Thomas F. Booher’s Blog Posts Related to the Covenant, Baptism,
and Covenantal Nurture (back to late 2020):
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2020/11/infant-baptism-new-covenant.html
Here are several posts I made on Facebook relating the
biblical doctrine of infant baptism to the new covenant, by seeing the
continuity between all the covenants and the NT's teaching on the new
covenant.
INFANT BAPTISM AND THE NEW COVENANT:
A fundamental problem with the Reformed Baptist position on
baptism and the covenant is that they interpret Jeremiah 31 without looking at
how God interprets Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 10:16-31. They look only at Jeremiah
and come up with a (false) interpretation that demands a regenerate-only new
covenant right now, when Hebrews 10 makes clear that there still are new
covenant breakers and that we still must teach, encourage, and exhort one
another until we see the "Day" approaching. That is the judgment day
when Christ returns. Only after Christ returns will the new covenant be made up
of regenerate only believers, because only after Christ returns will the work
of vinedressing by God the Father be complete (see John 15). Only after Christ
returns will we no longer need teachers, because we will see Jesus face to
face. In short, Jeremiah 31 does not teach a regenerate-only new covenant YET.
That comes only after Christ returns and all that is sinful and wicked and
false is removed and cast into hell.
This is why Hebrews 10 says a new covenant member can
trample the son of God underfoot, spurn the blood of the covenant by which he
is sanctified, and outrage the Spirit of grace. There are those in the covenant
still who are not regenerate, who do not have genuine, saving faith. The
Baptist says that means they were never in the covenant to begin with. But
Hebrews 10 (and many other NT Scriptures) says this means they are in the new
covenant, and precisely because they are in the new covenant and have broken
it, they will reap even greater wrath than breaking the law/old covenant
administration under Moses.
Gal. 3 shows that those who have genuine faith are children
of Abraham. Abraham received the sign of circumcision because he had faith,
then his male descendants 8 days old also received the sign of circumcision,
obviously before ever having saving faith. In Acts 2:38ff. Peter reiterates
that the covenant promise of salvation is to "you AND YOUR CHILDREN,"
showing that the covenantal inclusion of the children of believers remains.
Baptists will say I did not quote the rest of the verse, that says, "and
to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Indeed, this
is a greater blessing in the new covenant. Gentiles too, who were once far off,
have now been brought near to God through Christ and into the covenant (Eph.
2:11-13). Peter affirms that children remain in the covenant by saying the
covenant promise is "to you and your children," then adds the further
blessing that now in Christ even the Gentiles may receive the covenant promise
of salvation through Christ. This removes Jewish exclusivity, but it does not
exclude children from the Covenant.
Baptism is a sign and seal of the new covenant, just as
circumcision was a sign and seal of the covenant prior to Christ's atoning
work. But Baptists usually think of baptism as a sign of having faith rather
than a sign of God's covenant. But that makes no sense. Romans 6, and many
other passages indicate that baptism identifies us with God/Christ as His
chosen people, that He has covenanted with us in His sovereign good pleasure
and initiation, not ours. It signifies the washing away of sins, our union with
God/Christ, saving faith, etc., but it does not signify that the person being
baptized already possesses saving faith, regeneration/saving union with Christ,
etc. Rather, it holds forth the promise of all these things to the one who is
baptized, just as circumcision likewise was a sign/seal, not of Abraham's
faith, but of God covenanting to be Abraham and his descendants'/children's
God.
Baptists also believe that only the new covenant is the
covenant of grace, and all the covenants in the old testament were totally
different covenants and were NOT the covenant of grace. But Galatians 3:8 tells
us that the gospel was preached to Abraham, and the gospel was preached when
God gave the covenant to Abraham and told him "in you all the nations
shall be blessed" way back in Genesis 17. That Abrahamic covenant
promise/blessing was realized in/through the new covenant in Jesus Christ,
after He had atoned for sin. As He is ascending back into heaven, He tells His
disciples in the Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:18-19 to go and make
disciples of "ALL THE NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The Abrahamic covenant promise of salvific
blessings to ALL NATIONS is realized through Christ. This means that the
Abrahamic covenant and the New Covenant in Christ's blood are not fundamentally
different covenants, but the same covenant, going from seed form to full
flower/realization, administrated under different signs/seals (Passover and
circumcision in the OT, Communion and Baptism in the NT; the former bloody
signs indicating the need for Christ to come and shed His blood to take away
sin, the latter bloodless signs because Christ has already shed His blood to
take away our sin once and for all time). This is why Galatians 3:29 says
"if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise." If you are in Christ, you are a child of Abraham, a true
Israelite/true Jew, an "old" covenant blessing just as much as a
"new" covenant blessing, for we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28),
and there has always only been one covenant, one gospel message.
So this is really good news! My children are part of the new
covenant, and therefore have the right to the sign and seal of the new
covenant, which is baptism. This does not mean that my children are necessarily
born regenerate, but it does mean they are included among God's covenant
people, just as all Israelite children were numbered among God's covenant
people. And held forth to them is the covenant promise that if they repent and
believe in Jesus, they will be saved. The Holy Spirit is especially at work
among the people of God, within the covenant, which is why my children being
part of the covenant people of God is such a privilege. Yet it is also why
Hebrews 10:16-31 says it is such a terrible thing to break the new covenant
that is in Christ's blood; someone who breaks off their covenantal
"engagement" to be saved by grace through faith alone in Christ
alone, really does "trample the son of God underfoot, count the blood of
the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insults/outrages the
Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29). But the good news is that as I raise my
children in the fear and admonition of the Lord from within the covenant of
grace, I have a covenantal expectation that the Lord will bless the gospel
proclamation/covenantal nurturing of my children as I raise them in the fear
and admonition of the Lord. I expect and trust that, in time, God will
graciously and sovereignly bring my children to regeneration and saving faith
in Christ.
The Baptist may think that Presbyterians are saying that
water baptism saves the children of believers. It does not. But it is a means
of grace/sacrament, and it is an external recognition that this child belongs
to God, and it is in a sense an "engagement" to be savingly
"married" to the Lord, just as a man and woman are engaged prior to
marriage. The child may pull away from this engagement through unbelief and
break the covenant as he/she gets older, and that is tragic, and as noted
above, incurs greater judgment than the pagan unbeliever who was never part of
the covenant.
But again, the good news is that my children are already
numbered among the covenant people of God, and are "engaged" if you
will to be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the
glory of God alone. This is a wonderful covenant blessing to your children, so
please, baptize your babies/give them the sign of the new covenant, and raise
them as those who belong to the Lord and must walk by faith in Him.
INFANT BAPTISM AND THE NEW COVENANT, PART 2:
We touched on passages in Galatians 3 last time, but it's
helpful to look at it more carefully. Gal. 1:2 shows Paul speaking to the
"churches of Galatia" and says that Jesus Christ gave Himself for our
sins". So the address is clearly to Christians, those in the new covenant,
that are in Galatia. And yet they are having serious issues, as Gal 1:6 states
"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the
grace of Christ, to a different gospel." Notice Paul is addressing those
who have been called by God/Christ to the grace of Christ. This is covenantal
language. You cannot be in the Church and called in the grace of Christ apart
from having a covenantal relationship to Christ.
Paul upholds that we are justified by faith and not by
works, and that the OT demand of circumcision is not necessary now that we are
in the new covenant. The new covenant sign is baptism (replacing the bloody
sign of circumcision now that Christ has shed His blood for us), so Paul says
in Gal. 4:27-28 "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." We
are not to return to the OT law and its rituals, circumcision and all the
ceremonial law is no longer necessary now that Christ has come. Jews and
Gentiles alike are one in Christ, the temple is no more because Christ was the
true temple of God come down from heaven, and now we as the body of Christ are
the temple/dwelling place of God as the Holy Spirit resides in every believer,
whether Jew or Gentile.
In Galatians 4:21-31 speaks of two covenants, the one from
Mt. Sinai which leads to bondage, the bondwoman, and the other is the
freewoman, the Jerusalem above, according to the promise of God and not by the
flesh/will of man. Paul goes on in Gal. 4:28 to address the Galatian churches
as brethren and says they are "as Isaac was, are children of the
promise." Abraham had children, one by a slave-woman, Hagar, the maid of
Sarah, and the other by Sarah. God had promised His covenant to Abraham and
Sarah's seed, not the maid Hagar. Their faith is weak, so Sarah gives Abraham
Hagar to fulfill the promise by human/fleshly means, but God never promised the
covenant through Hagar. The point here is not a discourse on two separate
covenants (4:24 says this is allegorical), except to say that we are like
Isaac, children of the promise, children of the covenant with its promises that
were made to Abraham (Gal. 4:28). The covenant promises to Abraham certainly
included his children/descendants in the covenant, therefore they include
children of believers today as well.
So Paul is saying to return to the shadows of the OT law, to
circumcision and all these Jewish ceremonial rituals that were required until
Christ came, is to reject Christ. Gal. 5:2, "Look: I, Paul, say to you
that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you... every
man who accepts circumcision is obligated to keep the whole law. You are
SEVERED FROM CHRIST, you would would be justified by the law; YOU HAVE FALLEN
AWAY FROM GRACE."
Again, keep in mind who Paul is speaking to here. He is
speaking to covenant members, to professing, baptized believers in the churches
in Galatia. He calls them brothers. And yet, he says that if any of them are
returning to the law, they are SEVERED FROM CHRIST AND HAVE FALLEN AWAY FROM
GRACE. You cannot fall away from something you were never part of. The new
covenant is an administration of the covenant of grace, both Baptists and
Presbyterians agree with this. If you are in the covenant of grace, you can
fall away from it and from Christ, whose blood is the blood of the covenant of
grace/new covenant. But if you are not in the covenant, then Paul's words are
not true/meaningless. They wouldn't really be falling away from Christ and
grace.
Typically, the Baptist says that such persons are only
falling away from their PROFESSION of being part of the people of God. They are
falling away from their profession of faith by denouncing the faith. While it
is certainly true that anyone who returns to works/the law to be saved has
turned away from their profession of faith in Christ alone for their salvation,
Scripture is teaching us more than that. They are falling from Christ/grace.
This does not mean they were regenerate/born again and then somehow lost this.
No, it means they were covenant members, and have fallen from the grace of the
new covenant and Christ, whose blood is the blood of the new covenant.
This is why Christians in the NT are exhorted to avoid being
like Israel in the OT time and time again. A prime example is in Hebrews 3,
which I will quote now and discuss in the next post:
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but [b]exhort one
another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold
the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all
who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And
to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did
not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
INFANT/HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM AND THE NEW COVENANT, PART 3 --
Jesus Blesses Babies & Receives Them Because They are Holy:
Luke 18:15-17 states:
15 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.”
These verses tell us that children, EVEN INFANTS, of
believers have a right to Jesus, to His presence and blessings, to be received
by Him with favor and love. This means, of course, that the children of
believers are still included in the covenant promises, are still in the new
covenant, for the covenant is in Christ's blood. How could Jesus take up even
babies/infants, rebuke the disciples for attempting to forbid their approach,
say the babies belong to the kingdom, and even bestow blessings upon these babies
by touching them (Mk. 10:16 makes this explicit) if He intended to communicate
this radical change where children of believers are now REMOVED from the
covenant? What clearer teaching could Jesus have given to the disciples
concerning who was to be baptized/who belonged to the kingdom of God, and who
does not? After Jesus dies, is risen again, and is ascending into heaven, he
tells His disciples to "make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt.
28:19). Would Christ's disciples, seeing how Jesus received even babies into
His arms and blessed them, and said of such belongs the kingdom, really
conclude that the babies were not to be baptized?
Thankfully, the disciples understood that babies of even one
believing parent (I Cor. 7:14, which we will look at in detail below) were
blessed and received by Jesus as those who have a right to the kingdom of God,
and therefore they baptized them in obedience to Christ's command. Acts 2:38-39
shows this, as we have noted before, when Peter calls the people to repent and
be baptized, and notes that this promise is for "you and your
children". It is important to note that in context it is men who are
present here, not children and apparently not wives/women either. So Peter
saying that the promise is "to you and your children" is in keeping
with the covenant household principle. The men/heads of houses hear Peter
proclaiming the Gospel/new covenant, they are cut to the heart/convicted of
sin, and ask "What shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). Peter tells them to
repent and be baptized, and that this (covenant) promise is "to you and to
your children, and to all who are afar off." When Zacchaeus the tax
collector repents of his sins and makes restitution, Jesus says "Today
salvation has come to this HOUSE, because he also is a son of Abraham."
Jesus then goes to his house, for salvation has come to the house/household.
This is not to say that necessarily everyone in the household repented and
believed, but it IS to say that the promise of salvation, and thus the right to
baptism, is "to you and your children/house".
Further, we see household baptisms in the NT. In Acts 10 we
have Cornelius and his house baptized. In Acts 16:14-15, we have Lydia who was
a God-fearer, who when hearing the words of Paul, had her heart opened by God
to heed them. The very next verse says that "she and her household were
baptized." Also in Acts 16:32-34 we see the Philippian jailer and all his
family/house baptized. In Acts 18:8 we see Crispus and his household believe
and are baptized. Then in I Cor. 1:16 we see Paul referencing baptizing the
household of "Stephanus." The point here is not necessarily to argue
that the others in the households did not believe and yet were baptized; you
can make good arguments that those who were baptized believed in Jesus along
with the head of house. The point is that the principle of household baptism
continues. If there was an infant/baby in the family, that baby too would be
baptized. Surely a baby would be included as part of the household. Jesus took
the babies in His arms and blessed them.
I Corinthians 7:14 is a very key verse, and with it we will
close. It says, "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."
I think Baptists most squirm with this verse. The Hebrews
passages undercut their interpretation of Jeremiah 31:33 concerning the new
covenant being regenerate only, but the Hebrew passages have to be read in
context and are many verses. This is just one verse that is like a dagger.
First, you have an unbelieving spouse being "sanctified" in some
sense, and in addition, you have a situation where if even just one parent is a
believer, the children are "holy". The children are holy because THE
NEW COVENANT IS EVEN MORE GRACIOUS TO BELIEVER'S CHILDREN, not less. Rather
than the children being booted out of the covenant, and therefore
unholy/unclean, now it only takes one believing parent to be covenantally holy.
In the OT, an unbelieving spouse could render the children of that unholy union
unholy. But now in Christ, the believing spouse, covenanted to Christ,
sanctifies the unbelieving spouse (the unbelieving spouse also has come into
covenantal contact with the Lord, though their explicit unbelief would render
them covenant breakers) so that the marriage union is not seen as
unclean/unholy, but sanctified/set apart to God, such that the children also
are regarded by God as "covenantally" holy.
Being unclean, clean, and holy all has to do with covenantal
language, and is found in the OT. Those who were ceremonially unclean were
unfit to approach God. The OT system of many ritual washings of the people was
required even for various bodily deformities, skin diseases, women while
menstruating, men after having an emission of semen, etc. Until they were
ceremonially washed/cleansed, they were not fit to approach God. If you are
unaware of this from Scripture, or need a refresher as I did, go and read Lev.
12-15. The wonderful point in I Cor. 7:14 is that now when there is even just
one believing spouse, the whole household has, through Jesus Christ, been
ceremonially washed/sanctified/made holy and therefore allowed/fit to approach
God. Now, in the NT, what is it that visibly expresses/symbolizes washing away
of sins? It is the ceremony/sacrament of baptism! "Get up, be baptized and
wash away your sins" (Acts 22:16). One who was uncircumcised in the OT was
unfit to be in God's presence. That person was unclean, a pagan, a Gentile.
Now, the Gospel has come to Gentiles as well as Jews, and in Christ the sign of
the covenant is no longer bloody circumcision, but bloodless baptism. But
baptism still symbolizes the removal/washing away of sin (Romans 6, Titus 3,
Acts 22:16 etc.), and Baptists and Presbyterians alike agree that Baptism
serves as the formal and ceremonial recognition of a person who now is part of
the Church/new covenant. We do not want to present our covenant children to the
Lord unbaptized, anymore than an Israelite would dare present himself or his
children to the Lord uncircumcised! The washing away of sins as symbolized in
baptism must take place first. We baptize our babies because Jesus receives
them, blesses them, says the kingdom belongs to them, and because Jesus'
disciples calls them holy/clean. Baptism symbolizes all these things, Jesus'
love and blessing, belonging to the kingdom/church/covenant, and holiness/being
fit to approach the Lord in prayer and worship.
To make abundantly clear, I am not arguing that water
baptism of itself regenerates babies, or anyone for that matter. But water
baptism is inseparably connected to Spirit baptism, for it is a sign/seal of
Spirit baptism, and indeed is a means of grace which God uses, along with the
preaching of the word, to bring the covenant child to the point of regeneration
and faith, in His sovereign timing and pleasure, for the infant/child. If the
children are now holy because the unbelieving spouse is even sanctified by the
believing spouse, then the sign/seal of baptism should be applied to the holy
children so that they can be visibly marked out as holy and belonging to Jesus
Christ, His church and kingdom, and by virtue of being born into a covenant
home, are fit to approach Jesus in worship as a member of the covenant. These
are all blessings which the child/baby is born into, and is commanded to
receive by faith. If the child does not receive by faith these blessings, the
child becomes covenant breaker, forfeits the new covenant blessings, and
receives the new covenant curses, which are more severe than those under the
old covenant with Moses, as we have already discussed in Hebrews 10, 12, and
elsewhere.
Here is an excerpt from J.V. Fesko's great book "Word,
Water, and Spirit" which pertains to the I Cor. 7:14 passage:
"Against the redemptive-historical background of the
whole of Scripture, the household baptisms of the New Testament make sense. If
there were children, even nursing infants, or slaves present, they too would
have been baptized. The children would have been baptized because they were to
be included as children of the covenant, as in the Old Testament. The slaves
would have been baptized providing they too would have made professions of
faith. More will be said about the baptism of slaves below. The household
principle lies behind Paul’s counsel in 1 Corinthians 7:12–16. Paul can say
that both the unbelieving spouse and the children, because of the one believing
spouse, are holy. In what way are they holy? Holy (ἃγιος) is a cultic term. This is evident as Paul
contrasts holy with the term unclean (ἀκάθαρτος).
In the canonical use of these terms, Gentile nations were unclean and Israel
was holy (cf. Ex. 19:6; Lev. 18:24; Acts 10:28). Anyone or anything unclean was
not allowed within the camp, the covenant community (e.g., Lev. 13:46). The
Israelite cult and covenant community were essentially the same. In other
words, to be holy was to be in the covenant, but to be unclean was to be
outside the covenant. The holy and unclean categories cannot be divorced from
the concept of covenant. To do so is to abstract them from redemptive history,
thus loosing their historical anchor. The words become mere adjectives to
describe independent individuals rather than terms that describe individuals
within the covenant (or households) and indeed the church as the covenant
community vis-à-vis the unbelieving world. Soteric holiness is therefore
covenantal. However, in the Old Testament, Israel was holy and the Gentile
nations were unclean. In the New Testament, it is the church (both Jew and
Gentile) that is holy and the unbelieving world that is unclean. The question
then arises, in what way are the unbelieving spouse and children covenantally
holy? The main thrust of Paul’s argument is to show that the unbelieving, and
hence “Gentile,” spouse (cf. 1 Peter 2:12) does not profane the marriage.
