Covenant Children

I have been thinking lately on the topic of padeobaptism and covenant children. Now is a good time for me to be thinking of such things, right?, since God has most graciously put into Whitney's and my keeping a precious (and I would say little, but he isn't so little anymore) baby boy. So, here I am on the bed with baby John sleeping right next to me and Whitney and I am thinking such thoughts as, "how do I view this young child that God has given me for my legacy? How does God view this child that he has put in my stead?" Does the way that God views John IV differ from the way He views me? I will admit right here and now that I am not interested in trying to promote myself as a theologian which is why to some degree I have put off writing anything like this until now - but now I find myself looking into the beautiful eyes of my little son and such questions arise that I cannot avoid. 

The other day I was skimming my facebook profile and found a quiz/survey that a friend sent me called, "How Reformed are You?" I laughed out loud when I saw it and then decided to take the test to see how the Reformed crystal ball would label me. The reason I laughed was because I knew that no matter how good the test would be it would somehow in someway force me to choose an answer that I would not entirely espouse. I came to one question that caught my attention - it read something like this: How do you view your children? a) We baptize them so that they become regenerate b) we baptize them because we assume they already are regenerate c) they are vipers in diapers d) we assume they will become regenerate but that they are not now and thus we don't baptize them until they make a profession of faith. A year ago I would have said, "this is an easy one, its d) without a doubt." But now I am pretty sure that I would, given my preference, pick two of the answers - b) and c). Here is why...

First of all, and I do not say this arrogantly, the scriptures are and unending story of God saving His people... ALL of His people. When did He save His people?  He chose His people for His glory before the foundations of the earth that through His calling them into Himself they might exalt Him [Rom 8:28-30]. He justified them by His grace, through faith [Hab. 2, Rom 1, Gal 3].Who were those "people"? If we go back to the Law (the first five books of Scripture. And for me Deuteronomy has been the most helpful on this issue, to me anyway) we see that God made a covenant with His people. This covenant said in so many words this; "I will be your God and you shall be My people if you follow Me." If we go back to implementation of this covenant in the days of Abraham we see that those who kept this covenant with God received a sign that he was set apart and was chosen by God (Deut 7:6, 14:2 & Gen 17 I believe are some examples). This sign was given generationally. Meaning that the covenant extended to all in the lineage of the covenant keepers. The way that this would work in the families of covenanters, the male children would be given the sign on their eighth day of life after entering this world (the only reason for waiting until the eighth day and not performing this sign earlier was due to medical considerations). At eight days old I think we would all agree that they probably were not entreated into the making of this decision. At this point at least there is no age of accountability. Why? Because the parents, in fulfilling one of their covenant obligations, were going to live and breath and impart this covenant to their children ALL the time (Deut: 6). The biggest part of relaying the details of this covenant to the child was ensuring that the child understood that he was a part of this covenant by default of his parents being called of God into this covenant. If he kept his covenant obligations God would keeps His. If he did not keep his covenant obligations and forsook God he would be damned for his foolishness (Ps. 53:1) and he would receive the covenant curses (Ex 34, Deut 4). 

It is important to note here that men were and are saved by the same gift from God that they were given in the Old Testament. Faith alone (Eph 2). Faith in what? That Jesus would be, to those who lived in the Old Testament, and is, to us today, the propitiation for our sins. Salvation has always been through faith (Heb 11). So, our salvation by grace, through faith is not of our own works (because God gives us the faith) lest we should boast, it is the gift of God - this is the same God who is not controlled by time I will add. When did He give us this faith? It has always been there (because with God there are not time limitations. The faith has always existed because it is a part of God). There has never been a time in the regenerate persons life that God gave him regeneration. The regeneration has always been there. Does that mean the regenerate man always has the appearance of regeneration when observed by other men? Of course not. If you, considering yourself regenerate, think that you have always had the appearance of regeneration in your countenance let me tell you delicate creature that you are fooling yourself. I, considering myself to be of God's people, know that I do not always emit a fragrance of regeneration to all I come in contact with. But does God take away His sign on me (baptism and being one of His) when I sin? No. Why? This is where God extends grace to us, His chosen, holy people. This is where when my sin abounds but God's grace does much more abound (Rom. 5). Does this give me license to sin then? God forbid! [Rom 6]. 

So, when God so beautifully and tenderly extends His grace to us by not removing our sign and seal that He has given to us when we sin, why would we as parents suffer our little ones, who are umbrellaed just as rightly under God's covenant as we are, to come unto the Father by sign of baptism and sequentially partaking of communion. Does not God look upon my son, John IV as He does me? Yes he is indeed a sinner as am I. When God called, way up my lineage somewhere, that man or woman out of darkness into His light and He said to him or her that he would be a God to them and their children and to their children's children (which I might add would include me somewhere in there) do we believe that He meant it? When He said that does that mean that we are really His? Yes! Does that mean we receive His promises? Yes! Does that mean we should receive His sign given amongst men? Yes! If salvation is not of ourselves and we do not make a decision to accept Jesus but He accepts us and chooses us then we and our children are given the promise of God being our God. To make the argument that we must wait until our children reach the "age of accountability" (which is nowhere mentioned in scripture I might add) and then they can make a decision to "accept Christ" and then receive baptism and communion and fellowship with the rest of covenant keepers is twisting scripture to the extent where it would not surprise us to see God asking Abraham if he would like to make a covenant with Him and then wait to hear back from Abraham when he was "ready." Do we accept Christ? No. Do we choose God? No. He has already chosen us and our children. Do we, and will our children, proclaim Christ? Yes, because He is their and our God not of our works lest we should boast. 

This is why when Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 7 he talks about a believing wife who is married to an unbelieving husband being the channel for which the promises of God flow through. Paul is reassuring the believers that though they may be married to an unbelieving spouse their children will still be made "holy" (yes, that is the word that is used in vs. 14). Notice that yet again we do not see these extended promises being contingent on whether the child will decide to be a covenant keeper or not. Why? Because it is a covenant. It works both ways whether we like it or not. We cannot dictate whether or what parts of the covenant will be extended to our children because it already is - obligations, curses to covenant-breakers and all. We as parents cannot say, "we'll I would just like the covenant rewards part to be extended, but don't include the covenant curses just in case my child does not embrace the covenant." That is not to be our attitude as parents because number one, we don't get a choice in that and number two because we are to be about diligently teaching this covenant made between God and His people by revealing God's word to them, and yes that includes the parts that talk about the way God views them and how they are a part of His covenant and should be treated as members and heirs of God from conception.  

"...as for me and my HOUSE, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15

"That is all I got to say 'bout that"