Covenant Continuity and Succession Down through the Generations

 

Covenant Continuity and Succession Down through the Generations

Throughout Scripture, in Old and New Testament alike, believer’s children are always included in God's covenant, and receive the covenant sign. The purpose of the covenant being extended down through the generations is so that God can accomplish His Gospel, to have an inheritance of nations, His holy kingdom that covers the whole Earth. Without children belonging to the covenant, receiving the covenant sign and admission into the church, and thereby being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, the Gospel cannot be accomplished on the scale that God promises and intends – for Christ to have an inheritance of nations where kings bring their glory in, etc. And yet the promise of the Gospel is that Christ would inherit nations, that kings of nations will come and worship Him (Isaiah 49, 60, Rev. 21:24, etc.). Without covenant succession, without God’s covenant of grace being passed down from generation to generation, the church has no holy seed, and the kingdom of God has no mechanism within itself by which it will grow from a seed to a great tree over many generations.  

So in that sense, the covenant and covenant/household baptism is a Gospel issue, for it has everything to do with the church, the kingdom of God, Evangelism, Discipleship, church discipline, training and nurture of children, etc. I will list some verses below and make brief comments upon clusters of them interspersed throughout.

Genesis 17:4ff.:

“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you...

"And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Genesis 18:17-19:

"And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

Jeremiah 32:38-40:

"They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me."

We see that these promises of God, Gospel promises to Abraham and his children, are both Abraham and his children’s. These promises are more fully realized and fulfilled when Christ comes in the flesh. There is no discontinuity on this from the Old to New Testaments. Christ was with Israel in the Old Testament, and they had real, spiritual communion with him, see I Corinthians 10, etc. Though as we shall see, that communion, though real and true and spiritual, was inferior, shadowy, and thankfully temporary.  

Luke 1:17:

"He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Luke 1:46ff.

And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord...And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation....He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Luke 18:15-17

"Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Acts 2:38-39:

"Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

 

As promised in the Old Testament, the New Testament with Christ’s coming still emphasizes and includes the children of believers, including the children of Gentile believers. The promise of receiving forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit upon repentance/faith is extended to believers and their children. The covenant sign is no longer circumcision, but is now baptism. Just as any adult pagan/Gentile/unbeliever outside of the covenant would first have to repent and believe in order to receive the sign of circumcision, thus granting admittance into God’s covenant/church/people during the old covenant administration under Abraham/Moses, etc., so in the new covenant administration Gentiles must first repent and believe (as well as the Jews since they have largely rejected God and Christ the Messiah and do not have a claim of being His exclusive covenant people any longer) in order to be baptized, thus granting admittance into God’s covenant/church/people. Abraham first repented and believed, and then was given the sign of the covenant, not just for himself, but for all his children/descendants. Christ, in fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant and ushering in the new covenant administration, requires the same. Faith first, as the Gospel first goes out in the New Testament, and then the promise and sign of the covenant (Baptism) now belongs to believers and their children.

The question, then, is what about the children of believers? In both the old and new testament/covenant administrations, children of believers are included in the promise. See the verses below:  

Galatians 3:8-9:

"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham."

Romans 3:1-4:

"What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.

Romans 4:9ff.:

"Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised."

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith...Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”)..."

So we see in this text that the true seed of Abraham are those who have true faith. These are the elect. But the covenant, and the sign of the covenant, is broader than the elect. The covenant is a means to the end of election. Circumcision was not unprofitable. Romans 3 above says it was profitable “much in every way!” The chief reason being that God had entrusted to Israel the oracles of God. Their unbelief does not make this null and void, it does not make circumcision unprofitable. Why? Because circumcision was not a sign of one’s faith or salvation, but a sign of the covenant promises of salvation extended to God’s covenant people, which should elicit the RESPONSE of those covenant people to repent and believe. Per Genesis 17:14 above, any uncircumcised male child was cut off from the covenant people, and cut off from the covenant Lord/God. Thus, they would not have received the oracles/words of God, the law and Gospel.

But here’s a simple question. Do you bring your children to church for worship? Do you believe they should come to church, that the oracles/words of God belong to them? If so, then you should baptize them, because circumcision, as Romans 3:1 shows, is profitable as it marks one as having the right to the Bible/God’s Word, the oracles. If there is but one believing parent, then God and Christ and the Church belong to that child, for that child is holy to the Lord, I Cor. 7:14. The father is duty bound to bring that child to all that belongs to the child. This means to the Word of God, not just in the home, but in the church, and to inclusion in the covenant community of the church, by means of baptism.