Rather, the believing spouse brings the sanctity of the covenant into the
marriage. The marriage is considered a “Christian marriage” even if only one
spouse is a believer (cf. Rom. 11:16). In the language of the Old Testament, the
unbelieving spouse is like the foreigner or sojourner in the land (e.g. Ex.
22:21). But whereas the sojourner would come to dwell in the land in the midst
of the covenant community, God brings the covenant community to the unbelieving
spouse through the believing spouse. In the same way in which the temple
sanctified the gold connected with it (Matt. 23:17, 19), the believing spouse
sanctifies the unbelieving spouse. This sanctity, however, is not connected to
the individual but to the covenant, which encompasses more than the individual.
The believing spouse casts the light of the new covenant, the gospel of Christ,
on the unbelieving spouse through his or her conduct and, in some cases, is
God’s instrument by which the unbelieving spouse is saved (1 Cor. 7:16). But
while the unbelieving spouse might be sanctified, this does not automatically
entitle the person to the sign of the covenant, because as an adult, he or she
must make a profession of faith, as would be the case for slaves within a
household. This is evident in that Paul instructs the believing spouse to
remain married to the unbelieving spouse if he or she is willing to do so (1
Cor. 7:12–13). Peter gives similar instructions to Christian wives whose
husbands do not obey the Word of God (1 Peter 3:1–2). Baptism cannot be coerced
on one who refuses to believe. The children of the believing spouse are treated
differently. They are covenantally holy and therefore receive the sign of the
covenant, circumcision in the Old Testament and baptism in the New Testament.
Children have not yet rejected the covenant, and Christian parents have the
responsibility to raise them “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph.
6:4). What else can this mean but to raise them in the covenant, the place
where the covenant Lord exercises His authority and where His people serve Him?
Paul clearly teaches that children are not treated like an unbelieving spouse.
If children are not to receive baptism, as Baptists maintain, then why are they
not treated the same as the unbelieving spouse? How can they be raised in the
covenantal discipline and revelation of the Lord? There is no isolated,
individualistic avenue to God, only that of covenant. But keep in mind the
all-important point— the administration of the covenant is broader than
election; the visible covenant community is not synonymous with the elect of
God." - J. V. Fesko. Word, Water, and Spirit.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2020/11/some-bible-verses-relating-to.html
SOME BIBLE VERSES RELATING TO INFANT/COVENANT BAPTISM
SOME BIBLE VERSES RELATING TO INFANT/COVENANT
BAPTISM
Apostles’ and Christ’s Teaching on Covenant Children:
1. Acts 2 shows
us the saving outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Jesus in glory (Acts 2:33)
upon Jews and now also Gentiles/many nations, stands in continuity with and
fulfils all the old covenant promises through Christ’s blood of the new
covenant.
a. This outpouring of
the Spirit in Acts 2 comes on Pentecost/the Feast of Weeks, which in Deut.
16:11 we see that the households rejoiced before God on that day, “you and
your son and your daughter…”
b. Acts 2:16 says
this is a fulfilment of Joel 2:28, then quotes it, showing the
outpouring of the Spirit coming upon “your sons and daughters,” etc.
c. Acts 2:38-39
says this new covenant promise is to “you and your children”. The adults/men
present in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5) who believe are baptized. These men are
heads of their households. The teaching of the OT and also the NT always
indicates that believer’s children are included in the covenant, and therefore
are disciples of Christ by birth/being born into a Christian household, and
therefore receive the sign of the covenant, which now is baptism.
d. Consider -- just days
before Acts 2, in Mt. 28:18-20, Jesus ascends to heaven and tells
His disciples to “make disciples” of all the nations by “baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all I have commanded you.”
i. Presbyterians see throughout Scripture, both
OT and NT, that children have a right to the covenant because parents have a
duty to God and to their children to raise their children as disciples/members
of God’s covenant people (Eph. 6:1-4).
ii. We recognize Christian/covenant households,
not simply Christian/covenant individuals. If even one parent is a believer,
the children are disciples/raised in the covenantal nurture/admonition of the
Lord.
iii. Therefore, the covenant children/babies are
baptized as disciples of Christ.
2. If this seems
strange, consider Eph. 6:1-4. Children are commanded to obey parents in the
Lord, & fathers in particular are commanded to “bring them up in the
training and admonition of the Lord.”
a. In fact, the old
covenant promise from the 5th commandment is APPLIED TO NEW COVENANT
CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS in v. 3, “that it may be well with you and you may live
on ON THE EARTH.” This shows that children are born into the new covenant (how
else can the covenant promises be applied to them, and how else can they be
raised in the admonition/nurture of the Lord?).
b. This is consistent
with Scripture. OT children were born into the covenant, infant males received
the covenant sign/circumcision, and parents were to teach God’s commands to
their children diligently (Deut. 6). Since NT children/babies of
believers are to be discipled, they are disciples, and as disciples of
Christ they are to be baptized, Mt. 28:19-20.
c. For Baptists to be
consistent, they have to say that their babies/children are not disciples until
they are older and repent and believe in Jesus. Only then can parents raise
them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and only then are children commanded
to “obey your parents in the Lord” and “Honor your father and mother” (Eph.
6:1-2).
i. Thankfully, I don’t know many consistent
Baptists. They often raise them in the fear and admonition of Jesus while
maintaining that their children are “unbaptized non-disciples” that have to be
evangelized until they repent and believe.
ii. But this is an oxymoron, you don’t bring up
pagans/unbelievers in the fear/ admonition of the Lord, you evangelize them.
Likewise, you don’t evangelize your children, you bring them up in the
(covenantal) fear & admonition of the Lord. Presbyterians do this
consistently by baptizing babies, Baptists inconsistently by not.
d. I realize from a
Baptistic perspective that “babies as disciples” seems like the real oxymoron,
but biblically Israelite children were born in covenant to God, circumcised,
and therefore were His people/disciples while babies. Nowhere in the NT does
God change this pattern.
i. In fact, the pattern is reaffirmed in Acts
2, the adults repent, believe and are baptized, then are told, “The promise
is to you and your children.” Rom. 4:11-12 tells us Abraham had faith
first, then was given the sign of the covenant, circumcision, for him and his
children/male sons who were to be circumcised.
ii. With that in mind, consider young Timothy,
who in Acts 16 we read has a Jewish mother who is a believer in Jesus.
Thus, he comes from a believing/covenant household. We learn in 2 Tim. 3:15
that his mother did not wait until he was of a certain age, but from infancy/ βρέφος Timothy had known the
holy Scriptures which are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in
Christ (The word βρέφος is always used to denote
infants/babies, see its 8 uses in the NT below).
iii. Timothy’s father was not Jewish, and so
Timothy was not circumcised until Paul circumcised him, but the covenantal
principle is seen in 2 Tim. 1:5 where Paul mentions the “genuine faith”
in Timothy that was also in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.
iv. Here we see the covenant principle concerning
children remaining the same from the old to the new covenant. The child Timothy
was learning Scripture before Christ began his earthly ministry, yet that
covenantal rearing by his mother (and grandmother before her) is praised by
Paul even after Christ is risen.
3. Consider in Lk.
19:9, when Zaccheus repents, Jesus says salvation has come to his house,
because Zaccheus “is a son of Abraham”. Here Jesus reaffirms the
household covenant principle.
a. In Gal. 3:7 we
read that “only those who are of faith are [true] sons of Abraham.” It seems
that Baptists therefore conclude that only those who possess saving faith are
in the new covenant, and therefore only those who possess saving faith are to
be baptized.
b. But consider that I
Cor. 7:14 tells us covenant children of even one believing spouse are
“holy”. This is because the believing spouse “sanctifies” the unbelieving
spouse, otherwise the children would be “unclean”. What does this mean? Let’s
review some things:
i. Being unclean, clean, and holy all has to do
with covenantal language, and is found in the OT. Those ceremonially unclean
were unfit to approach God in the Temple.
ii. The OT system of many ritual washings of the
people was required even for various bodily deformities, skin diseases, women
while menstruating, etc. Until they were ceremonially washed/cleansed, they
were not fit to approach God (Lev. 12-15).
iii. The wonderful conclusion from I Cor. 7:14
is that when there is even just one believing spouse, the whole household has,
through Jesus, been ceremonially washed/sanctified/made holy & therefore
allowed/fit to approach God in worship!
iv. Now, in the NT, what is it that visibly
expresses/symbolizes washing away of sins? It is the ceremony/sacrament of
baptism! "Get up, be baptized and wash away your sins" (Acts 22:16).
We should baptize our children because they are holy to the Lord.
c. This is why Jesus can
say to Zaccheus that salvation has come to his house, not just to Zaccheus.
This doesn’t mean that Zaccheus’ wife and kids would be automatically
saved/born again, but it does mean the whole family was a household that has
the blood of Christ applied to it, as the blood of the Passover lamb in the OT
was placed on the doorposts of the house, and spared the 1st born
son from being killed by the death angel.
d. Christ is now our
Passover (I Cor. 5:7), and His blood too is on the doorposts of the
house/family of even just one believing parent, meaning the whole family is now
in covenant with God, and the whole family is now offered the gospel/covenant
promise that they will be saved and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit if
they repent and trust in Jesus.
e. Therefore, God’s
covenant/gospel promise of salvation and the Holy Spirit is held out to each
person in the household (Acts 2:38-39), and especially
the children as the believing parent(s) must disciple them/raise them in the
nurture/admonition of Christ the Lord.
4. The issue is that the
Baptist believes one is only in the new covenant if he/she has already repented
and believed, usually admitting this was not the case in the OT covenant(s),
but believing that this is part of what is “new” about the “new” covenant now
that Christ has shed His blood.
a. But the Presbyterian
follows the OT pattern & sees it continuing in the NT, that one is in the
covenant if the gospel/covenant promise of salvation & the gift of the Holy
Spirit has been extended/offered to you.
b. Because I as a father
am to raise my children in the fear and admonition of the Lord from infancy,
the gospel/covenant promise of salvation is something God has graciously made
and brought my children into from their conception.
c. Whether my children
repent and believe determines whether or not they receive the promise of
salvation offered to them, but it does not determine whether or not they are in
the covenant. The Baptist’s error is thinking God hasn’t
covenanted until you’ve accepted, but God imposes the covenant sovereignly, on
whomever He wills.
d. The Presbyterian is
consistent with the OT teaching about covenant, and sees that in the NT the
covenant is the same in essence, its newness being that it is the final
form/fullest expression and the blessed fulfillment of all the preceding
covenants. The Greek word repeatedly used to speak about the New Covenant
refers to something being refreshed, revitalized, rejuvenated [kainos]. So the
New Covenant gives new life and fulfillment, to all that is promised in the
prior covenants, by the renewing blood/work of Christ.
5. This is why Jesus
blesses babies/infants by touching and praying for them; He’s bestowing
covenant blessings by saying that such belong/have a right to the kingdom of
God, Mk. 10:16, Mt. 19:13, 15.
a. For Jesus to do this
but to then say that believer’s children are excluded from the new covenant in
His own blood is a serious contradiction.
b. That Jesus blessed
even infants/babies/ βρέφος shows that He was not doing this based on regeneration/saving
faith, but because they belonged/had a right to the kingdom/covenant through
the believing parents that brought them to Jesus.
c. Whether these
children would ultimately inherit the kingdom of God and remain in the covenant
would depend upon whether they believed in Christ personally for salvation.
d. Believer’s children
are heirs of the kingdom of God, but just as a King’s child might be heir to
the throne but never receive that inheritance/kingdom due to forfeiting it,
dying, renouncing it, etc., so too, sadly, can covenant children of King Jesus
renounce/forfeit their inheritance by unbelief/apostasy and be removed from the
covenant & promised kingdom.
e. But
for our children to simply be in the covenant, heirs of the kingdom, and born
into the sphere/kingdom in which Christ and His regenerating Holy Spirit is at
work, is a tremendous blessing & encouragement to parents!
f. We have a
hopeful expectation and prayer that as we raise our children in the fear and
admonition of the Lord, within the covenant where Christ’s Spirit is active,
that our children will be regenerated and trust in Christ for salvation,
receiving the covenant promises/blessings of eternal life in the kingdom of
God, rather than the covenant threats/curses of everlasting destruction outside
of His kingdom in hell (Mt. 13:47-48; Rev. 21:7-8, 27).
6. Also consider, both
Baptist and Presbyterians agree the new covenant is better than the old.
a. Yet the Baptist
thinks that excluding children from the covenant is a good/better thing?
b. Presbyterians find
this a terrible thing, as it would put children into the position of being like
the Gentiles/pagan nations before Christ came (see Eph. 2:11-13),
“without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world.”
c. I Cor. 7:14
has already shown that, if anything, there’s more/richer new covenant mercies
to believer’s children, not less/none. Presbyterians baptize their babies
because Jesus receives them, blesses them, says the kingdom belongs to them,
and because Jesus calls them holy/clean. Baptism symbolizes all these things,
Jesus' love and blessing, inclusion in the kingdom/church/covenant, &
holiness/being fit to approach the Lord in prayer and worship.
7. Baptists think
Presbyterians mess up the atonement here, that since the new covenant is in
Christ’s blood, and Christ atoned for only the elect, then only the elect can
be in the new covenant that is in Christ’s blood. Baptists equate being in the
new covenant with being elect.
a. Baptists think it is
bad if the new covenant can still include, temporarily, the non-elect & unregenerate.
But Presbyterians point out that Baptists achieve this regenerate only covenant
at the expense of their own children (and adults baptized without genuine
faith)!
b. But the idea of a
regenerate only covenant was never the case before, and so the burden of proof
is on the Baptist to show how the new covenant is elect/regenerate only before
Christ returns. Presbyterians agree that when Christ returns, He will
judge His own people, and all that is false will be removed & only the
elect/regenerate will receive the kingdom of heaven.
8. But as we will see
below, the new testament indicates that the new covenant, like all the
preceding covenants in the old testament, is also one that can be broken by
unbelief, and until Christ returns, is made up of both the elect and non-elect,
the regenerate and the unregenerate.
a. Returning to
Galatians, Paul says in Gal. 5:4 that those seeking salvation through
circumcision “have become estranged [some translations say
severed] from Christ….you
have fallen from grace.”
b. The Baptist often
takes this to mean that such a person was never really regenerate to begin
with, which is true enough, but then goes further to say that such a person was
never part of the covenant, which simply is not true.
c. You cannot become
estranged/severed from Christ and fall away from grace if you never belonged to
Christ nor had a participation in His grace. Because the Baptist demands a
regenerate only new covenant, he has to resort to saying something like the
person fell away from what they thought was Christ and grace, or
that they fell away from their profession of faith and membership in a church.
But that is not what Scripture says.
d. Scripture says they
are severed from Christ Himself and have fallen away from grace. The
Presbyterian understands this covenantally, just as the Israelites fell away,
that such a person has fallen away from the covenant of grace and from Christ
whom they were covenanted to. But since we do not require everyone in the
covenant to be regenerate (as the covenant has never required in the OT or the
NT), we do not fear that one can lose their salvation/regeneration.
e. This covenantal
context is seen right away in Gal. 1:6 where Paul marvels that those in
Galatia are “turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of
Christ, to a different gospel”. Christ has called each person in the Galatian
church, & that calling is the new covenant/gospel call. This helps us make
sense of many parables of Jesus, including Mt. 22:14 where we read that
many are (covenantally) “called, but few are chosen/elected.”
9. It is critical to
note that the Baptist seems to think Jesus was not present in the OT
with the Israelites. Since Jesus has now come and shed His blood, this is why
the new covenant cannot be broken, they say. But the NT teaches
that Christ was with the Israelites all along.
a. I Cor. 10:
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were
under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that
spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But
with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in
the wilderness.
i. Here we see that even baptism was in the OT,
that ALL the Israelites were baptized in the old covenant under Moses, and yet
with most of them “God was not pleased” and they did not inherit the covenant
promised land. (Noah’s flood is also a baptism, I Pet. 3:20, the same
waters that save are those that judge in the flood and Red Sea)
ii. We also see that all the Israelites/covenant
people of God had spiritual nourishment from the pre-incarnate Christ
Himself from the rock, yet they fell away from Him.
b. Now if the new
covenant was unbreakable, this would be a great time for Paul to tell us, but
he does the opposite, he warns us not to be like the Israelites:
i. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the
intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do
not become idolaters as were some of them… 9 nor let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents… 11
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” We, like the
Israelites, can tempt Christ to our own eternal destruction.
10. Most Baptists do not see the new covenant as
having any threats, but only salvific blessings, since the new covenant, to
them, is made up of regenerate persons/true believers only.
a. But Presbyterians
argue that any true covenant has blessings and curses, promises and threats,
and therefore the new covenant does as well. Often Baptists see the new
covenant as unconditional, but Presbyterians generally see persevering faith as
the condition of the new covenant, as all the other covenants are conditioned
upon faith, and as there is an underlying unity between all the covenants of
Scripture. That faith is a gift from God does not change the fact that
faith is a covenant condition.
b. This is why
Presbyterians see one covenant of grace under various administrations
throughout the OT and NT, whereas Baptists see the new covenant as something
more or less brand new, fundamentally different altogether from all the
preceding covenants.
c. Galatians has shown
that a working, persevering faith is the condition of the new covenant (which
was the condition of all the covenants), since unbelief led to being severed
from Christ and falling away from (covenantal) grace. I Cor. 10 was
another example.
11. The book of Hebrews especially reveals not
only that the new covenant is conditioned upon persevering faith, but also that
the punishment for covenant breaking is most severe:
a. Heb. 3:12-4:2,
“12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another
daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we
hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it
is said:“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion.” 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came
out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it
not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And
to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did
not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us
fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the
gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they
heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
i. The brethren are addressed as possibly having
an unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. Brothers are those in
the covenant, and you cannot depart from God if you were never covenanted to
God. Notice also the gospel/covenant promise in v. 19, “of entering His rest,”
remains, and in 4:2, “the gospel was preached to us as well as to them.” We
stand in the covenant in the same spot as the Israelites, and our children do
as well. Thus our children are in the covenant, disciples, and should be baptized,
b/c they like we have the gospel/covenant promise of entering His rest preached
to us, and they like we must receive the covenant/gospel promises by persevering
faith, a working faith that grows in sanctification, Jas.
