Early Christian Teaching on Exposing Infants
Early Christians condemned exposing infants as wicked and, in some writers, as child-murder. Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, and Lactantius all speak against it in clear terms. Their writings show a strong and early Christian pattern of protecting newborn children. Bible passages about God's care for the weak and the rescue of threatened children also fit this theme.
130 early-church witnesses · 215 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about exposure of infants?
Early Christian writers clearly rejected the exposure of infants and treated it as a grave wrong. Justin Martyr says Christians had been taught not to expose newborn children because it is wicked and makes them murderers, and Athenagoras says exposing an infant is child-murder. Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, and Minucius Felix also speak against the practice, while Cyprian stresses the value of newborn children and refuses to treat them as too impure for Christian care.
The evidence is broad across the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is direct, not just indirect background. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Justin Martyr says Christians were taught that exposing newborn children is wicked.
- Athenagoras calls exposing an infant child-murder.
- Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, and Lactantius all reject the practice in direct language.
- The Bible passages most relevant to this topic include God's care for infants and the rescue of endangered children.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians condemn exposing infants?
The strongest sources plainly reject exposing infants and treat it as wicked or equivalent to child-murder. The testimony is repeated across several early writers, especially when contrasting Christian conduct with pagan practice.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
But as for us, we have been taught that to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men;
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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 Supporting witness
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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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
It is therefore as wicked to expose as it is to kill.
More related quotations from this section 6 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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Minucius Felix, Octavius Supporting witness
...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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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
... would be the glory of the ruler who could bring to light some Christian who had devoured a hundred infants! But instead of that, we find that even inquiry in our case is forbidden. For Pliny the Younger, when he was ruler of a province, had condemned some Christians to death, and had driven some from their steadfastness. Still troubled by their great numbers, he finally sought the advice of Trajan, the reigning emperor, about what he should do with the rest. He explained to his master that, except for an obstinate refusal to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing but meetings early in the morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and sealing their way of life by a united pledge to remain faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. In reply, Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought out. But if they were brought before him, they should be punished. O miserable deliverance. Under the necessities of the case, it is a self-contradiction. It forbids them to be sought out, as innocent, and it commands them to be punished, as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel. It passes by, and it punish
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Minucius Felix, Octavius Supporting witness
...serve. Now the story about the initiation of young novices is as detestable as it is well known. An infant, covered with meal so that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before the one who is about to be stained by their rites. This infant is killed by the young pupil, who has been urged on, as if to harmless blows on the surface of the meal, with dark and secret wounds. Thirstily—O horror!—they lick up its blood. Eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are bound together. By this consciousness of wickedness they are pledged to mutual silence. Sacred rites like these are more foul than any sacrileges. And it is well known that all men speak everywhere of their feasting. Even the speech of our Cirtensian bears witness to it. On a solemn day they gather at the banquet, with all their children, sisters, mothers, people of every sex and every age. There, after much feasting, when the company has grown warm, and the heat of incestuous lust has grown hot with drunkenness, a dog tied to the chandelier is provoked, by throwing a small piece of offal beyond the length of the line by which he is bound, to rush and leap. And so the lamp is overturned and extinguished. In the sh
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background
The Prohibition of Conjuring, Murder of Infants, Perjury, and False Witness.
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Background
...and with mighty deeds and many mercies, and had always found them faithless. But look, Christ takes infants and teaches how all ought to be like them, if they ever wish to be greater. Luke 9:47-48. The Creator, on the contrary, let loose bears against children, in order to avenge His prophet Elisha, who had been mocked by them. 2 Kings 2:23-24. This contrast is shameless enough, since it throws together things so different as infants and children: one age still innocent, and one already capable of understanding, able to mock, if not to blaspheme. Therefore, since God is a just God, He did not spare impious children, because He requires honor at every age of life, and especially, of course, from youth. And since God is good, He so loves infants that He blessed the midwives in Egypt when they protected the Hebrew infants who were in danger from Pharaoh's command. Exodus 2:15-21. Christ therefore shares this kindness with the Creator. As for Marcion's god, who is an enemy to marriage, how can he possibly seem to be a lover of little children, since they are simply the offspring of marriage? He who hates the seed must also hate the fruit. Yes, he ought to be thought more ruthless th
Did early Christians say newborn children should be protected and cared for?
Several sources describe infants as deserving help, mercy, and protection rather than abandonment. The emphasis is on refusing to keep infants from care and on treating them as entrusted to God.
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
...eve, and nobody is kept from baptism and from grace, how much more should we shrink from keeping an infant away? For an infant, being newly born, has not sinned, except that, being born according to the flesh after Adam, he has contracted the contagion of the ancient death from his first birth. For this very reason, he comes more easily to receive the forgiveness of sins, since what are remitted to him are not his own sins, but the sins of another.
