Matthew 18:3, without doing evil, will be more honored than all those mentioned before. For all infants are honorable before God, and are first with Him. Blessed, then, are you who put away wickedness from yourselves and put on innocence. As the first of all, you will live to God.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Direct teaching
...imself. He came to help all through Himself—all, I say, who through Him are reborn to God—including infants, children, boys, youths, and old men. He went through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thereby sanctifying them; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of this age and becoming an example of piety, righteousness, and submission; a youth for youths, exemplifying and sanctifying them for the Lord. Likewise, He was an old man for old men, so He could be a perfect Master for everyone, not just through truth but also through age, sanctifying the elderly and becoming an example for them too. Finally, He faced death itself, that He might be "the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence," the Prince of life, existing before all and leading all.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
For He came to save all through means of Himself—all, I say, who through Him are born again to God—infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
3. Moreover, belief in divine Scripture declares to us, that among all, whether infants or those who are older, there is the same equality of the divine gift.
More related quotations from this section 6 shown
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background
For sometimes He calls us children, sometimes chickens, sometimes infants, and at other times sons, and a new people, and a recent people.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background
... the kingdom of God," His words should not be understood to mean "without learning." So we, who are infants, no longer roll on the ground or crawl on the earth like serpents as we did before, dragging our whole body around in senseless lusts. Instead, we stretch upward in soul. Freed from the world and from our sins, and touching the earth only with our toes, so that we seem to be in the world, we pursue holy wisdom, although this seems like foolishness to those whose minds are sharpened for evil. Therefore, those are rightly called children who know Him who alone is God as their Father, who are simple, and infants, and guileless, and who love the horns of the unicorns.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background
... master of free choice? Then he added the statement, free from all partiality: "For you are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:26-28 There are not, then, in the same Word some illuminated people, that is, gnostics, and some natural men. But all who have abandoned the desires of the flesh are equal and spiritual before the Lord. And again he writes in another place: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and we have all drunk of one cup." 1 Corinthians 12:13 Nor would it be absurd to use the expressions of those who call the remembrance of better things the filtration of the spirit, understanding by filtration the separation of what is baser, which results from the remembrance of what is better. There necessarily follows, in the one who has come to the recollection of what is better, repentance for what is worse. Accordingly, they confess that the spirit in repentance retraces its steps. In the
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Background
Jesus said to them, Yea: did ye not read long ago, From 4 the mouths of children and infants you have chosen my praise?
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Methodius, Oration on the Psalms Background
...recognize the work of God, just as it is written in the law: "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise." Therefore, increase your joy that you have become the fathers of such children, who, under the teaching of God, have celebrated with their praises things unknown to their elders. "Turn your hearts to your children," Luke 1:17, and do not close your eyes against the truth. But if you remain the same, and though hearing, do not hear, and though seeing, do not understand, Isaiah 6:10, and for no reason oppose your children, then they will be your judges, according to the Savior's word in Matthew 12:27. So then, the prophet Isaiah also spoke beforehand about this concerning you, saying, "Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now grow pale. But when they see their children doing My works, they shall for Me sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that err in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn obedience, and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace." Do you see, foolish Jew, how from the beginning of his message the prophet declares s
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Methodius, Oration on the Psalms Background
...s and sucklings perfected praise to destroy the enemy and the avenger has consecrated the school to infants, so that by their miracle the hearts of the fathers might be turned to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," Malachi 4:6; Luke 1:17. Tell us then, O children, from where comes this beautiful and graceful contest of song? Who taught you? Who instructed you? Who brought you together? What were your tablets? Who were your teachers? "Only join us," they say, "as our companions in this song and feast, and you will learn the things spoken through Moses and the prophet, long desired," Luke 10:24. Since the children have invited us and have given us the right hand of fellowship, Galatians 2:9, let us come, beloved, and let us also imitate that holy chorus. And with the apostles, let us make way for Him who ascends over the heaven of heavens toward the East, and who, by His good pleasure, is upon the earth mounted upon an ass's colt. Let us, with the children, raise the branches aloft, and with the olive branches make glad applause, so that the Holy Spirit also may breathe upon us, and that in due order we may raise the strain taught by God: "Blessed is He t
Did early Christians say infants were valuable before God?
Several early writers speak positively about infants, calling them honorable before God or linking them with innocence, praise, and divine sanctification. These texts do not address exposure directly, but they help explain why abandoning infants would have been viewed as wrong.
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Luke 18:15 Direct teaching
And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
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Matthew 2:16 Supporting witness
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
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Exodus 1:17 Supporting witness
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt appointed them; and they saved the male children alive.
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Exodus 2:3 Supporting witness
When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.
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Exodus 22:22 Supporting witness
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
More related quotations from this section 7 shown
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Exodus 1:16 Background
And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
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Exodus 1:22 Background
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
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Exodus 2:2 Background
The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
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Exodus 2:6 Background
And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Background
...that time, named Herod. He was the successor of the Herod who, when Christ was born, killed all the infants in Bethlehem born around the same time, because he thought that among them would be the one of whom the Wise Men from Arabia spoke; for he didn't understand the will of Him who is stronger than all, how He had commanded Joseph and Mary to take the Child and go into Egypt and stay there until they received a revelation to return to their land. And they stayed there until Herod, who killed the infants in Bethlehem, died and Archelaus succeeded him. He died before Christ came to the assignment on the cross given to Him by His Father. When Herod succeeded Archelaus and received the authority designated to him, Pilate sent Jesus to him in a gesture of respect, bound; and God, knowing this would happen, had spoken: "And they brought Him to the Assyrian, a present to the king." Or, He may have meant the devil as the roaring lion against Him: whom Moses calls the serpent, but in Job and Zechariah he is called the devil, and Jesus addresses him as Satan, showing that his name comes from the deeds he performed. For "Sata" in the Jewish and Syrian language means apostate, and "Nas" i
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Ezekiel 24:9 Background
They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, And have afflicted the outcast.
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Job 24:9 Background
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)
Common Questions
Did early Christians condemn exposing infants?
Yes. Writers like Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Lactantius all reject it, and some call it child murder.
Did Christians think abandoned infants should be cared for?
Yes. The writings point toward protecting children, not leaving them to die or be misused.
Was this a common Christian teaching?
Yes. The wording differs, but the same moral view appears across several writers from the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
Source Index for Abandoning Infants
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 159 ranked source links from 201 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 159 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 122
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 79 included
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.