2:14-26.
ii. The Baptist might look at Heb. 3:14 and say
that proves that only those who “hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
to the end” are actually in the covenant, & those that fall away, whatever
they fell away from, it was not the new covenant.
iii. But that’s reading into v. 14 things that
are not there. It says to be a true partaker of Christ you must
persevere in the faith, not a partaker of the new covenant.
iv. Baptists and Presbyterians both agree that if
you lose faith, you were never a regenerate/salvific partaker in Christ and His
saving blessings to begin with.
v. But John 15 shows some are non-regenerate
partakers of Christ, for there we read the following: “I am the true
vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in
Me that does not bear fruit He takes away… 6 If
anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a
branch and is withered; and they gather them and
throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” Jesus says you
can be a branch in Him, but not bear fruit, and be taken out of Him by God the
Father. This is not about losing salvation, but losing your covenantal
relationship to Christ through apostasy. We can be Judas’s, actual disciples
that fall away from a real relationship to Christ.
b. Heb. 6
contains a similar passage to John 15:
4 For it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become
partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away,
to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves
the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7 For the earth
which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs
useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but
if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to
being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
i. Again, there are those in the covenant, who
have tasted the heavenly gift, had a (non-salvific, yet real) partaking of the
Holy Spirit, have heard the gospel preached in Church and known something of
its power.
ii. Yet they so fully fall away that they bear
thorns & briers/blaspheme, receive covenant curses, & are burned in
hell.
c. Heb. 10 is
very clear and explicitly says breaking the new covenant incurs WORSE
punishment than breaking the old, and that the Lord judges His own covenant
people:
i. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries.
ii. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies
without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much
worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he
was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” These words speak for
themselves.
d. Heb.
12:15-17 says we can break the new covenant and forfeit its
salvific blessings like Esau did, & like the Israelites did after hearing
God from Mt. Sinai. Indeed, we hear God from the pulpit through the preacher
every Sunday, where we have come to “Mt. Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the
general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to
God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to
Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Therefore, “see that
you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused
Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we
turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,” (v. 25). And
finally, “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let us have grace, by which we [may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a
consuming fire.” Nothing could be clearer – we are warned time and time
again not to transgress the new covenant.
12. Romans 11 is also a very
critical chapter showing that Jews and Gentiles are grafted into the same
covenant/Christ, and that as the Jews have been broken out, Gentiles can be as
well.
a. This shows that the
covenants are one in essence, multiple in administrations, as the Presbyterians
hold and counter to what the Baptists claim of multiple differing covenants.
b. It also shows that
the new covenant can be broken, as Gentiles are warned not to boast but that
we, too, like the Israelites, can be broken out of the covenant, if we like the
Israelites lose faith and turn away from God/Christ (Rom. 11:19-23).
13. Peter teaches this too: 2 Pet.
2:18-22 “turn away from the holy commandment.” 2 Pet. 3:17,
“Beloved… beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away
with the error of the wicked.”
14. Jesus own parables teach that the new
covenant can be broken/transgressed: Parable of the tares, Mt. 13;
of the dragnet, Mt. 13:47; Of the unforgiving Servant, 18:21; Of
the wedding feast, Mt. 22, faithful and evil servant, Mt. 24;
Wise & foolish virgins + talents, Mt. 25. Parable of the Minas, Lk.
19. Importance of Christians to be watchful, Lk. 21:34ff. And
others.
15. Finally, Baptists sometimes question
whether Baptism really replaces circumcision as sign/seal of the covenant.
This could be discussed at length, but Col. 2:11-12 shows they point to
same reality: 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, 12 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. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [i]handwriting
of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
βρέφος [strongs:1025]
Shows that Jesus blessed infants, not just children who had faith.
babe (4), infants (1), young children (1), child (1), babes
(1)
|
Luke
1:41 |
And it came to pass, that,
when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was
filled with the Holy Ghost: |
|
Luke
1:44 |
For, lo, as soon as the
voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the
babe leaped in my womb for joy. |
|
Luke
2:12 |
And this shall be a sign unto
you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. |
|
Luke
2:16 |
And they came with
haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the
babe lying in a manger. |
|
Luke
18:15-16 |
And they brought unto him
[JESUS] also infants, that he would
touch them: but
when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
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.” |
|
Acts
7:19 |
The same dealt
subtilly with our kindred, and evil
entreated our fathers, so that they cast
out their young children [babies], to
the end they might not live. |
|
2
Timothy 3:15 |
And that from a child
[since a baby/infant!] thou hast known the
holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. |
|
1
Peter 2:2 |
As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: |
Disproving Reformed Baptist view of Jer. 31:
1. Refuted by its
interpretation in Hebrews 10, showing we can still break the new covenant.
2. Also Jer. 32:37-40
speaks of the new covenant (same promises/everlasting covenant) yet it
is for “the good of them and their children after them,”
includes covenant children still.
3. Promise of heart
circumcision is not new in Jer. 31, it is found in Deut. 30:6; God will
circumcise “their hearts and the hearts of their descendants/children”.
4. Gen. 17:13
calls Abrahamic covenant with circumcision “everlasting”, God says in
18:18-19 that God chose Abraham “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.” The
promises the LORD will bring to Abraham is that Abraham would become the father
of a great nation, and all the nations of the earth are blessed in Abraham.
That is realized through Christ at the Great Commission in Mt. 28, and
we are all called children of Abraham if we are in the new covenant.
5. New covenant in Hebrews
13:20 is said to have Jesus and it is “through the blood of the everlasting
covenant” that we are made complete in every good work. Christ’s blood is the
realization of all the types and shadows of the OT temple rituals. Yet Heb.
12:24-26 we can be covenanted to Christ and yet still “not escape if
we turn away from Him [Christ] who speaks from heaven”, v. 26.
6. So the new covenant
at this time is not regenerate/elect only, and since children stand in the same
relation to the new covenant as they did the old, they are to be baptized.
7. It is also clear that
infant baptism does not guarantee the salvation of covenant children, as many
fall away today as they did in the OT. But what excites Presbyterians
is that the new covenant promises to us & our children are richer/stronger
as they now come through Christ on High and the superabundant outpouring of His
Spirit.
8. Many believe
the “new” in new covenant indicates something “brand new”, when really
the “newness” is a re-newing of the covenant through the work of Christ, whose
blood is now the sacrifice & He the High Priest, fulfilling the OT
temple/priesthood (Heb. 9-10)
9. One of the words used in
Greek for “new” does mean something that is brand new and has never been seen
or heard of before. [neos] But the Greek word used to
speak about the New Covenant refers to something being refreshed, revitalized,
or rejuvenated. [kainos ]So the New Covenant in one sense gives new life, and
fulfillment, to all that is promised in the old covenants, by the renewing
work of Christ. So there is covenantal continuity.
10. On Jeremiah 31:34 –
a. Instead of seeing a
quantitative distinction in this new covenant promise, it seems like a better
interpretation of Jer. 31:34 would be to see a qualitative distinction between
the new and old covenant.
b. 1 John 2:27
says “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you
do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught
you, you will abide in Him.”
c. If 1John
2:27 is a fulfillment of the new covenant promise of Jer. 31:34, then the
promise would refer to a greater operation of the Holy Spirit to aide believers
in discerning truth from error. Cf. Acts 1:4-8, 2:33, 38-39.
d. The phrase “you do
not need that anyone teach you” seems very similar to the “No more shall every
man teach his neighbor” passage of Jer. 31:34. John & Jeremiah are
not saying we don’t need teachers (Eph. 4:7-16 shows Christ gave us teachers
as a New Covenant blessing). They are saying God will bless all believers
with a fuller “anointing” of the Spirit of God to guide us into all truth, be
Bereans/discerning, etc.
Continuity & Discontinuity between the Old and New
Covenant Administrations:
“Covenants” is plural, but “promise” is singular (in Eph.
2:12). This indicates that, although there are several covenants throughout
Scripture, they are not separate from one another, but all point to one
singular promise, the Immanuel Principle, that God will be with/redeem His
people, and they shall serve Him. This brings unification to Scripture and
harmony from the Old through the New Testament. Some Baptists will say that
because the covenants are plural, there are multiple or varying promises that
God makes to man, but the fact that the word promise is singular indicates that
all the covenants point to the same promise that God will dwell with His people
and righteousness shall reign. The different covenants simply expand upon or
explain the one promise that binds the covenants together.
1. The
professor discusses twelve continuities between the old and new covenants
(testaments):
1. Both covenants have the same parties, Jehovah and
the house of Israel. Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David,
and the house of Israel is not an ethnic group but rather those who have faith
in Christ (Gal. 3:29). The house of Israel is comprised of the seed of Abraham,
which is Christ, those who have faith in Christ, and believer’s children.
2. Both covenants have the same gospel. Hebrews
9:13-14 makes this clear because it connects animal blood sacrifice to Christ’s
blood sacrifice. “13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a
heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of
the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?”
The animal sacrifices pointed to and were sacramentally
connected with the sacrifice of Christ. They did not serve a different purpose
but foreshadowed the blood sacrifice of Christ Himself for the remission of
sins. The same gospel, the same good news of salvation, was being proclaimed in
the old and new covenants. Romans 1:2 also says that the gospel of God and
Christ was “promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.”
3. Both covenants have the same Christ. In Luke
24:44ff. Christ is walking with his disciples after He was resurrected, and He
preached about Himself from the OT Scriptures. In Hebrews 11 it is said
that Moses chose to suffer the reproaches of Christ than enjoy what Egypt had
to offer.
4. Both covenants have the same faith. Romans 4 in
particular makes this clear, as Paul refers to the faith of Abraham and David
as supreme examples of what it means to have faith in Christ. Abraham and David
were both justified by faith in Christ. Romans 4:11 makes clear that Abraham’s
faith which “was accounted to him for righteousness” (v. 3) was his before he
was circumcised so that he might “be the father of all those who believe,
though they are uncircumcised (Gentiles and NT believers), that righteousness
might be imputed to them also.”
5. Both covenants confer the same blessings. There are
both physical and spiritual blessings in both the old and new covenants. God
said to Israel in the old covenant that He would be their God and they would be
His people. That’s certainly a spiritual promise. Ephesians 6:1-3 reiterates
the benefit of children obeying their parents, namely that they will live long
lives. Matthew indicates that the meek will inherit the whole earth.
6. Both covenants have the same judgments pronounced.
Hell is both spiritual and physical punishment in the old and new covenants.
Hebrews 10:26-31 indicates that God will judge His people for spurning the
blood of Christ, and prior to Christ anyone who spurned the law of Moses would
be put to death.
7. Both covenants have the same law. Christ in Matthew
5:17-18 says He came not to abolish but to fulfill the law, and that the law
will not pass away until heaven and earth pass away and until “all is
accomplished.” Christians are called to be like Christ and obey the Father as
Christ obeyed, and Christ obeyed the law, so too Christians must obey the law
of Moses.
8. Both covenants have the same church. The church did
not begin at Pentecost as some Dispensationalists say, but it began with Adam
and Eve outside of Eden when they trusted in the promise of God, which was that
He would crush the head of the serpent through the seed of the woman. Acts 7:38
brings out that Stephen spoke of Moses who was out with Israel, the “ekklesia”
or church/congregation in the wilderness. Moses received the laws from God to
give to the church. Hebrews 3 brings together Moses and Christ as builders of
the same house of God, the difference being not in the houses but in the
builders, for Christ is the son of the owner of the house and Moses is a
servant of the owner. This house is the church.
9. Both covenants have the same goal. God says in
Exodus 19:5-6 that Israel would be His own special people and they would be to
God a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This language is applied to the
church in the new testament as well in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” The goal
is united in both covenants.
10. Both covenants have the same definitions. The old
testament and 1 John 3:4 both define sin as a transgression of the law of God.
Atonement, salvation, peace, grace, etc., all have the same definitions and
meaning.
11. Both covenants have the same foundation. Both are
covenants of grace, and are not dependent upon the efforts of man to be
fulfilled. The realization of the promises of the covenant are dependent upon
the sovereign grace of God alone. Mt. Sinai came after the Red Sea, meaning
that grace was first and law was second. The law was not given to earn grace,
but grace was given so that God’s people could be redeemed and keep the law in
love and joyful obedience. Romans 4:13 makes clear that Abraham and his descendants
inherit the world through faith and not the law.
12. Both covenants have the same operating principles.
Holiness of life defines the character of the covenant relationships with God
and man. No man can be a friend of God and disregard His law. Jesus in John 14
says that we are His friends if we obey His commandments. In both covenants,
the operating principle is that continued enjoyment of God’s blessings is
inseparable from perseverance in righteousness.
Seven legitimate (biblical) differences between the
OT and NT.
1. The difference between incomplete and
complete.
2. The difference between limited and universal.
3. The difference between sufficient and
abundant.
4. The difference between good and better.
5. The difference between ornate and simple.
6. The difference between shadow and reality.
7.
The difference between prophecy and fulfillment.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2022/05/covenant-babies-at-lords-table.html
Covenant Babies at the Lord's Table?
Those who recognize children of believers belong to the
covenant sometimes make the error of also admitting them to partake of the
bread and the wine as infants, or at least babies. Even among paedocommunion
advocates, there is a surprising amount of variety, some admitting to the table
from birth, others waiting until anywhere between 1-3 years old, for various
reasons, usually tied to physically being able to digest the bread/wine or
being weaned from the mother's milk.
But the Lord's Supper is a spiritual meal, requiring
spiritual teeth, faith, to truly feed on Christ and be nourished at the table
meal. So here is a brief reply I gave to some paedocommunion guys who charge
paedobaptists like myself of being inconsistent and "excomunnicating"
our covenant children from the Lord's Table:
Infants and babies are always part of the family, and
usually literally join at the dinner table/high chair around the table for
family meals. They are not "unwelcome" at the family table. The table
is for them. They are brought around it. But until they have the physical
constitution to eat the meat, they don't. They drink their mother's milk, as
they get older they also drink water, then soft foods, etc., are added. But
there are a couple years usually before the child is expected and able to eat
the full family meal (and often a year or two after where they have the food
chopped up in tiny pieces), but all the while they are admitted to the family
table.
Well, you can make the obvious application to the Lord's
Table/Supper. Covenant children aren't excommunicated or "unwelcome"
at the Table. If our congregation had a communion table where each covenant
family would come to it/sit at it, we would not tell the parents to abandon
their infants and babies in the pew, but rather bring them to the table. As
soon as they can eat of this spiritual meal at the Lord's Table, that is,
desire to and profess faith in Christ, so as to feed on Him by faith, they may
do so. You can take physical/carnal feeding on Christ back to Rome. This is a
spiritual meal, which requires a spiritual chewing that is symbolized in the
physical chewing. It only takes child-like faith, but it does take faith to
truly partake of Christ in the sacramental meal.
Just as the babies are encouraged to grow into maturity and
eat the full meal at the family table that their older brothers and sisters are
enjoying, so is the Lord's Supper a call to grow into spiritual maturity/faith.
But that spiritual feeding comes by the moms and dads, along with the
pastors/elders, feeding the milk of the Word to the children, nurturing them in
the covenant so that God works by His Spirit with the word on their hearts to
bring them to saving faith, and praise God, to not just sit at the Table of the
Lord but to now feed on the same spiritual meal as their covenant family, the
meal that they have been seated around as a member of, and now are able to
devour with their spiritual teeth of faith that have come in by God's kindness.
The meal, of course, is Christ Himself, and His efficacious death. His body
broken and blood shed for that child. His body was given for our covenant
children from their mother's womb, and now with the teeth of faith they come to
the table to partake of His saving blessings.
You do have the ditch in some Reformed churches where, to
borrow from my analogy above, they don't merely wait for a child-like
faith/spiritual teeth to come in, but mature faith/spiritual molars. So
children who truly have faith to partake worthily and remember/proclaim the
Lord's death for them are forbidden. This would be like barring your older
children from eating steak because they don't yet have their molars, making
them wait until they are teenagers or even college aged to eat a nice steak
dinner.
That would be frustrating, and so when a child is ready to
profess faith in Christ and wants to come to the table, to refuse to do so
because they don't have a mature faith with spiritual "wisdom teeth"
is absurd, and can frustrate the faith of that child. So my position, and the
elders position at our church, is "young credo-communion." At the
time of writing this, 6 of our covenant children, ages 6-8, will make
profession of faith this Lord's Day, and then in June will partake by faith,
with their spiritual "baby/child" teeth as it were, of Christ in the
bread and wine, and so be spiritually nourished, remembering and proclaiming
the Lord's death for them and the whole Church body/family to which they
belong, and have always belonged.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-greatest-commandment-written-on-our.html
The Greatest Commandment Written on Our Hearts:
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
INTRODUCTION TO Deuteronomy 1-5:
· Deuteronomy
1-5 serves as a review of what God has done with His people the Israelites
while under Moses.
o Moses addresses the Israelites, speaking on
behalf of God to them, reminding them that God had spoken to them at Mt. Sinai
(Horeb is the whole mountain range) when giving the 10 commandments, promising
to drive away the Amorites to give them the Promised Land/Canaan.
o But the 12 spies sent to spy out the land gave
a bad report, and Israel did not heed the command of God because of fear of the
mighty Amorites.
o Only after God told them they would not
inherit the Promised Land until their generation of men of war were consumed (2:14)
and their babies would inherit did Israel try to take it, but they were
destroyed and driven back by the Amorites because God did not go with them in
their battles.
o That entire generation had to wander in the
wilderness, and yet even here God’s punishment is tempered by His mercy and
grace, as He leads them by pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, blesses
them in the work of their hands, feeds His people and provides them with water
(Deut. 2:7-8).
o After those forty years, God tells His people
to go forth and conquer, that Sihon the Amorite, King of Heshbon is given to
them. God hardens Heshbon’s heart & spirit so that he does not let God’s
people through, so that the Israelites would destroy them, man, woman, and
child, to possess that land and to make all the other nations fear and dread
the Israelites who are led by Yahweh, the one true God (2:25; 30ff.).
Then King Og of Bashan is defeated, & all the cities in the region were
taken by Israel.
o The two kings and their cities on the east of
the Jordan river were also defeated and divided up to certain tribes of Israel
-- half the tribe of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben -- though their men of war still
had to cross the Jordan with the rest of the Israelites to take the land west
of the Jordan.
o Moses & the Israelites’ faith is
strengthened as they see Yahweh, the one true God, conquering their far
superior enemies; yet Joshua, not Moses, leads them across the Jordan (Deut.
3:27ff.).
o In Deut. 4, Moses then reviews & exhorts
Israel to obey the Lord, to follow His commands & precepts, especially the
10 commandments, and to teach them to their children and grand-children (4:9-10).
He reminds them that at Mt. Sinai they did not see God but heard His voice
only, so they should not make any images to bow down to and commit idolatry (4:15ff.)
o But then Moses speaks
prophetically in 4:25, explaining that when they are old and have
children and grandchildren, they will worship idols, so God will remove them
from the land, scatter them among pagans, and greatly reduce their number. They
will worship foreign gods, but in time will cry out to God again, and God will
remember His covenant, show them mercy, and deliver them.
o How can they trust God
to do this? God reminds them in Deut. 4:32ff. how He created
mankind, spoke to them from the fire without consuming them, delivered them
from Egypt by mighty trials, signs, wonders, & war with a mighty hand and
outstretched arm, teaching and instructing them, leading them and then
destroying other pagan nations greater than them so that they may receive the
Promised Land. God has done this to show Israel (AND US!) that there
is no other God besides Him (4:35), that He is God of heaven &
earth, worthy of praise and worship, & heeding His commands leads to
blessing & prosperity for you and your children after you (4:39-40)
in His kingdom.
o Moses summons the
Israelites & reviews the 10 Commandments in Deut. 5 so that they
would hear & obey, reminding them that even at Horeb/Sinai 40 years prior
the covenant was made with them, not only their parents
but they themselves (for the covenant includes God’s people and their
children).