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
for all infants are honourable before God, and are the first persons with Him.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness
... since the Word is the overflowing fountain of life and has been called a river of olive oil, Paul, using fitting figurative language and calling Him milk, adds, "I have given you to drink," in 1 Corinthians 3:2. For we drink in the word, the nourishment of the truth. In fact, liquid food is also called drink. And the same thing can somehow be both food and drink, depending on the different ways it is viewed, just as cheese is milk made solid, or solidified milk. For I am not concerned here with making a precise choice of wording, but only with saying that one substance provides both kinds of nourishment. Besides, for nursing children, milk alone is enough. It serves as both food and drink. "I have food to eat that you do not know of," says the Lord. "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me," in John 4:32-34. You see another kind of food that, like milk, figuratively represents the will of God. Also, He called the completion of His own suffering a cup, using the term in an extended sense, when He alone had to drink it and drain it. Thus, for Christ, the fulfilling of His Father's will was food. And for us infants, who drink the milk of the word of heaven, Christ Himself is
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
As for what you say, that an infant’s condition in the first days after birth is not pure, so that one of us might still shrink from kissing the child, we do not think this should be claimed as any obstacle to heavenly grace. For it is written, “To the pure all things are pure” Titus 1:15. Nor should any of us shrink from what God has been pleased to make. For although the infant is still fresh from birth, it is not such that anyone should shrink from kissing it when giving grace and making peace. For when we kiss an infant, each of us ought, for the sake of religion itself, to think of the very recent hands of God, which in a sense we are kissing in the newly formed and newly born person, when we embrace what God has made. As for keeping the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in practice. But when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For since the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be the day on which the Lord would rise again, and would give us life, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, came first as a figure. Th
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
Which, since it is to be observed and maintained in respect of all, we think is to be even more observed in respect of infants and newly-born persons, who on this very account deserve more from our help and from the divine mercy, that immediately, on the very beginning of their birth, lamenting and weeping, they do nothing else but entreat.
More related quotations from this section 6 shown
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness
... in perfect discipline. Just as a mother could give strong food to her baby but doesn't because the infant is not ready for solid nourishment, God could have made man perfect from the start, but man was not ready for that perfection, being still an infant. For this reason, in these last times, our Lord summed up all things in Himself and came to us in a way we could understand. He could have come in His immortal glory, but we could not have handled such greatness. Therefore, He, being the perfect bread of the Father, offered Himself as milk to us, since we were like infants. He appeared as a man so that we, nourished by the milk of His flesh, could gradually learn to partake in the Word of God and be ready to receive the Bread of immortality, which is the Spirit of the Father.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants;
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
Moreover, faith in divine Scripture tells us that among all people, whether infants or those who are older, there is the same equality in the divine gift. Elisha prayed to God and stretched himself over the dead infant son of the widow. He placed his head on the child's head, his face on the child's face, and spread his limbs over and joined them to each of the child's limbs, and his feet to the child's feet. If this were considered in terms of the differences in our birth and our body, an infant could not be made equal to a grown and mature man, nor could its small limbs fit and be equal to the larger limbs of a man. But in this, a divine and spiritual equality is shown: all people are alike and equal, since they have once been made by God. Our age may differ in the growth of our bodies according to the world, but not according to God. Unless, perhaps, that very grace which is given to the baptized is also given either less or more according to the age of those who receive it, even though the Holy Spirit is not given by measure, but equally to all by the love and mercy of the Father. For God, just as He does not accept the person, also does not accept the age, since He shows Himse
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Methodius, Oration on the Psalms Supporting witness
...lish Jew, how from the beginning of his message the prophet declares shame on you because of your unbelief? Learn even from him how he proclaims the God-inspired hymn of praise raised by your children, just as the blessed David also declared beforehand, saying, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise." Either then, as is right, claim the piety of your children as your own, or reverently give your children to us. We with them will lead the dance, and for the new glory will sing together the divinely inspired hymn.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
...became a maker and producer of earthly things. And he says that the proof of this can be taken from infants newly born, whose soul, at the same time as it comes out from the womb, similarly utters this sound of each one of the elements. So then, he says, just as the seven powers glorify the Word, so also the grieving soul in babies magnifies Him. And because of this, he says, David also declared, "Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise." And again, "The heavens declare the glory of God." But when the soul is caught in hardships, it cries out with no other sound than Omega, since it is afflicted, so that the soul above, becoming aware of what is akin to herself below, may send down one to help this earthly soul.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Background
...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.
What Bible passages were used about infants and their care?
The Bible cards provide direct texts about infants being brought to Jesus, God’s praise from babes and nursing infants, and the exposure or rescue of children. These are the clearest Bible passages in the supplied set.
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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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Psalms 8:2 Direct teaching
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
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Exodus 1:17 Direct teaching
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 2:2 Direct teaching
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 Direct teaching
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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Exodus 2:9 Direct teaching
Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
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Hebrews 11:23 Supporting witness
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
More related quotations from this section 2 shown
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Job 3:16 Background
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
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1 Peter 2:2 Background
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
Common Questions
Did early Christians reject exposing infants?
Yes. Justin Martyr says Christians were taught not to expose newborn children, and Athenagoras calls it child-murder.
Which early Christian writers speak against infant exposure?
Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Minucius Felix, and Lactantius all speak against it.
Did early Christians treat newborn babies as worthy of care?
Yes. Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, and other writers speak of newborn children as needing care, grace, and protection.
Source Index for Exposure of infants
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 215 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 130
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 85
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.