Are infants included in the word ‘household’?

Look at the following verses:

And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ (Acts 11:13-14)

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. (Acts 16:31-32)

I do not think that infants could have been included in the word ‘household’ in the contexts of these verses.

The first set of verses mentions: “who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved .” Here, ‘who’ refers to Apostle Peter and ‘by which’ means ‘by or through the preaching’. This obviously cannot include infants because the message preached cannot have any impact on them.

From the second set of verses, we understand that by the term ‘household’ (as mentioned in vs 31), it is generally understood to refer to all those who are in the family of the person in question or those under his influence or control as indicated in vs 32, the next verse, “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house”. Obviously this group refers to everyone in the house except the infants because they could not possibly comprehend the word of the Lord.

Besides that, according to the rule of Hermeneutics (principle of biblical interpretation), verses in the Bible cannot contradict one another. If the eligibility for salvation is faith, and this is followed by baptism by immersion in water, an infant cannot come under this category. By all these reasons we can safely assume that the term “household” cannot include infants or anyone who is incapable of believing.

Questions:

• State two reasons why baptism is applicable to adults only and not to infants.