Luther rejects the baptism of unborn children.
Handwritten in Cod. chart. 402. p. and in Cod. Goth. 185. 4. printed by Buddeus, p. 240 and by De Wette, vol. IV, p. 492. German by Walch, vol. XXI, 1254.
[Mr.] Leonhard Beier, pastor at Zwickau, salvation and peace.
About your matter, my dear Leonhard, I will not make a legal ruling, but will consult the doctors. In the meantime, you will teach, as we have done, that women should henceforth abstain from such baptism, because he cannot be born again who has not yet been born. Such births must be commanded to God through prayers. Otherwise, it would finally follow that, in order to avoid danger, one must baptize all children in the womb by pouring water over the womb of the pregnant woman, as often as your danger is feared; or as a certain woman did in the time of the plague: when the time of childbirth was approaching, she drank the baptismal water in the opinion that she wanted to avoid the danger. But about your case, since the boy has already grown up, I postpone my judgment until we give you a unanimous answer. Therefore, if the parents have
If they fear the danger of death, you will advise them to be of good cheer. The soul is blessed, and he desires the right baptism (whatever the nature of that earlier baptism may have been), even if he has not received it from us, because he lacks it through no fault of his own; indeed, he has certainly received it through his faith. Only we have to be careful because of the aversion, whether in this case baptism is allowed. Although I could determine this on my own, I do not want to do it on my own for the sake of public reputation. For we have long since rejected the conditional baptism that prevailed in this case under the papacy, and not only in this case, but also in the case of foundlings. Fare well in the Lord. On the day of St. Nicolai [December 6] 1533.
Mart. Luther.
No. 2019.