They were afraid of God’s voice/presence then, & asked
Moses to draw near to God for them as a mediator (Moses is a type of Christ),
to which God agrees but laments, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them
that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be
well with them & with their children forever (5:29)!” The
law written in stone matched their stone hearts.
o Now, the Israelites did not have an obedient
heart, but Jesus, the God-Man and Word incarnate, did; He
kept the law perfectly for us & died to atone for our sin/law-breaking so
that we receive not only forgiveness of sins & new life, but a new,
law-keeping heart (Jer. 31:33; 32:37-41) that fears the Lord,
obeys Him, teaches our children the Word diligently, & reaps/receives from
God the promised covenant blessings for us & our children of everlasting
life with our risen, mighty Lord in His kingdom!
SERMON OUTLINE
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 – The Greatest Commandment
Written on Our Hearts -- Sermon Outline
Intro: What is the Christian’s
relationship to the law, does obedience matter, & what does it look like?
Need: See that in Christ, the law is written on our
hearts so that we love it, keep it, and teach it.
M. P.: Jehovah (the only Covenant
LORD) Gives His Covenant Blessings to Those who Obey Him.
We see that this obedience --
I.
Keeps God’s Law & Receives His life-giving blessings (v. 1-3)
A. (v. 1a) “Now this is the
commandment and these are the statutes and judgments” can be seen through
several lenses (command/statute/judgment encompasses all teachings of
Jehovah to His people):
1. Most condensed in 6:5, love God alone with all
your heart, soul, strength.
a. Josiah reflects this
in 2 Ki. 23:24-25, destroying idols in obedience to God in order to keep
Moses’ law (heart love is shown in law keeping, for the heart that loves God
has the law written on it); Jesus quotes Deut. 6:5 in Mk. 12:29-30,
saying it is the first/greatest/ most important commandment.
b. In Mt. 22:40
Jesus says that loving God with all your heart/being & your neighbor as
yourself is the basis of all the OT law & prophet’s teaching, and that if
we love Him, we will keep His commandments (Jn. 14:15)
2. But in Dt. 5 we see a summation of all
the law of God in the 10 commandments.
a. The first table/first
four commandments contain our duty toward God, loving God with all our
heart/soul/strength.
b. The 2nd
table/last 6 commandments show our duties toward man, corresponding to “love
your neighbor as yourself” (love as “yourself” not “as God”, otherwise we would
be engaging in idolatry).
B. (v. 1b) “Which the LORD
your God has commanded to teach you”
1. LORD in capital letters
indicates the name Jehovah/Yahweh, used again in 6:2,
4-5. The name means “one true God” and indicates that He is the
“covenant keeping” Lord.
2. The emphasis in Deut. 1-5 has
been that this Jehovah has delivered Israel before, showing his power/supremacy
over all nations and their false gods/demons, demonstrating He is the one true
God/LORD of all.
3. Moses has been teaching the Israelites all
Jehovah’s commands to prepare them for life in Canaan, the Promised Land
flowing with milk & honey.
4. The Promised Land pictures
paradise/heaven/being in Jehovah’s blessed presence.
5. In Christ we have a foretaste of this, but we
await its fullness when He returns.
6. Perfect obedience demands perfect submission
to God’s will, impossible until glory.
C. (v. 1c) “That you may
observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess”.
1. The Israelites must be obedient/holy in order
to be with God in the Promised Land.
2. We too must obey God’s commands; we know that
we are wayward, we still sin, we still await Christ’s return and the Promised
Land, redeemed creation and glory.
D. (v. 2a) “that you may
fear [may be fearing/reverencing/respecting/honoring] the LORD your God, to
keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you.
1. Israel refused to listen/obey/“fear” what God
taught & commanded through Moses, even when they stood in God’s presence at
the foot of Mt. Sinai and heard God’s voice.
2. Now, in worship we ascend to the heavenly Mt.
Zion, the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22); in a real, spiritual
sense, we come before God/Jesus, the saints and angels.
3. Yet heaven itself will be shaken; what is
shaken is removed but what is firm remains.
4. God’s true people are receiving His kingdom,
which cannot be shaken (12:27-28).
5. So we must “not refuse Him” who speaks. For
the Israelites did not escape when they refused God who spoke on earth from Mt.
Sinai giving the 10 commandments.
6. Thus we too shall certainly be condemned if we
turn away from Jesus and His commandments, for He speaks from heaven on high to
His Church (12:25).
E. “you and your son
and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be [caused
to be] prolonged.”
1. The law given at Mt. Sinai was not
re-introducing a covenant of works/merit.
2. Entrance to the Promised Land was not
conditioned on meriting righteousness by an Israelite’s goodness. The animal
sacrifices pointed to the Lamb of God slain for sin.
3. Israel was Jehovah’s redeemed covenant people
& were to love Him by keeping His commandments; the children and
grandchildren were expected to do this too.
4. Obedience would result in the Covenant LORD
blessing them with long lives in His land.
5. Those same promises are ours and our children
(Eph. 6:3), as we too are Abraham’s seed and children according to the
promise, true Israelites (Gal. 3:29).
6. No regenerate person loses faith & turn to
idols, but can be wayward for a season. The Israelites were not merely wayward
but faithless, unregenerate/apostate, idolaters.
F. (v. 3) “Therefore
hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and
that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised
you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’”
1. God promised the patriarchs that their seed
would multiply and inherit the promised land forever (Ex.32:13); that is
fulfilled by Christ and all who are in Him.
2. Moses speaks prophetically in Det. 4:25,
explaining that after the Israelites enter the Promised Land, are old and have
children and grandchildren, they will worship idols.
3. So God will remove them from the land, scatter
them among pagans, and greatly reduce their number. They will worship foreign
gods, but in time will cry out to God.
4. God will remember His covenant, show them
mercy, and deliver them.
5. Where Adam and the Israelites failed, Christ
as the last Adam and true Israel succeeded in being faithful to His Father,
receiving the promises that God gave to Israel, & Christ as the true Israel
gives eternal life to all who have true faith in Him.
II.
Requires a heart-love for God that immerses our children in His law (v.
4-9).
A. (v. 4) “Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”
1. This is the second time Israel is told to
“hear”, this is an imperative/command.
2. In Deut. 2-3 we see God defeating pagan
kings & their cities after Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness,
which strengthens the faith of Moses & the Israelites.
3. Moses reminds Israel that their Lord God is
one in essence, & is the only God among all the so-called gods of the pagan
lands.
a. God reminds Israel in
Deut. 4:32ff. how He created them, spoke to them from the fire without
consuming them, delivered them from Egypt by mighty trials, signs, wonders,
& war with a mighty hand & outstretched arm, teaching & instructing
them, leading them and then destroying other pagan nations greater than them so
that they may receive the Promised Land.
b. God has done this to
show Israel (AND US!) that there is no other God besides Him (4:35); HE
is God of heaven & earth, worthy of praise/worship.
c. Heeding His commands
leads to blessing & prosperity for you and your children after you (4:39-40)
in His kingdom. That is true for us as His kingdom people, who have been given
hearts that love and obey God.
B. (v. 5-6) “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”
1. “Heart” here can refer to the
mind/will/understanding/affections, etc.
2. Note that in Deut. 5 Moses
summons the Israelites & reviews the 10 Commandments, and his words to them
continue into our text in Deut. 6.
3. “You shall” is not a prophecy, but a command.
Israel is commanded to love God.
4. 40 years prior at Mt. Sinai Israel was afraid
of God’s voice/presence, & asked Moses to draw near to Jehovah for them as
a mediator (Moses is a type of Christ).
5. Jehovah laments, “Oh, that they had such a
heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that
it might be well with them & with their children forever (5:29)!”
Jehovah knew they would not fear/love/obey Him (Deut. 31-32).
6. The law written in stone matched their
stone hearts.
C. APPLICATION:
The new covenant Lord Jesus demands heart faithfulness/law-keeping.
1. GOOD NEWS, now that Christ has shed His blood,
the law is written on our hearts!
2. Christ’s imputed righteousness is not an
excuse to not obey/persevere.
3. Be comforted, clothed in Christ’s
righteousness we “have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear” b/c “we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom,” the PROMISED
LAND of new heaven & new earth (12:28)!
4. Also take comfort knowing God will “make you
complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well
pleasing in His sight, through Jesus” (13:21).
a. In Christ, God is
pleased with our service/good works, performed from our new, law-keeping hearts
given to us by the risen Son in power of His Spirit.
b. These works are not
accepted as meriting heaven, but b/c they emanate from the power of heaven, by
the Spirit and through the exalted Son.
5. So our obedience flows from a new heart that
is already redeemed in Christ.
a. Remember the scribe
of Mk. 12:33-34, who affirms that heart love for God and fellow man is
better than burnt offerings/sacrifice.
b. Jesus affirms that
the scribe is not far from the kingdom of God. So think “love God and obey” not
“sin now & offer the ‘sacrifice’ of repentance later”
6. He kept the law perfectly for us & died to
atone for our sin/law-breaking so that we receive not only forgiveness of
sins & new life, but a new, law-keeping heart (Jer. 31:33; 32:37-41)
that fears the Lord, desires to know Him more, and obeys Him.
D. (v. 7) “You shall teach
them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
1. Israel is also commanded to diligently
teach, not just God’s kindness and mercy, but His COMMANDMENTS to their
children. So must we. “as we sit, walk, lie down, rise up indicates this
teaching encompasses our whole lives, all we do, not just rules/words.
a. The Israelites
largely failed to do this, turned to idols along with their children, &
received the covenant curse of banishment from the land/from God, rather than
enjoy a long & prosperous life in the land.
b. Israel did not have
hearts for the Lord, but were enslaved to their sin.
2. But we have hearts full of the Spirit &
capable of teaching our covenant children the Word diligently. Children are to
obey in the Lord, but we must train them in the Lord.
a. “Diligent” is
translated elsewhere as whetting a sword or sharpening an arrow, indicating an
intentionality and rigorousness in our teaching.
b. We must labor to
drive God’s Word deeply into the heart of our children, & pray the Spirit
bless it. The NIV translates “impress them” on your children.
3. If we so teach & talk, we may reap/receive
for us & our children the covenant blessings of everlasting life with our
risen Lord in His kingdom (Gal. 6:8; Rom. 6:22).
4. Teaching our children has always been & still
is our covenant duty as parents. If failure to do so was sin for the
Israelites, how much more for us?
a. But how much more
powerful is the gracious work of God’s Spirit in us & our children when we
do!
b. We will not teach our
children perfectly. God gives grace. But we must also repent of our laxity. Can
you say honestly that you regularly talk of God’s law & grace in Christ at
home and while out and about together, in the morning and the
evening?
c. We should have family
worship, but if that is the only time we talk about God’s Word & grace, we
are stingy with the Living Water and Bread of Life, spiritually malnourishing
our children/God’s children He has entrusted to us.
d. We must live
faithful, godly lives ourselves, as a model example for our children.
5. When we teach our children, we want them
to see the goodness/glory of God’s law/commands.
a. Show how God’s law is
good for their lives, how sin is bad/dangerous/only brings sorrow in the long
run. When everyone obeys God’s law, everyone is looking out for one another,
loving neighbors as ourselves. When everyone is only looking out for themselves,
nobody is looking out for one another. Which is better/more blessed?
b. Give rewards for
obedience/show joy and delight/love, discipline for disobedience. God
delights/rewards obedience, is displeased with/disciplines sin.
E. (v. 8-9) You shall
bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your
eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
1. The Israelites did not have copies of the Law,
but they could write portions down and carry them on their person and place
them in their homes.
2. Israel forgot God’s laws & turned to
idols. We have new hearts but are still forgetful, turning not to full-blown
idolatry, but the lusts of the flesh/worldly temptations.
3. We, like Israel, need to not only hear the
Word, but to see it. Placing Scripture in prominent places in your home is wise
& reminds us that we live by the Word.
4. The point is to have God’s word ever before
our eyes, on our minds, in our hearts.
5. Memorizing Scripture/catechism & being
able to recall our duties to God & His promises to us are important for us
to grow as Christians as we combat sudden temptations.
6. Teaching biblical manhood/womanhood is
SUPREMELY IMPORTANT TODAY.
a. I Cor. 6:9,
KJV, says the “effeminate” will not enter the kingdom of heaven! The Greek word
literally means “soft”. Raise your boys to be strong leaders/lead wives.
b. I Pet. 3:4
tells women to have a “gentle and quiet spirit” of the heart, and
not focus on physical beauty alone. This means to be soft/submissive to your
husbands. Let us raise our daughters to have such a gentle and quite spirit.
c. I Cor.
11:14, nature teaches that it is shameful for men to have long hair, but a
glory for women. Why? God has designed nature, Scripture presupposes
nature. Not everything that is true/biblical has to be a Bible
verse/proof text.
F. You don’t
have to parent in fear! We have a covenant promise that God will save our
children through His appointed means, chiefly parental nurture/teaching
diligently.
1. Raising covenant children in the
fear/nurture of the Lord is primarily the father’s responsibility as head of
home, Eph. 6:4 (but mom at home does much in the child’s younger years
especially as well, and all through life, and with the daughters).
2. Fathers, do not think that pastors or
Christian schooling or anything but YOU can raise your child “in the
training/admonition of the Lord”. Church/schools are just aids, but can never
replace your essential role/authority/duty in the home.
G. Is this covenant
promise absolute? What of covenant children who leave the faith?
1. Israel was promised that if they obeyed,
they would live long in the Promised land. NT covenant children are told if
they obey and honor their father/mother, the promise is that “it may be well
with you and you may live long on the earth.” (Eph. 6:4-6).
2. This does not mean that if an Israelite
child died of a disease, or a NT covenant child gets into a car accident or
dies from juvenile cancer, that the child was disobedient.
3. These promises are general.
But just because they are general doesn’t mean we should think it is normal
when a covenant child apostatizes/leaves the faith!
4. What is promised, what is
normative, is that when parents raise their children faithfully, God blesses
that by saving their covenant children by grace alone in Christ alone.
5. When we see so many covenant children
leaving the faith, we can either doubt God, doubt His word/promises, or we can
examine ourselves, our own parenting, pastoring, schooling, etc. We should do
the latter, repent, and ask God to show mercy and save!
6. God is sovereign over birth and rebirth, the
womb and regeneration. As we are faithful to the Lord, He often blesses His
people with physical & spiritual children.
7. Couples unable to have children might adopt,
teach other children, evangelize, etc.
8. As we obey the Lord & train our
youth, we prosper in our well-ordered lives (Lk 1:17).
Conclusion: Through Christ, we rejoice that we are
not like Israel of old, but are redeemed in the New Israel, Jesus Christ
Himself. So we say with Paul in Rom. 6:17, 22: “But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine to which you were delivered. But now having been set free from
sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the
end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2022/11/what-distinguishes-reformed.html
What Distinguishes Reformed Presbyterians from other
Reformed/Calvinists?
By: Pastor Thomas F. Booher
What distinguishes Reformed Presbyterians from other
Calvinists and those like Reformed Baptists?
Above all, I believe our (Reformed Presbyterian) covenant
theology is biblical and desperately needs to be recovered, particularly
concerning our covenant children. You should become a Reformed Presbyterian if
you care about being faithful to God and Scripture, and if you care about your
children and the future generations serving the Lord.
Allow me to explain.
God commands us to raise our children in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). A great intro article on what that
entails can be found here, written by a Presbyterian pastor and theologian,
even though the article itself is posted on Desiring God: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/every-fathers-calling
In essence, what parents are commanded in Ephesians 6 is the
same they were commanded in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 --
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your
heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them
when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and
when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates."
There are so many things to note concerning parent's
covenantal responsibility to nurture their children in the Lord. We call this
covenant nurture. First, loving God with your whole being is where it all
starts. If parents do not love God first and foremost, they won't love their
children, their neighbors, or anyone well. If we have a strong love for the
Lord (we all must grow in this, none of us perfectly loves the Lord, not even
close) then we are equipped to love our children well and raise them in the Lord,
for the Lord.
We are called to "diligently" instruct our
children all the time. The word diligent has the idea of inscribing something,
pressing it down so that the truths of God's Word -- who He is, what He has
done for us, and what He calls us to do in obedience to Him -- sticks to our
children. This is not playing the Holy Spirit. We trust the Spirit to work
through His Word, for that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit, to convict us,
encourage us, enlighten us, by the Bible.
Of course, the the Word of God, His law and precepts, the
wisdom literature of Scripture, in short the full counsel of God, teaches a
complete world and life view. The Bible must be digested by the parents first,
so that their Christian/biblical worldview is well-formed, and then they,
father and mother both, must diligently teach all of Christ for all of life to
their children.
This gets at what it means to raise our children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. I would hope and pray that many, not just
Reformed Presbyterians, would grant all this, would give it a hearty
"yes" and "amen"! I know many do.
But what distinguishes Reformed Presbyterians, and perhaps a
few other similar groups (Reformed Episcopalians, etc.,) is that we raise our
children not only as parents, but also as churches. What do I mean? I mean that
our children, from conception, are part of the church, the covenant, and have a
covenant relationship to Jesus Christ. We baptize our babies, because baptism
is a sign of being included in God's covenant of grace, established in Christ's
blood through His work on the cross for us (Matt. 26:28) and our children (Acts
2:38-39).
Look closely at Ephesians 6:4. Fathers, the head of the
household (which may be single mothers in more difficult circumstances) must
raise their children in the Lord's nurture and admonition. In
short, they bring them up in the Lord, not outside of the Lord. They bring them
up in the covenant, among God's people, and are nurtured there. This doesn't
mean we do not call our children to faith and repentance, we do. But it means
that such a call is not going out to a child pagan, but a Christian child. Just
as all male Israelite babies were circumcised when they were 8 days old as a
sign of covenant inclusion, so our babies, male and female, are included in the
new covenant shed in Christ's blood!
This transforms parenting, and the duties God gives parents
in Deut. 6, Eph. 6, and elsewhere. We parent by God's promises to us and our
children, promises of blessing and salvation as we faithfully raise our
children. We raise our children with a hope and expectation, rooted in
Scripture, that our children will be converted by the Spirit, particularly
through the means of covenantal nurture in the home and in the church.
In short, we see the Bible teaching that our children are
born into the womb of the church, and thus God gives us an expectation that
from within that church womb, our children will be born again as the spiritual
nutrients of the church and parental nurture are fed to our covenant
children.
Of course, the opposite is also true. If the parents and
church fail to faithfully follow Eph. 6 and Deut. 6, while the Lord may still
mercifully save our children, it will be over against our sinful disregard and
abandonment -- our spiritual abortion of our children -- as parents and
pastors.
Reformed Presbyterians, when following God's Word and their
creeds, confessions, and catechisms (sadly too many have abandoned these when
it comes to covenant children in practice, even if not on paper, likely due to
the overwhelming baptistic influence in American Christianity), have a biblical
hope, a promise from God for them and their children, that almost all other
Protestant/Evangelical Christians living in the United States today have either
forgotten or forsaken. It is a promise that God indeed is God to them and
their children, and will grant eternal life to their children as the children
are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, diligently, faithfully,
with much prayers and repentance from parents for their shortcomings in
parenting (and God gives much grace as we believe His promises and confess to
Him).