The New Testament is not silent about household baptisms either. There are several accounts of these, but just one is listed below. Christ when speaking of Zacchaeus also declared that salvation has come to his house when Zacchaeus repented and believed in Christ. Further, the basis of baptism is not to make the child holy, but because the child is covenantally holy, that is, by virtue of being born within the covenant to at least one believing parent, that child is holy/set apart to the Lord, like those infant children that Christ took into His lap, prayed for, and blessed, saying the kingdom of God belonged to them, Mark 10:13-16. This is no different than babies born to Israelite children under the old covenant. They were covenantally holy, and thereby fit to be in the camp of God’s presence, that is to say, part of His people, part of His church. Those male children who were uncircumcised, however, were regarded as covenant breakers and cast out, unfit to be in the camp, liable to God’s judgment, Gen. 17:14.

Acts 16:14ff.:

"Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us."

1 Corinthians 7:14 --

"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy."

It is clear from Scripture that children are to be raised, from infancy, as covenant children, receiving the sign of the covenant, baptism. Just as Christ received literal infants into His arms to pray for, bless, and declare the kingdom of God belongs to them, so we bring our babies to Christ to pray for, bless, and declare the kingdom of God belongs to them when we present them to the Lord for baptism.

It does no good to say that we cannot baptize them as babies because Christ, though He blessed them and prayed for them, did not then baptize them. We only ever read of baptism with Christ and His disciples in John 3 and 4. This is early in Christ’s ministry, while John the Baptizer is still ministering and baptizing. The baptism seems to have much in common with John’s baptism of repentance.

We are told explicitly in John 4:2 that Jesus Himself did not baptize, only His disciples. Many came to Christ throughout His ministry, and Jesus says that their faith has made them well and their sins are forgiven. And yet, not a word is said about He or His disciples baptizing them. Besides, Christian baptism into the triune name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is instituted by Him at His ascension into heaven when He tells the apostles to go out into all the world, not during His earthly ministry.

What lesson would the disciples have learned from Christ their Lord? The Gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God. Christ says repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, yet at the same time declares that infants/babies/young children belong to that kingdom. Jesus rebuked the disciples for forbidding/trying to prevent parents who were bringing their babies to Jesus.

If the disciples found those parents and babies after Christ ascended, do we really doubt that both the parents and the babies would be baptized? How could the water of baptism be withheld from the children to whom it belongs, for the kingdom of God, the good news of the Gospel, belonged to them. Christ the King of the Kingdom belonged to them, and received them into His lap, and prayed for them and blessed them, per Mark 10. Since Christ truly did, and truly continues to do, all these things for our children, how can we not give them the covenant sign of these things, baptism, when they already have the reality of them in Christ?

This is all meant to nurture our infant children in the Lord, as belonging to the Lord, for the Lord truly lays His hands on them in prayer and blessing, and bids them trust in Him and follow Him in true faith and repentance all their lives. Let us not squander these means of grace!

And as such, we can understand why the household codes, as they are called, such as the text in Ephesians 6 below, include the children of believers. They are not exhorted to “repent and believe, be baptized, and then if you do this, obey your parents in the Lord”. No, rather, they are commanded from the outset to obey their parents in the Lord.

Further, the covenant law is applied to them, to honor father and mother, and the covenant promise is applied to them, that it may be well with them and they may live long on the earth. Finally, the covenant duties of fathers are highlighted, to rear their children in the training and admonition of the Lord. Not to Evangelize them as if they were pagans, withhold baptism from them until they repent and believe, and if only they ever do that, to then raise them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

No, all fathers must raise their children in the Lord’s training and admonition, because they are the Lord’s children received by Christ, which should be symbolized in baptism. All these things are advantageous to the covenant child, including water baptism, not in a magical way or simply by the act of applying water, but as a true means of grace, under the Word of God, and alongside prayer, that God uses and works in, by His Spirit, according to His will and in His timing, to regenerate precious covenant children and give them the blessings/life of the covenant in which they are already in.

If parents, fathers especially, and the church, Elders especially, neglect these means of grace for our covenant children, we sin grievously against the Lord, against our children, and may find indeed that our children are never regenerated, and never brought to saving faith and repentance by the Lord. But if we parent by God’s covenant promises, trusting in Him, praying to Him for our children’s souls, giving our children the covenant sign and seal of baptism as babies, bringing them to the words/oracles of God in the home and in the Church, we have a firm hope and confidence, a covenantal expectation, that the blessings of the covenant will soon be realized inwardly in our children, and they will not face the covenant curses as apostates/covenant breakers.

While we can note hard providences, prodigal sons, Job-like burdens that the Lord in rare circumstances puts His people through, the plain rule and teaching of Scripture is that the Lord includes believer’s children in the covenant, not to damn the great majority of them even when parental and pastoral nurture are faithful and steady (though always imperfect and sinful as we all are), but to save/give the new birth to the great majority of them, particularly when parental and pastoral nurture are faithful and steady, as the Lord commands and as is our solemn duty.

Apart from the covenant being cut/extended to and including our covenant children, and further, apart from the covenantal hope and expectation that God will give the blessings/life of the covenant to the great majority of our children who are raised and nurtured in the fear/admonition of the Lord, it is not possible that God will build and grow His kingdom gradually, slowly but surely, as Scripture describes it. The history of the Christian Church and its growth bears this out. When the Church is being faithful, the children are being trained and catechized well, and many are repenting, believing, and persevering in the faith to the end, and in turn passing the faith along to their children.