So our covenant theology does not devolve into a mutated, or
even hyper-ish Calvinism that frankly many Calvinists today seem to verge on.
Election and Predestination do not work contrary to nature and the covenant,
but in and through them. The saving grace of Christ restores family bonds, it
does not spiritualize or obliterate them. Yes, all in the Church are brothers
and sisters in Christ, but not at the expense of our own flesh and blood
brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, children and parents!
Many Reformed Baptists and Calvinistic Baptists, and sadly
not a few Presbyterians that have been too influenced by Calvinistic Baptists,
seem to think that God's unconditional election means that God has no means of
grace, no channels through which the Spirit ordinarily flows to convert
sinners. It would be like going to the street corner, preaching the Gospel, and
expecting a completely random work of the Spirit to then pick out some who are
elect and convert them. But this isn't how God elects or predestines. Election
goes through the covenant. No, this does not mean all who are in the covenant
are elect, but it does mean that those in the covenant who are not elect are
not so for real reasons, not just because God said "eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
God works out the end of election through His means of giving grace -- which
are summarized as His Word, prayer, and the sacraments, and therefore include
parental nurture, gospel preaching, Christian fellowship, and more.
Take Job as an example. From his perspective, all the
horrible things happening to him seemed pointless, unjust, yet he continued to
trust the Lord "though He slay me." We get the inside story, of Satan
going to the Lord, all that was said, and the end with Job's multiplied
blessings. It wasn't random. God didn't from all eternity just say "Job's
gonna have a real hard time for no good reason". In other words,
unconditional election is not without good reasons. God does more often elect
the lowly things of this world, the poor and unwise (I Cor. 1:26-27), for His
own glory. That doesn't violate unconditional election.
There is no condition found within man himself that causes
God to choose him for salvation. But there are causes, external and otherwise,
fore-ordained by God, for which some people are elect/chosen by God for
salvation, and others are not. Faithful covenantal nurturing by parent and
church is one primary means of grace that God has fore-ordained to bring His
elect to regeneration, faith, and repentance. Failure to nurture your children
well, or some scandalous sin in your life, may well be a reason fore-ordained
by God for which He has not chosen your child for salvation. This is the true
teaching of Scripture, and pure, covenantal,. confessional Calvinism (See
Westminster Confession of faith Chapter 3, sections 5-7 in particular). And it
gives great hope. Grace restores nature, it doesn't destroy it or work contrary
to or parallel to it, but through nature, God's good design of family, church,
and even government/state.
Church government would also be a distinction between
Reformed Presbyterians and other Calvinists/Reformed Baptists. We are ruled by
elders, not just led by elders (some RB's have this as well). But we are also
covenanted together in our denominations with our fellow elders, forming a
presbytery (from the Greek word for Elder in the New Testament). But this is a
topic for another time.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2023/03/why-we-baptize-by-sprinklingpouring-not.html
Why we Baptize by Sprinkling/Pouring not Immersion
Why Do We Baptize by Sprinkling/Pouring and not
Immersion/Dunking?
1. Ex. 24:8 Moses
sprinkles people with blood of covenant.
a. Mt. 26:28; Mk. 14:24;
Lk. 22:20, Christ says He “pours out” His blood of the New Covenant.
b. Heb. 9:19-20; 10:29
connect Moses to Christ, do not reject the blood of the new covenant by which
you were sanctified, and thereby outrage the Spirit of grace.
2. Ezek. 36:25-26 “I
will sprinkle clean water on you.” Also says new hear and spirit
is given, removes heart of stone. Compare this to the new covenant as promised
in Jeremiah 31:31ff.
3. Baptism does not mean
“immersion”. It has a range of meaning of various washings/cleansings (you can
bathe by taking a shower or a bath, sponge bath, etc.).
a. Acts 8:38-39, Philip
and the Ethiopian Eunuch go down into the water, but only after this is the
Ethiopian said to be baptized by Philip. They both then come up out of the
water.
b. If going in and
coming out meant immersion, then not only was the Ethiopian immersed, so was
Philip, the one doing the baptism! This is an absurd idea.
c. Mk. 1:8-10, Jesus is
baptized by John, going into and coming out of the water. Again, as seen from
Acts 8 above, this does not mean He was immersed. It means he walked into the
Jordan river. The Ethiopian’s baptism likely didn’t even have enough water to
immerse his whole body.
4. After Christ’s
baptism, as He comes back to dry ground, the Spirit “descends”
upon Him.
a. John the Baptist says
he baptizes with water, but Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit. We see
Christ is now baptized/full of the Holy Spirit, and will soon, after He ascends
on High, baptize His people with the Holy Spirit, by pouring out His Spirit
upon them.
b. Acts 1-2, Apostles
must wait for the Spirit to be “poured out” from Christ on high.
c. Acts 1:5, Jesus says,
“they will be baptized with H.S. soon.
d. Acts 2:3, Holy Spirit
comes upon/sits disciples/apostles like tongues of fire.
e. Acts 8:14-16, H.S.
had not yet “fallen” upon the Samaritans.
f. Acts 10:44,
Peter is preaching and the H.S. “falls upon” the Gentiles. The
Jews are astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit is “poured out”
also on the Gentiles.
5. Peter then says in
Acts 10:47-48, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who
have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them
to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
a. We see baptism in the
new covenant/for us today is deeply connected to the blood of Christ and its
sprinkling/pouring out. And because Christ’s blood cleanses/covers His people,
it is a baptism that can also symbolize the Holy Spirit’s outpouring/being received
by God’s people.
b. Christ’s blood
cleanses us, and makes us fit to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
c. So baptism symbolizes
Christ’s blood and Spirit. So how does His blood and Spirit come upon us?
Plainly, Scripture shows it is by pouring or sprinkling, not immersing or
dunking!
d. This shows the Lord
is sovereign in covenanting and redeeming His people. He is the one who covers
us with Christ’s blood, and pours out His Spirit upon His people.
e. But in immersion, the
water, which is meant to symbolize the blood and Spirit of Christ, is passive,
and the person is active. While this might be said to symbolize burial with
Christ and rising to new life akin to Romans 6, this is not the focus of the Scriptures
on baptism’s meaning.
f. But since God
is the initiator and the one who promises Christ’s blood and indwelling Spirit
to His covenant people, we can see God’s sovereign grace, and that He can make
this covenant and its promises of Christ’s blood and Spirit to whomever He
wishes.
g. Since God has always
covenanted with believers and their children (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:38-39), then
babies of believers also ought to be baptized, and as the child grows in age,
they should be taught that their baptism shows God has covenanted with them and
promised them the blood of His Son and the Spirit of His Son, to be received
savingly by faith and repentance.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2023/08/baptism-sprinkling-or-immersing.html
Baptism: Sprinkling or Immersing?
By: Thomas F. Booher
BAPTISM: SPRINKLING/POURING or DUNKING/IMMERSING?
I've seen maybe one or two baptisms by immersion in person. It's always
surprising to me. But I've watched more online so my sensibilities are less
surprised than before.
So I can imagine how jarring it is for our largely Baptistic Christian culture
to see a baptism by sprinkling/pouring, and of course for most of them they
would say it isn't even a true baptism because we didn't dunk.
The symbolism isn't meaningless though. While we would accept immersion as a
true and valid baptism, we do not use immersion as the proper, or at least most
proper and accurate mode of baptism.
Pouring or sprinkling water upon the head of the recipient, whether adult or
covenant child/baby, symbolizes Christ's blood covering His people, and His
Spirit being poured out upon them.
Ezekiel 36:25-26, "Then I will SPRINKLE CLEAN WATER on you, and you shall
be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the
heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My
Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My
judgments and do them."
Hebrews 10:19-22, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for
us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our HEARTS SPRINKLED from an evil conscience and our BODIES WASHED with
pure water."
Notice that God's promise is what He will do. He will sprinkle clean water upon
us, cleanse us from filthiness, give us a new heart and His Holy Spirit within
us. We are passive in baptism, outward and inward baptism, the sign and the
thing signified.
Baptism is not primarily a sign of our faith, but what God does for us, to be
received in faith. It is true, in Romans 6, we can speak of being buried with
Christ and raised to new life, and our union with Christ is certainly the
overarching and undergirding picture of our salvation, which baptism signs and
seals. Yet how was Jesus buried? I am certainly no expert on burials in the
time of Jesus, but Scripture tells us that He was buried, not as we often do
today by being put 6 feet under the ground, but in a new tomb hewn out of rock,
such that a large stone had to be rolled against the door of the tomb, Matt.
27:57-60. This is the common pattern throughout Scripture in both Testaments.
Abraham was buried in a tomb/cave for example, Gen. 25:9.
Now even I, a Reformed Presbyterian who always sees baptism by
sprinkling/pouring, will admit that I typically think of Romans 6 and coming up
out of the ground, like one who is buried today. But that would not have been
the imagery, at least not the primary one, in Jesus' day. We are buried with
Christ, but Christ was buried in a tomb. So picturing resurrection with/in
Christ as coming up out of the ground/water, as many churches today in our
nation do, is inaccurate. Christ came out when the stone was rolled away. He
walked out, He did not come out of the top of the tomb.
Baptism does not mean immersion, or at least it does not only mean immersion.
This is what so many Baptists and others will say, and there is an etymological
case to be made as I understand, but that simply isn't how the word is only
used in Scripture or during the early history of the Church. Historically, more
or less, only the Baptists baptized by FULL immersion, and only the baptists
withheld baptism from the babies of believers. Calvin and some Reformed (a
small minority) do speak of baptism as an immersion, but not necessarily a full
emersion. In other words, there might be the waters coming up to one's feet, or
knees, but the water could still then be scooped up and poured upon the head,
to symbolize, again, the sprinkling of the blood of Christ and outpouring of
the Holy Spirit, just as was promised in Scripture and as the blood of the
covenant before Christ came was sprinkled on the people, Ex. 24:8 --
"And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'This is
the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all
these words.'”
The burden of proof is on Baptists/those who baptize by full immersion to show
how the covenant has changed from sprinkling to immersing/dunking. But that
calls into question the unity of the covenants and the unity of salvation,
because there's a big difference theologically and illustratively between
sprinkling/pouring and immersion. This is not inconsequential. Baptism is a
sign of salvation, I believe most all would agree with that. Even if some say
it is primarily about our faith (which is not true at all, salvation is God's
working not our doing/believing), most would acknowledge that we do not bury
ourselves with Christ, regenerate ourselves, raise ourselves to new life. Any
who says that we accomplish this is not a Christian, but a heretic saying he
can give himself new life, that he can save himself.
In Exodus 24, we see Moses taking the blood of the animal sacrifices and
sprinkling it upon the people after reading the law/God's Word to them. The
people had just essentially taken membership vows, pledging obedience to all
the Lord has said. Moses explains that the blood of the covenant, which is upon
them, was made with them by the Lord, not by them, and according to the words
of the covenant, not their words. Yes, the covenant is meant to elicit the
response of faith, of obedience to the law, etc., which the people vowed,
though for many we know they would break the covenant and apostatize, not
having genuine faith and true obedience.
This ceremony in Exodus 24 implicitly includes not just the men, but the women
and the children/babies as well. In Ex. 10, Pharaoh is trying to negotiate with
the LORD/Moses about the release of the Israelites. Initially Pharaoh will only
permit the men to leave, not the "little ones". But in 10:9 Moses had
said, "We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our
daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast
to the Lord.”
All, the young and old, the adults and children, whether older children or
babies, were all delivered by the LORD for their salvation from Pharaoh/Egypt,
in order to become God's people, be covered with the blood of the covenant, and
to hold a feast to the Lord as His covenant people. The final plague, involving
the death of the firstborn, is a plain indication of the covenantal/household
nature of God's salvation. All the house of Israel is to be delivered, not just
the men, but the women too. And not just the adults, but the children,
including the babies as well. Do we really think Moses/God told Pharaoh they
can keep their babies? Perish the wicked thought! Moses himself was delivered
through a baptismal ritual when he was floated down the river in a small
basket, the Hebrew word being the same word for ark, picturing a Noah in
miniature, and we know that Noah and the flood is explicitly connected to
baptism in Scripture itself, I Pet. 3:21.
The parting of the waters at the Red Sea is what all Israel crossed through,
and do we really think at that point the babies of the Israelites were
abandoned to die or be taken again by Pharaoh's armies? Perish the wicked
thought! And I Corinthians 10 tells us that all were baptized there as they
passed through the waters of the Red Sea. Further, I Cor. 10 says all ate and
drank the same spiritual food, from the rock that followed them in the
wilderness, and that Rock was Christ!
The Old Testament/Old Covenant is neither graceless nor Christless. It is full
of grace, and it is full of Christ. It was an administration of the one
covenant of grace spanning all of Scripture, at that time administered under
Moses and the Aaronic priesthood, now administered through Christ our great
High Priest, and in His precious blood.
So all that we find in the New Testament/Covenant must be in complete agreement
with what we find in the Old Testament/Covenant. The Old Testament pictures and
foreshadows what is to come in Christ. Further, it is an administration of
Christ Himself, as I Cor. 10 and other passages even more plainly show. So we
simply cannot change baptism from sprinkling to full immersion, or exclude our
children from the covenant, when God included them from the beginning, and that
covenant has always included Christ from the beginning.
In baptism, God comes to us, receives us, and pictures before us His His work
of salvation for His people. It is all God's actions. We are passive, indeed,
dead in sin without Christ. Baptism is no more a sign of our faith than
circumcision was a sign of Abraham's faith or his 8 day old male children's
faith. It is a sign of God's covenant promises of salvation, which is to be
responded to and received in faith.
But the Baptistic understanding inverts this and makes the primary, essential
thing the faith of the one being baptized, rather than the promises of God to
the one God is baptizing. But the blood and Spirit symbolized in baptism is not
our blood and Spirit, but Christ's! God has chosen His people, covenant
families, to be part of His Church, His people. Believer's children, even as
infants, are to be baptized, because they were always part of the covenant and
received its sign, circumcision under the old administration, baptism under the
new administration of the covenant of grace. The child, just as the adult, is
to respond in faith, but the validity of the baptism and the rite to it does
not rest upon a presently possessed faith by the recipient. For the unbeliever
or the one who goes on to apostatize, to break the covenant, they receive the
curses of the covenant, damnation in hell, just as many Israelites did who were
sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. Baptism, like circumcision, can
symbolize both salvation and deliverance through Christ, or Christ's cutting
off and judging through the waters the one who rejects Him and His covenant.
All that to say, to baptize by full immersion, especially if the motive behind
it is the idea that Christ was buried 6 feet under the ground, and lifted up
out of it, is not an accurate or helpful depiction of Christ's death, burial,
and resurrection, and can be misleading regarding the primary/essential nature
of baptism. It is not about faith and what we do. It is not about our first
moving into Christ by faith, but Christ first and foremost moving into us,
uniting Himself to us, covering us with His sprinkled blood and indwelling us
by His outpoured Spirit.
As such, the element of baptism, the water, is what should be moving upon the
person being baptized, for God and His saving work, Christ's blood and Spirit,
is what should be moving and coming upon/over/covering the sinner dead in sin.
The one dead in sin is not moving into Christ. He must first have Christ's
blood and Spirit to respond in faith, that is what must first move into/upon
the dead sinner! And precisely because God saves not in response to our faith,
but by first uniting us to Christ and giving us a new, circumcised heart/new
birth of the Spirit, regenerating us in order for us to have faith, baptism can
and should be administered to not only believer's but also their infant
children, as a sign and seal of their salvation which they are to lay hold of
with a regenerate, sincere heart of faith.
Unlike in the Lord's Supper, where the ceremony itself requires one being alive
spiritually to partake of the sacrament with the mouth of faith, and literally
requires the ability to "take and eat/drink" the elements of bread
and wine, this is not the case in the essence of baptism. Water is poured out
upon the recipient, not drunk. The recipient does not take a cup of water and
baptize himself, pouring the water upon himself, but rather, it is poured upon
him by the minister, representing God. Even in the Baptistic practice of
dunking/fully immersing the one being baptized, it is the minister who
dunks/immerses, not the one being baptized himself. And yet, if the main focus
and point of baptism is a presently possessed and expressed faith, then why
shouldn't the person, in a demonstration of such faith, fall back into the
waters, go under the waters completely, and come up himself, without the
minister's assistance? Is this not a point of tension, and perhaps a subtle
admission, that the focus is not on, or should not be upon, the faith of the
recipient, but the Savior who pours out His Spirit and sprinkles His blood upon
the recipient, making His covenant with the one being baptized?
Most Baptists, including Reformed Baptists, will not accept my baptism, since I
was baptized by sprinkling/pouring. They would not accept baptism of a
baby/infant, but likely not even accept an adult baptism that was performed by
sprinkling/pouring, since most demand that baptism mean full
submerging/immersion. I pray I have demonstrated that not only is full
immersion/submersion unnecessary, it may even be unhelpful given the misunderstanding
of Christ's burial (tomb vs. 6 feet in the ground, etc.) and that the essence
of baptism is what God offers and promises to the recipient, and not what the
recipient offers and promises to God by an act of faith.
Finally, it should be pointed out that immersion in Scripture more often
pictures God's judgment in baptism, rather than His salvation. Israel passed
through the waters of the Red Sea for salvation, they were not
immersed/submerged in the waters. But Pharaoh's army was. The same is true, of
course, in the global flood in Noah's day. That baptism was salvation for those
who passed through the waters, but was damnation/judgment for those
submerged/immersed in the waters.
Sprinkling vs. immersing are not essentials of the faith, insofar as they
determine whether one is truly saved or not. But this does not mean they are
unimportant. They are incredibly important, for sacraments are real means of
grace, and they also serve a didactic/teaching purpose in that they visually
demonstrate, as a sign, the covenant of grace. The imagery of a person being
sprinkled with water brings to mind something different than a person moving to
be submerged under water.
Jesus' Spirit is said to be poured out or to come upon God's people in Acts 2,
and we see that Christ's blood, both in the old and new testaments, is referred
to as a sprinkling. I believe it is also in some places referred to as a
pouring, but don't have that in front of me right now. But never is it
explicitly referred to as a dunking or immersing. The only way one can conclude
that is if one demands that the word baptize itself (and there's several
similar words for that in Greek) means, and only and always means, full
immersion/submersion. This is what many Baptists will claim, but that is a
highly disputed and doubtful point, and has been shown, does not comport with
Scripture and its imagery of our salvation and the blood of the covenant.
I conclude with one final Scripture passage, which hopefully gives more and
fuller meaning to God's work for us in Christ, and the importance of Christ's
blood sprinkled, from Heb. 12:22-24:
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the
Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, TO JESUS THE MEDIATOR OF
THE NEW COVENANT, and to the BLOOD OF SPRINKLING that speaks better things than
that of Abel."
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2023/04/raising-christian-kids-in-wicked-woke.html
RAISING CHRISTIAN KIDS IN A WICKED, WOKE WORLD:
By: Thomas F. Booher
1.) Mom and Dad have to resist their own carnal desires
first and foremost. If they live and lead by example, practice what they
preach, and repent when they fail, the kids will learn by example.
2.) God has given parents responsibilities, especially the
father as head of the home, to not provoke their children to wrath but bring
them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, Eph. 6:4.
3.) Moms, especially while the children are younger, should
be the primary nurturer of the children. Ideally, mom is at home with young
children (this is essentially commanded in Scripture, Titus 2:4-5), dad is
working to provide, and so mom must lead by example, but also in Bible
study/memorization, and catechizing in Bible doctrine.
What does it mean to catechize? It is simply a question and
answer format to learn the Christian faith. We do this with all 7 of our
children. They start answering basic questions like "Who made you?"
Answer: "God made me!" before they are even a year old. Believe it or
not, public schools in this nation used to actually use catechisms to train
children in Christian doctrine. But this responsibility always falls first and
foremost on the parents, not the school or even the church.
4.) Which leads to my next point. Don't expect even a
Christian school or Church to replace your essential duties to your children.
Fathers, not pastors or teachers, are to bring their own children up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. If fathers are not spending time with their
children for these purposes, and for other life skills and fun times, how will
the children learn that God the Father loves them, disciplines them, and enjoys
them? I am a pastor and have taught in Christian schools, and the ache for
godly parents, the "father hunger" as it has been called, is real.
Teachers and Pastors, helpful as they can be, cannot replace fathers and
mothers. Moms, nurture your children in the home, no one can replace what you
do with your children in their tender youth.
5.) Emphasize that God made us in His image, and that Gen.
1:27 is clear that "in the image of God He created him; male and female He
created them." Don't merely teach this in a negative sense, such as,
"see kids, there's only two genders, not 500 like all these weirdoes
say", but show them the goodness of being a man in the image of God, or a
woman made in the image of God. Positively reinforce that it is good to be
male, it is good to be female, and therefore glorious for boys to be masculine,
and girls to be feminine. Relate this to how boys and girls each uniquely bear
the image of God in ways that the other cannot, and they will embrace and lean
into their God-given sex, seeing it is what they were created for and is
glorious and good.
Also point your children to Ephesians 5 and how the
man/husband represents Christ, and the woman/wife the pure Church, in marriage.
Of course, mom and dad, you have to model faithfulness in your marriage, the
man leading in love and the wife submitting in respect, and we will all surely
fall short and need to confess that to God and our children as well.
6.) Some practical things: The internet is a dangerous
place, especially for children. Scripture says bad company corrupts good
morals, and today the company of children, sadly, is more often whatever pops
up on their phones, even more than real flesh and blood children/playmates.
Parents abdicate their duties by giving their young children a phone all day,
opening up YouTube for them, usually to watch something mindless and mind
numbing. Of course, the algorithms on YouTube, with each video automatically loading
and the wicked commercials that pop up, will lead your kids to places I sure
hope you don't want them to go. The same applies to video games, etc. Limit
screen time, and always supervise it. If you are too lazy to do that, then
repent and get off of your own phone or game or whatever you are distracted
with. Give them good books to read if they are old enough, or read good things
to them. At the least, give them something quality and educational to watch.
Also, get your kids outside, have them dig in the soil and
grow a garden with you, learn some basic skills. Fathers, throw the ball with
your kids and teach them some basic things around the house and yard. Give your
children responsibilities, chores, which will be harder at first as you have to
train and discipline them and rebuke their whining, but in time will not only
pay off for you, but pay off for your children, as they learn to do things well
and persevere when they fail. If they do not learn these things while under
your care, they will be setup for failure and sin and fall prey to the victim
mentality and culture of this wicked, woke world.
7.) Bring your children to church, and take them to a
faithful, Bible believing and practicing church. So many churches today are
shallow at best, teaching error often. Kids are whisked away for play time when
the service starts, and parents have no expectation that their children can
learn from the main service, or that they ought to teach their children to
focus, sit still, and worship the Lord. While there may be a place for a
nursery, and certainly a place for mothers to take their babies to nurse or fathers
to discipline disobedient children, the Scriptural pattern shows that children
remain in the worship service, to worship the Lord in His holy presence and
learn to serve the Lord, Deut. 31:12-13. Of course, if your church is just
doing entertaining things rather than preaching the Word and praising the Lord
according to His Word, then you need to find a faithful church. Ideally, your
church really is like a family, and your children's best friends are other
children in your own, Bible-believing and teaching Church.
8.) Finally, and certainly not least, pray. Pray for your
children, for their salvation, sanctification, and perseverance in the faith.
Pray that you would persevere in raising them to serve the Lord. Pray trusting
the Lord, that He is the covenant Lord who is faithful and merciful to the
thousandth generation to those who love and keep His commandments, Ex. 20:6
It goes without saying that we cannot do these things
without the body of Christ. While parents are irreplaceable as parents,
Grandparents, other friends and family, and especially the Church to which you
belong are necessary, as the body of Christ bears one another's burdens,
encourages one another, and when necessary corrects and lovingly rebukes one
another as well.
You may have messed up with your kids. The best thing to do
is repent, confess, and correct immediately, as much as you can, even if the
kids are now teenagers. If your kids are still young, but you're a dual income
family and don't know how mom can quit her job, remember these verses:
"Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice"
(Prov. 16:8) and "Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full
of feasting with strife" (Proverbs 17:1). I grew up in a mobile home, and
after married lived in one for a while, but it was worth it. My mom was home
with me, and my wife has been home with the kids. God has blessed us now with a
nice house as well. But who cares if you have a nice, two story house if the
actual "home"/family is falling apart?
The breakdown of the family in general, and the Christian
family in particular, is what has led to where we are today in this nation, and
across the world. But if God would grant us repentance, if we would loathe and
grieve our sins and failures, especially in these areas, and live for the Lord,
raising our children for the Lord, as man and woman, husband and wife in
Christ, you would see true reformation in the churches and likely eventual
revival among the unbelievers. Conversely, if we cannot even love one another
in our own Christian families, and do the basic duties that pagans of
yesteryear showed to their families, then we cannot expect any real reformation
or true revival in our churches and land, only that which is drummed up and
fabricated, and there is certainly plenty of that in our churches and nation.
If you are looking for a church that strives to practice
these things and raise our children to serve the Lord and resist the wickedness
and depravity rampant in Sanford and our nation today, come check us out: https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2023/08/covenant-continuity-and-succession-down.html
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.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-priority-of-family-in-life-of.html
The Priority of the Family in the Life of the
Christian
It doesn't matter if you preach with a golden tongue, have a
successful business, own the libs, etc., if you lose your family. What does it
profit if you gain the world, but lose your soul (Mark 8:36)? Worse, what does
it profit if you gain the world, but lose the souls that belong to you and are
entrusted to your care, that is, your family, your wife and children (I Tim.
3:4-5, Titus 1:6)?
This is a matter of priority, of ordered loves, of
intentionality and focus. We must have good preachers/churches, good
businesses, good governments, and our labors to these ends are not in vain. But
if we have those good things, but do not have our families, we have sinned
grievously, are worse than unbelievers in our neglect even of their bodily
needs (I Tim. 5:8), and will be utterly miserable and destitute in the end
(Prov. 17:25). Better to part with good health, than to part with our own flesh
and blood family.
This means that our work schedule, whatever our vocation,
secular or within the Church, must not compromise our first and highest duty to
our family, our wife and children. The family is in God's covenant, under
Christ's blood, and as such, is precious to Him. The Lord has instituted
marriage to reproduce His very image in offspring, and to provide a holy seed
for the Church, to baptize and teach, nurturing them in the Lord as His
disciples from birth (Deut. 6, Eph. 6, etc.).
We once understood this as a nation. We have long forgotten.
The solution is multi-pronged, but at root, a return to the God-ordained
priority of the family, of the home, of covenantal faithfulness down through
the generations, of churches and communities that emphasize this priority and
minister with this as the chief priority, is absolutely essential. We need the
cover of government that will also emphasize this, but when the church herself
does not emphasize what God commands, it is hard to conceive of government
officials, in mass, doing so.
But being fruitful and multiplying has a way of scaring the
overlords and tearing down strongholds. Israel in bondage in Egypt, we are told
in the opening chapters of Exodus, "were fruitful and increased
abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled
with them."
From faithfully having many children, teaching them to
remember the LORD and be separate from the pagans around them, the midwives
sparing the male children, and Moses being protected and floated down the river
in a miniature ark, defying Pharaoh's edict of abortion and infanticide of male
Israelite children, God raised up a deliverer of His people, Moses, who was
trained by the King of Egypt, in Pharaoh's walls, in order to ultimately
destroy Pharaoh and his mighty armies, just as Pharaoh feared in Exodus chapter
1. God wrought salvation through means of covenantal faithfulness in very
practical, seemingly small things. Having many children, raising them to know
the Lord, not murdering but rather protecting your children and defying the
wicked government edict.
The very command Pharaoh instituted to prevent his
destruction, God used to bring about his destruction. As God promises, He
always destroys the enemy in their own nets, in their own pits, in ways we
cannot imagine (Ps. 37:14-15, Ps. 141:10, etc.). This is God's story, and he
uses us in it, but He shall have the glory, He is always the main actor, and He
brings about His glory and kingdom.
That King of Egypt, that Pharaoh, died, but then Israel
groaned out to the Lord because of their bondage, and God in His covenant
faithfulness heard their groaning, and God "remembered His covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of
Israel, and God acknowledged them." (Ex. 2:24).
Those who are in Christ today are Abraham's children, heirs
according to the promise (Gal. 3:29), and God still remembers His covenant with
Abraham, continued, renewed, and realized now in the blood of Christ, the new
covenant, and gives us, the children of Abraham, His aid, Heb. 2:16.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel. We, rather, need to be
faithful to God and do what He commands, being fruitful and multiplying, not
raising our children for Pharaoh, not raising our children and neglecting our
duties to them by sending them to government schools that hate us and our Lord,
but raising them up in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord, Eph. 6:4.
We must disciple our children, from infancy, baptizing and teaching them all
that the Lord has commanded, Matt. 28:19-20.
We do this in great hope and confidence, despite the
"odds" as we look around us, that God will cause us to multiply in
the land, our enemies to shudder and fear, bring about mighty conflict, and
give to us mighty deliverance as we cry out to the LORD and serve Him.
Here’s the brass tacks steps that you need to take to
achieve these ends, by God’s grace. If you aren’t married, pursue marriage to a
godly spouse. Be a godly man, a godly woman, and in your marriage, be a godly
husband/head of home, or a goldy wife/homemaker, and child-bearers. Parents,
raise your children in the Lord, which means you must be willing to have
children, lots of them as/if the Lord blesses, and raise them up for the Lord,
with Fathers leading in family worship, in example, etc.
At the same time, you need the shepherding care and
preaching ministry of a faithful church, which like finding a godly/excellent
wife (Prov. 31:10), can be hard to come by these days. But it doesn’t matter.
Find a godly spouse, get married, have children as the Lord provides, raise
them for the Lord, and do so in the context of a solid church. If there isn’t
one in your area, move to one. If you cannot find one, find if there are other
godly families, and form a church plant. Trust the Lord, pursue and prioritize
this, or your life and your family will be diminished at best, damned at worst.
What if your family situation is already broken and sinful?
You yourself are wallowing in sin, not obeying God, not loving your spouse and
children? Repent, truly, get the help you need, take responsibility for your
own sins, and then build upon the firm foundation the Lord has provided. This,
too, must be done in the context of a healthy church.
Forming godly families within godly churches, as briefly
mentioned in the last three paragraphs, is the key to transformation for
yourself, your family, your churches, and by extension society. Sacrifice work,
comforts, everything else, for these things, under God, and for His glory. If
you have the above, you have the Lord’s blessing, for you, your house, and the
church to which you belong. You can weather the storms, come what may. You have
the community of the faithful, and God Himself. But when there is deep sin
well-rooted in your own heart, in your family, or in your church, that leaven,
in each of those places, spreads its wickedness to all that it touches, I Cor.
5. Your sin affects your family, and familial sins affect your church, and the
sin in the church affects the general population and communities that you live
in.
There is good news. Wonderful news. We aren't merely Israel
in bondage or languishing in the wilderness any longer. As God's people and in
worship particularly, we come to the heavenly Mt. Zion. We are filled with
Christ’s Spirit and covered by His already shed blood. Do not refuse Jesus
Christ who speaks to you from heaven. Serve the Lord with fear and trembling,
with hope and gladness, with confidence that He will subdue the nations under
His feet, remembering that the Church as the body of Christ are His feet, Psalm
47:3, Rom. 16:20.
Take heart, in this world we will have trouble, but for
those in Christ, He has overcome the world, and we in Him have risen, and will
rise, and will overcome through Him, John 16:33, Rev. 3:21.
If you lack a faithful church with the right priorities,
come join us for worship at Heritage, to know, serve, and worship the Lord, for
family building, and family healing, as God's covenant
people: https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/03/john-calvin-on-infantcovenant-baptism.html
John Calvin on Infant/Covenant Baptism from Acts 2:39
Calvin on infant/covenant baptism from Acts 2:39:
"Let us now come to what Peter says: 'Unto you, and to
your children.' In the first place, he addresses those who are of age. That is
why he says to them, 'Repent.' From the outset he confronts them with
repentance with the view to speaking about baptism. Those who are at the age of
discretion cannot be baptized (I mean those who are not the people of God),
unless they have repented of their sins and confessed to being Christian. But
Peter repeatedly adds that the promise is to the children of the Jews, as
indeed we see that it is our Lord's promise to Abraham, when he says to him, 'I
shall be your God and the God of your seed for a thousand generations' (cf.
Gen. 17:7). That is how our Lord wishes to declare himself the Savior of those
who are in his church at the present time as well as the Savior of those who
come afterward and their children, because he recognizes and accepts them as
his own. And that is what Peter is saying here: 'The promise is unto you, and
to your children.'
In that statement we have a singular consolation inasmuch as
we understand God is not content to be our Savior at the time we call upon him
and he answers our prayer, but he extends his mercy to our children and wishes
them to be participants in the same grace which he bestows upon us liberally.
That means the children are in their mother's womb like animals in respect of
awareness. Yet God acknowledges them as his own and promises them eternal life.
That is to show his great goodness toward us, that great goodness which he
wishes so much to impress upon us and to extend to our posterity and lineage.
And yet, let us look more closely at this passage: 'The
promise is unto you, and to your children.' Now when baptism is added later, it
is to ratify that promise. That is why we baptize our small children today.
Baptism is not a creation of men, but of God. For just as he spoke to Abraham
in the time of the law and commanded circumcision, so he now does for us with
the institution of baptism. So then, when our Lord receives our children as his
own, they must be marked with his sign, and that promise must be confirmed by
baptism."
Quoted from Banner of Truth's edition of Calvin's Sermons on
the Acts of the Apostles, pages 44-45
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/04/covenanthousehold-baptism-discussion.html
Covenant/Household Baptism Discussion
The following text in the picture is from a
"covenant/reformed" Baptist minister named Tanner. I wrote a lengthy
response below it. I think this may be helpful in further understanding the
true nature of the Lord's Church, church government, the sacraments, and the
importance of recognizing our children belong to the Covenant and are to
receive baptism while babies. I am thankful for Baptists like Tanner who are in
some ways moving toward the biblical/covenantal position, but the differences still
remain, and have implications. Perhaps this will also help you when talking
with some of your friends and family who believe like Tanner or similarly, or
who say "why not just have a baby dedication"?
Below is my response:
So close, sort of.
I am not sure if he is saying his children are Christian because he, the head
of the house, professes faith or not.
If so, praise God, but then to call your children Christian, yet say they are
outside of the covenant (and somehow that's "better"?!) and therefore
are not to be baptized until they personally profess faith, is nonsensical.
That's like saying you are a citizen of the United States, but not really, and
not until you declare yourself to want to be, and then you'll get your social
security number and actual rights of a citizen. Or something like that.
Nowhere does Scripture acknowledge unbaptized Christians. Even the OT saints
were all baptized (I Cor. 10), and of course given the sign of the covenant at
that time, circumcision, to all the adult males and male children/future head
of households.
How serious was it for one to not have the sign of the covenant? Per Gen.
17:14, God said the infant male children were to be cut off from the people of
God if they were uncircumcised, because they had broken the covenant. "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.”
God was ready to kill Moses for not having circumcised his male child, Exodus
4:24-25, "And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord
met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off
the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a
husband of blood to me!”
Christ plainly said to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching
them all that He had commanded, Matthew 28. Baptists are inconsistent in
discipling their children when they teach them, yet leave them unbaptized for
some period of time (sometimes a shorter period thankfully, others much longer,
similar sadly to how some Reformed/Presbyterians put off communion until
children are basically adults or no longer living with their parents).
This is more than the timing (and mode) of when our children get wet. Holy
Baptism is for the holy people of God, and God by His Spirit works through
baptism, even as He works through prayers and the Scriptures, to work salvation
into the hearts of His people, to bring Christ to His covenant people.
Who is holy in the new covenant/testament? The same as were holy in the old,
for the covenant of grace spans both covenants/testaments. It is the household
of faith, therefore not only believers, but also their children. I Cor. 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."
Note that when there is just one believing parent, the children are holy. That
includes when it is the wife who is the believer, and the husband the
unbeliever. Strictly speaking, the argument presented by Tanner Cartwright, as
it is written, doesn't work in situations where the head of the household, the
man, is the unbeliever, but the wife is the believer. She is not the head of
the house, the unbelieving husband is, and she still must submit to his
headship, I Pet. 3:1ff. And yet in even such a situation, the inclusion of
children in the new covenant is GREATER, not OBLITERATED! Now, even when the
head of the household is an unbeliever, if the wife/mother is a believer, the
children of that union are still holy.
Consider the inferiority of the covenant under its old administration, where
even the priests had to put away their pagan wives, and Ezra 10:44 tells us
explicitly that "some of them had wives by whom they had children".
But now in the fuller blessings of the new covenant, the household is further
restored to God/Christ and His covenant grace, not removed. Now, we read that
the unbelieving spouse is even sanctified by the believing spouse, such that
the children, who otherwise would be unclean, are now "covenantally"
holy. They are fit to approach God in worship, and to be received in Christ,
who took the infant children into His arms, prayed for them, and blessed them,
saying the kingdom of God belonged to them, in Luke 18 and elsewhere.
Baptism is the sign of covenant entrance/inclusion, and so our holy children
should receive holy baptism, the moment they are holy. And they are holy by
virtue of being born into a household with at least one believing parent,
whether it is the head of household or not. Such is the graciousness of God
through Christ in the new covenant.
I think the fundamental hang-up, and I expect this to be reflected in the
comments on this post, is that many Baptists/Evangelicals in general have a
paltry at best understanding of the covenant, the sacraments, and the Church in
general. Church government is something Evangelicals today, Baptists and
non-denoms, have largely shredded and neglected, not intentionally of course.
Most of them believe they are following Scripture.
But the result is that many can now only think in terms of Christian =
regenerate/born of the Spirit. If one is not born of the Spirit, one is not a
Christian in any meaningful sense, and therefore, babies cannot be baptized
until we have evidence they have been born of the Spirit (faith and some fruit
of the Spirit). So the argument, which is completely interjected into the
Scriptures and entire covenant working/dealing with God and His covenant/Church
people, is that unless one is born again, they cannot be God's covenant people.