When the church is unfaithful, that unfaithfulness/neglect obviously begins with the adults/parents, and thus likewise their nurturing and rearing of their children is neglected, either because they do not do it at all, or they do it quite hypocritically, and thus the covenant chain down through the generations is broken. Judgment comes. Look at where we are today in our nation. We do not baptize our children, we do not catechize them, and so we don't even know what a man or woman is, we abort and murder the babies that we do have, and we double and triple down on seeker-sensitive Evangelistic gimmicks, and worldly consumerism is ushered into the Church.

For those born within the covenant (covenant children), the covenant sign of inclusion (circumcision in the old, baptism in the new) is a sacrament, a means of grace that God may well use to bring, through the Gospel Word and with prayers of parents, pastors, and church together, to saving faith and repentance, so that the outward administration becomes an inward reality.

 

Colossians 2:11-12:

“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Ephesians 6:1-4:

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

The Lord commands us to acknowledge that our children are holy, by being born to at least one believing parent, and that His covenant of grace, traced through from Abraham to the New Covenant, has always included the children of believers, and therefore, the children of believers along with the parents are part of the church, because they are within the covenant of grace, and are to receive the sign of the covenant of grace, which was circumcision and is now baptism, in order to officially be admitted into the membership of the church. Parents and Pastors are to nurture these covenant children from this privileged, covenantal position, knowing that the oracles/words of God belong to them, parenting by God’s promises, and admonishing and encouraging the children to follow the Lord, trusting in Christ as their Lord and Savior who has brought them into this covenant and church. Just as a faithful pastor calls the church continually to repent and believe in Christ, so we should do with our covenant children, in the church and the father in the home as well. But this is not evangelizing pagans, but discipling our children, bringing them up in the covenantal nurture and admonition of the Lord, as Eph. 6 commands.

Our Evangelical church today is largely Dispensational, Arminian, and anti-paedobaptist/oikobaptist (infant/household baptism). But note that the Reformed, while certainly Covenantal over against Dispensational, and Calvinistic over against Arminian, are NOT anti-credobaptist. This is not a debate between paedo-baptism vs. credo-baptism. All paedo-baptists are credo-baptists in the biblical sense, meaning, we all agree that those outside of the covenant must first repent and believe before they can be baptized and admitted into the membership of the church. It has always been that way, from Old Testament to New Testament. But we also recognized that those born to believing parents, those born to church members, are themselves church members, are themselves born into the covenant of grace. As such, they receive the sign of the covenant, then circumcision and now baptism, and are thereby admitted into the church really, truly, and visibly. Just as many Israelite children perished in their sins despite belonging to the covenant/church, so many Christian children may yet perish in their sins despite belonging to the covenant/church and receiving the covenant sign of inclusion (baptism now).

But why were so many Israelite children broken off, covenant breakers, apostates? It had much to do with the prophets, priests, kings, and parents themselves being dead in sins, or at the very least, not raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as commanded by God.

In the new covenant, in Christ’s blood and the greater outpouring of the Spirit, we have a firmer and deeper hope for our covenant children. Why? Because God’s means of grace, through Christ and His outpoured Spirit, are deeper and richer than they were before Christ came. It was still Christ’s blood and Spirit working upon Israel of old, but now the new Israel, Jew and Gentile together in Christ, have a better covenant, that is, a fuller and deeper administration of God’s covenant, founded on better promises, taking His covenant/church people not to a temple made with hands, but up into heaven itself! See Hebrews 8-9 on the superiority of the new covenant administration under Christ, but also the greater judgment for breaking this new covenant in Hebrews 10.

Ultimately, if we believe that God’s church and kingdom will grow, that His kingdom will come, and His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, slowly but surely, like a mustard seed becoming a tree that birds nest in as Christ describes it, we must have covenant continuity, covenant succession. The promises of God and salvation must be, as they always have been, to us and our children, down through the generations. Parents and pastors must believe these promises, lay hold of them in baptism, raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and as the children come to understanding and expression of faith (in God’s blessing often sooner rather than later in their life), they shall then come to the Lord’s Table as the visible expression of those who have tasted and seen, truly, that the Lord is good, and have trusted in Him as their Lord and Savior from a circumcised/baptized heart, the sin cut out and washed away through the blood/cross of Christ and His outpoured Spirit. At that glorious point of coming to the Lord’s Table, what they have been born into will have been seen to have been born into them. They were born within the covenant, and now the life/blessings of the covenant, the Spirit of God working with, through, and alongside the Gospel Word of God, have caused them to be born again, and with the eyes, hands, and mouth, both physically and spiritually/by faith, they take and eat, take and drink of the bread and wine, of the sacramental body and blood of the Lord, with the risen Christ Himself serving us of His life-giving power by His Spirit from heaven above.