Therefore, many Baptist and other churches will re-baptize even adults who came
by profession, then apostatized/departed from the faith, but have returned at
some future point. The first baptism evidently wasn't real.
But baptism is real, on infants and adults, whether we like it or not. It is a
sacrament of God given to His ministers, and when it is applied, that person is
all the more bound to God and His Church, and that baptism will become a
baptism of judgment against the one baptized if they do not persevere in faith.
Scripture constantly exhorts the Church in this fashion. Once you see it, you
cannot miss it. I Corinthians 10, where all were baptized into Moses, yet many
of them perished and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness, the same
language used to describe Pharaoh's army drowned in the baptismal waters of
judgment, is a good place to start.
I've said enough. I hope this gets a lot of interaction. Recovering the God's
church government and its sacraments is critical to spiritual growth and
well-being for us and our children, down through the generations, so that the
nations are won to Christ. When we begin to see the blessings and promises of
God to us and our children, and the duties it calls us and our children to, it
is excited, clarifying, convicting, etc. It shows us our priority really is to
our wife and children, our church and near neighbors and kin, and our own town,
state, and nation, above others.
I hope Tanner is not trying to imply that Presbyterian/Reformed baptize our
children based on an external covenant, to the exclusion of teaching our wife
and teaching/catechizing our children in the Christian faith thoroughly. It is
just the opposite. We baptize precisely because we recognize our children are
in the covenant and are disciples. Christ said disciples are made by baptizing
and teaching them. Therefore, we do both. Baptists at best teach, but do not
baptize at the proper time.
But we understand that because our children are covenantally holy, they are
disciples, the kingdom belongs to them, and we raise them as citizens of the
kingdom, we are commanded by God to do so, to to teach our children all of
Scripture, raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as Eph. 6 says,
echoing Deut. 6. etc., and we parent by God's precious covenant promises for
our children, that we can have confidence as we raise them for the Lord, the
Lord will work in their hearts to save them.
Baptism is like formal enrollment into the church/school of Christ, as a
disciple. God/Christ has accepted the children of even one believing parent
into His church/school, as His disciples, and baptism signifies and seals that
acceptance. To teach and train your children without first enrolling them into
the school/church of Christ, is to at best raise your children as church
auditors, listening in but not members. That's certainly better than not even
bringing them to be auditors, but why reject the blessings of Church membership
to our children, and the privileges and duties that brings, to both parent,
child, and the Elders/church at large?
Our children aren't taking a citizenship test they must pass before they can be
baptized as church members. They are church members, from birth, by virtue of
being born into a covenant household. If parents and church raise their
children for the Lord, trusting in His promises, doing so by His strength,
apostasy should be exceedingly rare, as rare as defectors and traitors from
their home country that is prosperous and kind to its people.
If we don't get this right concerning the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, that it
includes the next generation of believers, children, from their conception, we
really won't understand how the Kingdom is going to grow predominately, our
Evangelism will be paltry, and our efforts at Christian Nationalism in the best
sense of that term will be diminished.
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https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/04/john-calvin-on-elders-children.html
John Calvin on Elder's Children
"He addeth forthwith that his children must be
faithful, not accused of riot, nor rebels. This is well worth the marking: for
in the epistle to Timothy also, we see that St Paul contented not himself with
the minister's person, but would have their wives to be in good order, insomuch
that if a man for his own part live honestly, and without reproach, yet if his
wife be of a naughty conversation, this fault returneth to him: though the wife
be to be blamed, yet men continually say thus, "See, such a minister's
wife is of lewd behavior, and we see there are many vanities and dissolutions
which the husband might remedy well enough. Therefore he is to be blamed for
all the fault." For if he cannot govern his house (saith St Paul) how
shall he govern the house of God? How can he govern a whole people, both men
and women, both great and small, when he cannot govern his wife? And therefore
let us mark that in this place, when he speaketh of children, it is to the end
we should mark whether a man be meet to govern the people of God, and to rule
his house and his church well, and have showed the effect of it in his own
house. Therefore if a man do not only show that he walketh in the fear of God,
and abstaineth from all evil, but also causeth them that are in his charge to
serve and honor God, and suffereth not his house either to be a stews
[brothel], nor a dicing [gambling] house, nor a tavern, to be drunken in, nor
such like, neither suffereth his servants, or his wife, or his children, to be
lewd or dissolute the least jot that may be, or use any bravery or any other
vanity—when a man governeth his household in this sort, then we know that he is
watchful, and hath a zeal of God, and wisdom and gravity in him. So that this
is a proof to show, that he is fit to serve and govern the church of God. For
this cause St Paul said precisely, let their children be faithful, not accused
of riot, nor rebels. He setteth down here precisely four qualities. The first
is that the children be faithful: for if we should choose one to preach the
word of God, that hath not taught his family, that hath children, whom if a man
ask a reason of their faith, they are not able to say a word, how will he be
able to bring strangers to the faith, when he hath not brought his own? And
therefore we must begin at this end. If we see he hath instructed his
household, and behaved himself well in his house, we may think he will do far
better when he is in higher place, and that he will employ himself generally to
the edifying of all the people. So that religion goeth here in the first place.
And next to that it must be seen that they be not accused of riot. When St Paul
putteth down this word, his meaning is, that there shall no dissoluteness be
seen in them. For the question is not here, that process should be made against
them before a judge, or that any should take part against them to accuse them,
but he meaneth that no intemperancy should be noted in them, nor any markable
faults in minister's children. For if a man allege and say, "Ho, how now?
What is he that reproveth my children? If any man meddle to do them wrong, I
will make him smart for it." If a man (I say) make a goodly show to be
zealous of his, and his children's honor and in the mean season give them
liberty to do evil, insomuch that men mock at him, is such an one to be
excused? Yet notwithstanding we see a number that think themselves goodly
fellows, when they are warned of such lewdness as is committed in their houses,
they have this strain2 [reply] in their mouths, "Ho, if any man meddleth
with me, he shall be sure of his answer, let him be sure I will talk with him,
I will give him well to understand whom he hath to do withal." But in the
mean season he is mocked at, and all his train, his wife is made a
laughingstock, he seeth and knoweth she is stark naught, and yet he will not
bear out the matter and is he not worthy to be a cuckold [husband of
adulteress]? A man cannot abide his children should be evil spoken of, and yet
he will suffer them to play lewd parts, give them as good lessons as you can,
they will mock at them, they will despite God, you shall see nothing but
wickedness in them, and yet they must not be warned of the danger they be in.
They see God well enough, they go the highway and path to destruction, and they
cannot abide to be drawn out of it. But because they are sick folks that will
not be healed and seeing they cast away all remedies that are brought them, let
them perish as miserable and wretched creatures as they are. And therefore let
us mark well, when St Paul saith that the children of the ministers of God's
word, must not be accused of riot, that he meaneth thereby, that there must be
no dissolute and lewd kind of life perceived in them, but that they use
themselves honestly, and give no occasion of offense, or of any evil speeches
or murmurings against them. This is the second point. The third is, that they
be not rebels: that is to say, that he that is appointed to preach the word,
and to govern and instruct the church of God, must take good heed that his children
be not stubborn, that they be not like wild beasts, hard and cumbersome to be
ruled. For if he cannot do this with his children, what will he do to them that
nothing belong to him? If he cannot keep under a little child in his pride and
stubbornness, what will he do with the whole people? This is St Paul's meaning.
But yet let us mark that he speaketh in such wise to them that must be chosen
ministers, that this doctrine is general to all. He doth not teach ministers
what they should be, as though his talk were directed to them: but he showeth
what manner of men they must be that must be chosen to this office and calling.
Beware (saith he) you choose not such an one, as you cannot govern his house,
to put him to an harder and more weighty office. And again when he speaketh of
the choosing of ministers this goeth further. For if a man be chosen to preach
the word of God, and he order himself evil, both him and his house, it is no
inheritance to him, he must be cut off, such a stumbling block may not be
suffered. And as every man must have an eye to himself (I speak of us that are
placed in a public office), and take heed to that which St Paul appointeth, to
know what manner of men must be chosen, so must every man also take pains to
frame himself to the rule that is contained here, and let us pray to God to
give us grace to walk so, that his word be not mocked at through our means, and
that our sins cause not the wicked to blaspheme against God's name and say,
such an one is a blasphemer, a wicked man, and therefore a goodly bishop, that
no such words may come from the mouths of the wicked, but that their mouths may
be stopped, and they found wicked when they so revile us. And he showeth
moreover what manner of men the Christians ought to be. True it is, that the
ministers of the word of God go before: but yet notwithstanding other must
frame themselves to this time also, every man according to his calling. And if
God have been so gracious to a man as to make him an husband, let this be his
care to be linked and coupled with his wife, that he be not forepossessed with
whoredom, that his heart be not upon other, but he follow his way, knowing that
he is married in God's name, and that he must be faithful to his mate, seeing
God hath given her unto him. Thus must all Christians though they be private
men, so walk in the state of marriage (if they be called unto it) that every
one content himself with his yoke-fellow, and live honestly and without all
dissension. And again, they whom God hath so far honored to give them children,
let them consider that they are so much more bound to God to take pains that
their children be well brought up. And if they will have them brought up well,
they must always begin with religion. For children may in show have all the
virtues in the world, but that is nothing, unless they fear God and honor him.
As we see a number that will take great pains to bring up their children in the
affairs of this world. Truth it is they will have masters for their children,
but it shall be to teach them some goodly fair show, they shall have some three
words of Latin to make a show at the table, to know how to talk and make fair
faces to the worldward, but to know God, there is no talk, no news of that. But
this is not the way, this is to set the cart before the horse. Therefore let us
learn by St Paul's example, to begin at this end to instruct children. For if
they once know God, it is a good foundation to build upon—but without it, there
is nothing but ruin and confusion; for if we take pains to instruct our
children in religion, and in the true and pure knowledge of God, and of his
truth, their life will be answerable to it, that is to say, they will be
honest, they will not be dissolute, they will not be riotous, they will be so
well bridled, that they will not give themselves to delicates, nor to
drunkenness, nor to lewd games, nor to such like things, there will be no such
evil disposition in them. This is the second point that St Paul commandeth us
in this place. But because young men are cursed cattle to rule, St Paul writeth
that they must be humble and easy to be taught: for if there be no modesty in
little children, a man shall take great pains to instruct them, but they will
kick as unbroken colts, that bite the bit, and run against their masters. And
therefore St Paul set down this humbleness precisely for the chiefest virtue
that may be in young folks, but as it is requisite, so is it very rare. Let us
consider and see what young folks are. How do children govern themselves
nowadays? True it is, that fathers deserve often times their children should
pluck out their eyes. For they have no care to instruct them in the fear of
God; and are they not worthy to be paid with the same? But it is to be lamented
when we see rebellious children, which cannot be tamed do what we can, when
they are but little ones, they cannot be made to taste of any goodness. And are
they come to age? I say not to the age of men, as though they were at men's
stature, but when they are past being little children, and are young striplings
as we call them, ho, yet they must needs be called men, and they think they
have great wrong done them, if they be called otherwise. They might well enough
be kept at school yet ten years longer, and have the rod, and yet they will be
taken for mighty fellows. And I have told them too often, "away you lobs
must you be men? It were more meet for you to be under the rod, and be kept in
coram [discipline]." And if men would have been ruled quietly then, they
needed not to have wept now, such rigor needed not to have been used as we see
now, they needed not to have been punished so much to their shame as they are
now, if there had been any wit and discretion in them. And therefore we must
mark this which St Paul saith here, so much the better, and let fathers beware
they keep in their children well and straitly, and if they will needs be men
when they are yet under the rod, let them not spare them. Truth it is that
parents may not grieve their children, nor give them occasion through their too
over-rough dealing to become naught, but yet they must fear, that their
children being thus hard to govern, take not liberty to give themselves to all
wickedness, and to become so lewd, that they cannot be brought again to the
right way; and therewithal also, let young folks know, that unless they have this
modesty in them, and this grace to suffer themselves quietly to be ruled by
their superiors, we must say fie upon all their virtues: as indeed it is
nothing, there is nothing but pride and filthiness in them, and God will also
bring them to confusion. And therefore let every man learn this lesson, as St
Paul teacheth it all men in this place. Now let us fall down before the face of
our good God, confessing our faults, and praying him that he would give us such
a feeling of them, that from the greatest to the smallest of us, we may be all
beaten down in ourselves and have no other, etc."
Calvin, John. Sermons on Titus . TeXSet Press. Kindle
Edition.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/05/christian-family-worship-resources.html
Christian Family Worship Resources & Examples
We've been talking about family worship in our sermons and
small groups some lately. Here are a few videos I recorded over the last few
years, that explains our process of family worship in our home. Each family
will certainly have to adapt this to their own specific needs and situations,
but hopefully these are helpful.
This one is on how we do family worship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unxzzIGKc2Q&t=880s
This one is an example of our family actually doing family worship at home.
Please note, we usually do not go 33 minutes. It's usually maybe 10 minutes or
so. But sometimes the Lord does bless where your kids have lots of questions
and one thing leads to the next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkXkUPs5aWA
Also, here are links to some of the resources I have used for family worship,
some of which I mention in the videos.
These two I have read recently with the kids and are excellent, going through
the books of Genesis-Deuteronomy with explanations, questions, and answers: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/beginning-and-wilderness-family-worship-bundle.html
Here is the Child's Story Bible I have used for years, and have gone through
4-5 times over the last 7 years or so with the kids: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/the-childs-story-bible-vos.html
Bible Memory verses: https://www.christianbook.com/my-1st-book-of-memory-verses/carine-mackenzie/9781857927832/pd/27834?product_redirect=1&search_term=my%201st%20book%20of%20memory&Ntt=27834&item_code=&ps_exit=PRODUCT|legacy&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP
Children's Catechisms: https://www.amazon.com/Answers-Questions-Christianity-Scripture-Proofs/dp/0977344282/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?sr=8-1-fkmr0
Also this one, which can be found for free here online, though you can get
print copies also: https://reformed.org/historic-confessions/the-childrens-catechism/
Another resource I am beginning to use, which has comments and usually a few
questions on every chapter in the entire Bible, is Joel Beeke's Family Worship
Bible Guide. This may be harder for young children, but as the kids get older
it is a great resource: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/family-worship-bible-guide-bonded-leather-gift-edition.html
Of course, there's way more resources and tools out there to guide you in
family worship, but I've sent enough links already.
May the Lord bless us as we raise our children in the fear, nurture, and
admonition of the Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Booher
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/07/faithful-christianity-begins-in-home.html
Faithful Christianity Begins in the Home
Faithful Christianity begins in the home. One man and
one woman in marriage, having children, raising them in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord, parenting by God's promises, believing that He has
graciously covenanted with households for their good, seeking Him in faith and
service. If the home is a witness of the truth and love of God, it will speak
to everyone around them.
In our little church that I pastor, we have large families who believe this,
striving to seek first God's kingdom and righteousness in all of life, for
God's glory and their good. We do this together in true Christian fellowship
and community. We are sinners, that is true, but we know the grace of God in
Jesus Christ, that His Word is Truth, and that His promises for us and our
children are sure.
Too much of Christianity today in our nation, and here in the South, is in name
only. This is to say, it is not much removed from taking the Lord's name in
vain. It is a relic some haven't quite yet discarded, though many of the
younger folk my age have. The sexual, national, political, medical,
educational, etc., confusion, insanity, and angst we see today, occurs when
fathers cease being faithful to God, firm as a rock for the good of their families.
Too often today, we have weak men, and hard women, but we need strong,
masculine men, and tender, nurturing, feminine women, doing what God designed
each of us to do as His image bearers. This glorifies God, and allows us to
enjoy Him and His people that He has created. When more and more families do
this, communities thrive.
But this requires saying the hard things that nobody wants to hear, that
offends others. It requires speaking against sin, and speaking for
righteousness, and then striving as best you can to actually practice what you
preach. This is loving though, when done for the glory of God above all, and
after that, for the well-being of mankind made in His image.
1 Cor. 6:9-11 condemns us all, but also shows that all sin can be washed away
through the life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, the
very Son of God, God come in the flesh, redeeming all who repent and believe in
Him from our sins and sinfulness, to be filled with His Spirit, which
illuminates His Word the Bible, to serve God and His kingdom in true, joyous,
holiness:
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some
of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
Churches should be robust in their doctrine and theology, applying God's Word
to God's people in all of life, encouraging married couples to be fruitful and
multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it for God's glory, as God commanded us
as His image bearers, by our very natures, from the beginning, Gen. 1:26-28.
Faithful leaders in the Church, who are not sinless but are graciously gifted
in heart, word, and conduct, called by God for service, must be under-shepherds
to guide and lead the sheep (I Tim. 3:1-7), the people of God, those who trust
in Christ as Lord and Savior. This requires both encouragement and rebuke,
exhortation as well as consolation.
Sadly, the leaders in churches today are often ill-equipped, or have false
motives altogether, or are simply lacking the gifting, despite best intentions,
to lead. Study of God's Word and gifting by the Spirit is necessary, as
Ephesians 4 and many other passages show, and common sense testifies.
As spiritual, moral, and cultural decay is all around us, and many of our
churches have acclimated to these debaucheries and foolish thoughts and
practices rather than warned against them, by proclaiming the truth in love,
backed up by faithful (though not sinless) lives showing the good fruit of
living according to God's Truth -- many have left the Church, or settled for
poor churches and poor leadership. Some simply have not known that there is
something better. A better way.
Well, there is. We can look to better, earlier times in our nation's history,
and of our forefathers in the faith, found in nations all over the world, who
taught and lived as faithful Christians far better than any of us today. Their
doctrine was hard, firm, certain, but their love was fierce, their loyalty to
God and His people sure, and their fruitfulness and productivity for good
overflowing. But all of this is revealed in the Bible, the Word of God for us.
We must be whole Bible Christians if we are to be true Christians, faithful
Christians, productive, happy, and holy Christians. But the whole counsel of
God's Word is rarely preached at all these days, and even when attempted, is
sadly twisted to the destruction of both the preacher and the hearer.
To the world, and even to the Christian church in many cases today, real
faithfulness and service to God will look like unbridled zeal, unhinged
passion, fanaticism, harshness, unloving, etc. But that is only because a man
leading his wife and children in love, teaching and catechizing them in the
Bible, providing for them with hard work, being faithful to his wife and not
sleeping around, disciplining his children with spankings when they sin to show
them the righteous way, loving them enough to not let them continue down a
wicked path, is almost non-existent even among Christians today, and something
many ministers will claim is "too harsh" or "too rigid".
Yet, this ALONE produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those trained
by it, as Hebrews 12:7-11 says.
Mature, godly, happy women look like Titus 2, "reverent in behavior, not
slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things — that they
admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be
discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the
word of God may not be blasphemed."
This, too, even among Evangelical churches today, is something they would be
embarrassed to preach on, or would twist and contort to make it mean the
opposite of what it says. And yet women are highly honored by God, and ought to
be by man, when they truly live up to their high calling of womanhood, of being
made in the image of God female. We see that glory, and praise, in the Proverbs
31 woman:
"Who can find a virtuous wife?
For her worth is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
So he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
And willingly works with her hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
She brings her food from afar.
She also rises while it is yet night,
And provides food for her household,
And a portion for her maidservants.
She considers a field and buys it;
From her profits she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength,
And strengthens her arms.
She perceives that her merchandise is good,
And her lamp does not go out by night.
She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hand holds the spindle.
She extends her hand to the poor,
Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
She makes tapestry for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies sashes for the merchants.
Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her own works praise her in the gates."
Nothing is freer than being renewed in what you are, as a man or woman made in
God's image, as such, to serve Him by your masculine or feminine natures. For
God is a good and just God, merciful, forgiving our sins as we repent of them
and trust in Him, and strengthening us by His Spirit to follow Him into all
righteousness once again.
The mutilation of the minds, bodies, and souls of mankind must stop. Today what
is promoted or at least permitted down main street is the LGBTQ+ death cult
agenda. It mixes witchcraft, self-hatred, self-mutilation, utter destruction of
men and women as male and female, and does so militantly against others. They
find "love" in idolatry and community of self-destruction and
weakness, and hardly anyone loves them enough to tell them these hard truths,
but also are sober enough to realize that many of these persons are not only
dangerous to themselves, but seek to evangelize others, adults and even
children, into their delusion.
Meanwhile, many churches stand idly by, because they've softened on sin,
embracing heterosexual lusts rather than faithful, monogamous marriages, have
had poor examples of fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers, and
the generational rot has set in. Or they simply are too afraid to rock the boat
for righteousness. Only by repenting of this, lamenting it, and by word and
deed striving for righteousness and teaching these good truths in love to our
children, will this be overcome, even though it will take several generations.
Our church, Heritage Reformed, recognizes these sober realities, and is
committed to pursuing the long, multi-generational reform needed, rooted in
people and place, a true community, fighting with joy to see righteousness pour
forth from our hearts, homes, and communities once again. Our strong words and
strong actions are only meant to root out sin, in our own hearts and in others,
and for those who recognize their sin, to give the comforting words of God's
grace in mercy and Christ to heal the wound of sin being ripped out, so that
Christ and His righteousness can be knitted in to make us whole again.
Let us not go limping along any longer. Let us pursue in earnest the glorious
picture seen in Isaiah 11, where righteous judgment, destruction of the wicked,
and conversion of the repentant, yields peace and harmony around the holiness
and Truth of God in all the nations of the earth, such that the wolf dwells
with the lamb, the leopard lays with the young goat, the calf and the lion are
together. And a little child leads them all:
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
Come and worship with us at Heritage. https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/08/household-baptism.html
Household Baptism
Cornelius is called devout in Acts 10, and he is devout with
his household, in leading them, and undoubtedly leading them to know and serve
the Lord as well, even as Joshua in the O.T. says “choose you this day
whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”,
Joshua 24:15ff. Now we see that the pattern and expectation the Jews would
have, and we should have when reading the New Testament and our passage here in
Acts -- that God covenants with households, and the children are included in
the covenant, signified in circumcision in the Old Testament/Covenant, but now
signified in baptism, including the infant children. For all in the house of
Cornelius, which included not only his entire household, his slaves and
servants under him, but also those of his close friends and relatives, received
the Holy Spirit and were baptized with water, as we saw at the end of Acts 10.
Even infant children were to be removed from the Church/Israelites and regarded
as covenant breakers if they lacked the sign of circumcision, Gen. 17:14,
"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.”
There was no dispute among the believing Jews and Gentiles
in the book of Acts about whether children/whole households of believers are
included in the new covenant and should receive baptism, because households
were always included in the covenant. Indeed, the covenant God made with
Abraham continues to us today and into eternity, its final form being the new
covenant in Christ's blood, by definition includes the children/offspring of
Abraham, so that he would become the father of many nations, and all the
families of the earth will be blessed in Him and His seed, ultimately Christ,
Acts 3:25-26.
The Great Commission, the work of Christ from the right hand
of the Father, necessarily blesses whole households, covenanting with them,
where there is even but one believing parent. But just as each person in that
Israelite household had to personally believe and trust in Christ to be saved
and forgiven for all eternity, so it is with each person in a Christian
household today. However, note that those born or brought into the house/family
of a believer do not need to have faith to be included in the Church/Kingdom/Covenant.
Christ received them and said the kingdom belongs to them, because they are
born into a household of faith, whether it is just one or both parents who have
faith, I Cor. 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.”
The covenant/household principle and the impact of the head
of the home devoutly raising and commanding his house to serve the Lord, is
seen with Joshua in Joshua 24. He says not he alone, but he and his household
will serve the Lord. There were no questions asked. There was no struggle
session wondering if he had the authority to command his household to serve the
Lord, or if he should give them a choice. He told the other heads of home to
decide for themselves, but he took responsibility for his household, and saw to
it that they served the Lord. Our doctrine of predestination and election does
not compete with the command that the heads of the households should command
their families to serve the Lord. Nor does our doctrine of
election/predestination mean that we cannot or should not baptize our children.
Just the opposite, we ought to, for God commands households to be baptized, as
we see with Cornelius and his household all being baptized, and others in the
New Testament like Lydia and her household, Acts 16, The Philippian Jailer and
his household, Acts 16, Crispus' household, Acts 18, and the mention of
Stephanas' household, 1 Cor. 1.
In Joshua 24, the covenant is being renewed. Joshua gathers
together the heads of the families, the “elders of Israel, for their heads, for
their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God”
24:1. So the whole congregation is represented by their headship, the tribal
leaders including judges and officers, the elders, and descending down from
them the fathers of each household. Joshua and the leaders renew the covenant
on behalf of all under their authority, namely, their household/tribes/lines.
This is the covenant going back to Abraham, and continuing still in Christ and
the new covenant administration today.
There gathered before God, Joshua 24:1, the elders/leaders
renew their covenant vows, their church membership vows as it were, that they
and their households will serve the Lord. That is precisely what Joshua does,
not for himself alone, but also his whole house. And that is what Cornelius has
done, not for himself, but his whole household in Acts 10, and thus in God’s
kindness the Word of God comes to Cornelius and his household, and all in it
are saved, baptized with the Spirit and given the sacrament of water baptism by
Peter/the Apostles, who were the Elders/authority in the Church at that time,
to formally recognize and receive them into the union and communion of the
Church/body of Christ.
In the new covenant, the Gentiles/nations are included, and
the children/household get to stay in the inclusion of the covenant as well,
even the slaves and servants. While Joshua 24 warns that they will turn away
from the Lord, they vow that they will not. And in fact under the leadership of
Joshua, and not only his leadership but the leadership of all the elders over
Israel who outlived Joshua and knew the works of the LORD which the LORD had
done for Israel, they did in fact serve the Lord, not turning back to sin and
idolatry, Joshua 24:31.
The plain and clear conclusion is that God’s election works
through His means of grace, which is chiefly being included in His covenant
from birth, or graciously being brought into the covenant by the
preaching/evangelization of the Gospel, and then you and your household are all
graciously included in the covenant/church, receiving the “oracles of God”,
having the means of grace of word, prayer, and sacrament, including baptism for
your covenant children.
But when godly leaders perish, and the elders with them, the
people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and even fathers forget the faith
and go astray, leading their wives and children astray as well. When there are
a lack of godly elders, godly men/fathers must step up. If there are godly
fathers, then there are or at least can be godly elders, for the elders/leaders
are simply godly fathers chosen from the households.
This is why Elders in the new covenant, according to Paul,
must rule their own households well, having faithful children, Titus 1:6, or as
Paul puts it in 1 Tim. 3:4-5, “one who rules his own house well, having
his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how
to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?”
In other words, every father must still say, “as for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord” and if he rules well, his
children will be submissive, reverent, and faithful. It is hard to see how a
child can be these things and yet not be believers. How can you be “faithful”
yet lack faith? We can argue the extraordinary, rare, and exceptional circumstances,
or details about a faith and reverence that is present but non-salvific, etc.,
another time.
But the point is, the father is leading his family, his
house, with the focus on the children in particular, in the covenant, in the
church, in the training and admonition of the Lord, as disciples that are
serving the Lord. If the father has the authority to say of his children “as
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, and he does, then he has the duty
to present his children, from infancy, for baptism, since those children
who are dedicated for service to the Lord are thereby disciples of the Lord,
and Christ commands that all disciples are to be baptized, Matt. 28:19-20,
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all things that I have commanded you.
For baptism is the sign of God’s gracious covenant, which
includes those children being raised in the training and admonition of the
Lord, as those to whom Christ received into His arms as infants and said “let
the little children come to Me and do not forbid them, for to such belongs the
kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). Christ then prays for and blesses
those children, Matt. 19:13-15, Mark 10:16. Your children, Christian, have the
prayers and blessing of Christ, with Christ’s own comforting words that the
Kingdom/Church of God belongs to them. Your children therefore have the promise
of regeneration and eternal life in the Lord, which is to be symbolized in
baptism with water, and received in your baptized children with a sincere,
saving faith as they become old enough to express such faith, while you raise
them in the training and admonition of the Lord to do so, Eph. 6:1-4.
Christ began His earthly ministry with the Gospel of His
kingdom in Matthew 4:14, "From that time Jesus
began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus in Matthew 24:14 calls His
kingdom the Gospel that will be preached in all the world, "And this
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the
nations, and then the end will come."
Since Christ received into His arms little children, even
infants brought to Him, and said the kingdom belongs to them, and then He prays
for them and blesses them, why would we not have our children baptized into the
Triune name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where they are formally
received into the Church, prayed for, blessed, and under rule of Christ and His
holy Word? We are told our children are holy if there is even one believing
parent. Children of believers were always received by God from infancy, before
they could express faith or repentance, symbolized by circumcision prior to
Christ's coming in the flesh, and now symbolized by baptism after Christ's
coming, shedding His blood for our sin, and filling us with His outpoured
Spirit from the Father's right hand in heaven.
Christ as He is ascending to the Father's right hand in
Matt. 28:18ff., as listed above, that all authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to Him. Therefore, the Apostles were to go and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded.
Why would we teach our children the Bible, have them pray to
God the Father, bring them to church, and yet not have them baptized? We would
only do this if we thought that our children are not part of God's
kingdom/covenant/church, and are not disciples. But they are, and disciples are
to be baptized and taught all of God's Word. As we saw above, Christ has
already literally opened His arms and touched the infant children brought to
Him by faithful parents, and declared that His Kingdom, as proclaimed in the
Gospel, belongs to those children. He even blesses them and prays for them. How
else can we obey Christ's command today to bring our infant children to Him,
except by having our children baptized by the Minister, whom Christ has
appointed in His Church for this purpose, for the children to be formally
received as members of His Kingdom/Church, regularly worshiping as members of
the congregation, being taught and instructed in church and at home, especially
led by the fathers?
Let us obey God's Word, and commit as fathers/heads of home
to see to it that our households, including our children, serve the Lord,
bringing them to Christ and His Church for baptism, vowing that we indeed we
will raise our children in the gracious nurture and admonition of the Lord,
trusting God's promises that as we rule our households well, He will work in
the hearts of our children and bring them to sincere faith and repentance in
due time, and they will then come to the Lord's Supper and partake of the bread
and wine, feeding on Christ with the "mouth"/heart of true
faith.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/09/cotton-mather-on-improving-infant.html
Cotton Mather on improving the infant baptism of your
covenant children:
"Improve the baptism of your children as an obligation
and encouragement unto you, parents, to endeavor the salvation of your baptized
little ones. Of your children, you may say, with Jacob in Genesis 33:5, 'These
are the children that God hath graciously given to me.' And will you not
heartily give back to God those children once again? Their baptism is to be the
sign and seal of your doing so.
You generally bring your infant children unto the baptism of
the Lord. I suppose you do so because you are satisfied that the children of
believers were in covenant with God in the days of the Old Testament, and that
the children of believers then had a right unto the initial seal of the
covenant, and that in the days of the New Testament they have not lost this
privilege. Well, but when you bring your children to the sacred baptism, what
is it for? Oh, do not let it be done as an empty formality, as if the baptism
of your children were for nothing but to formally and pompously put a name upon
them. No, but let the serious language of your souls in this action be that of
Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:28: "I have given this child unto the Lord, as long
as he lives he shall be given unto the Lord."
I find in the private writings of a holy man who died in
this town not more than a year ago that the day before one of his children was
to be baptized he spent the time in giving up himself and his child unto the
Lord, and in taking hold of the covenant for both of them. He prayed that he
might be able the next day, in much faith, love, and covenant obedience, do it
at the baptism of the Lord. ON this he wrote, "It is not easy, though
common, to offer a child unto God in baptism."
Sirs, when you have done this for your children, you have a
singular advantage to plead for the fulfillment of that word upon them from
Isaiah 44:3: "I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon
they offspring." You may go before the Lord and plead, "Lord, was not
the baptismal water poured by Thy command upon my children? OH, do Thou now
pour upon them the heavenly grace which that baptismal water signified."
And now, no sooner let those children become able to understand it than you
shall make them understand what the design of their baptism was.
Parents, I tell you now that if you let your children grow
up without ever telling them that and why they were baptized into the name of
the Lord, you are fearfully guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain. It
was the manner of an excellent minister, upon baptizing a child, to solemnly
deliver the child into the hands of the parents with these words, "Here, I
charge you to take this child now and bring it up for the Lord Jesus
Christ." God from heaven speaks the same words to you, O parents, upon all
your baptized children.
And, that you may bring up your children for the Lord Jesus
Christ, you must, as soon as you can, let them know that in baptism they were
dedicated unto Him. Show them that, when they were baptized, they were listed
among the servants and soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if they live
in rebellion against Him, woe unto them! Show them from Matthew 28:19-20 that,
since they are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, they must observe all things whatsoever that the Lord Jesus Christ has
commanded them to do. Show them from Romans 6:4 that, since they are baptized,
they are buried with Christ in baptism, and must live no longer in sin, but are
dead unto all the vanities of the world. Show them from Galatians 3:27 that, since
they are baptized, they have put on Christ and must follow His example, and be
as He was in the world. Show them from 1 Peter 3:21 that, being baptized, they
must now make the answer of a good conscience to all the proposals of the New
Covenant.
God propounds to your baptized children, "Shall My
Christ be yours, and will you be His?" To this they must conscientiously
answer, "Lord, with all my heart!"
Put this very solemnly to your children, "My child,
shall God the Father be your Father? Shall God the Son be your Savior? Shall
God the Spirit be your Sanctifier? And are you willing to be the servant of
that one God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit?" Do not leave them until
their little hearts are conquered unto that for which they have been baptized.
It has been the judgment of some judicious men that, if infant baptism were
more improved, it would be less disputed. Oh, that it were thus improved!"
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2024/09/5-points-on-generational-faithfulness.html
5 Points on Generational Faithfulness at Heritage
Reformed Presbyterian Church
5 focal points on generational faithfulness at
Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church:
[1.] God commands us to love Him and seek first His kingdom
and righteousness above all (Matt. 6:33). Faithfulness to God is man's highest
purpose, or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question and Answer 1 states,
"What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to
enjoy him for ever. (1) I Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36. (2) Ps. 73:25-28.
[2.] God is a covenant making and keeping God, Heb. 9:15.
The Gospel itself is the good news of His kingdom coming to us in Christ the
King (Matt. 4:17), who now presently rules from the right hand of His Father in
heaven over all things. Because Christ has all authority now, His kingdom is
being built up on earth now, His Church is growing, through many trials and
tribulations throughout the centuries/generations, as people from every tribe,
tongue, and nation are baptized and taught. [Matt. 28:18-20]
[3.] God's covenant and kingdom has always included
households, not merely individuals, and has commanded our children be received
into His Church/Kingdom/People with the sign of the covenant . Genesis 17:7,
9ff., "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. 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; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and
it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 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."
This covenant is now renewed in Christ, and the sign is no
longer circumcision, but baptism, and the command still includes that our
children are part of the covenant promise, received into Christ's kingdom as
infants, and are therefore to receive the sign of the covenant as infants,
which is baptism:
Luke 18:15-16 "Then they also brought infants to Him
that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 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."
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.”
[4.] Since we are to seek God's kingdom and righteousness
above all, and since Christ includes even our infant children in His kingdom,
we worship together with our families and do not have "children's
church". Christ said that even babies praise Him in worship, Matthew
21:15-16 --
"But when the chief priests and scribes saw the
wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and
saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do
You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,
‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise’?” --
At Heritage, we trust in God's covenant promises and strive
as parents/fathers to "raise our children in the training and admonition
of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), believing the Lord will work in the hearts of our
children and bring them to true, saving faith in Christ.
[5.] Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ relates to His
kingdom and covenant promises, we are part of God's covenant people throughout
history, spanning the Old and New Testaments, as the true "Israel of
God" and "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise",
Gal. 3:26-29; 6:15-16.
Christ has been building up His Church and Kingdom for
thousands of years, and told us that His kingdom is like a mustard seed or
leaven, Matt. 13:31-33:
"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his
field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is
greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and nest in its branches.”
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was
all leavened.”
In other words, God's kingdom will not come overnight. So
many churches today promise the fullness of God's kingdom and blessings in
their lifetime. It will not come in our lifetime in its fullness, but we are
building toward that down through the generations. So generational, covenantal
faithfulness is what we need, for that is what God commands and how He has
designed to build up His Church and Kingdom.
This requires having deep, rooted relationships with your
fellow Christians at Church, starting and raising large families for God's
glory, and being patient and diligent in day to day faithfulness and service to
God and one another. There are no "get rich quick" schemes in the
Kingdom of God. But there is tremendous blessing if you live a faithful life
with your family, living in a particular town/community over the long haul, in
the same church that has the same vision and same labor as you have. This will
not only be sanctifying for you, your household, and the people of the church
you belong to, but it will become a faithful, salt and light witness to the
community around you, over many years, down through the generations.
Mega-churches that spring up overnight and fold within a few
years or a decade at most cannot build anything that is deep, rooted, and
lasting. They are almost always not true leaven that builds up God's Church and
Kingdom. They almost always drift further from God's Word and will, to keep an
audience and money flowing in. Scandals, mismanagement of funds or moral
failings, are all spun to deceive those attending and keep people coming. But
to what end?
At the end of the day, we must preach the full counsel of
God's Word, book by book, verse by verse, over the course of our lifetime. The
preaching of God's Word, the worship and fellowship of the saints, the ordinary
means of grace (God's Word, prayer, an the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's
Supper) are what God has ordained to feed and strengthen us by Christ's Spirit
poured out from heaven.
2 Tim. 3:16-17, " All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work."
2 Tim. 4:1-5, "I charge you therefore before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing
and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside
to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
We pray you will come worship with us and become part of our
multi-generational, long horizon vision for God's glory and our community here
in Sanford, NC and the surrounding areas, for the good of you and your children
after you, and God willing for generations to come, down until the great day
when Christ returns and makes all things new.
https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2025/07/matthew-henry-on-cristian-home-as.html
Matthew Henry on the great duty and value of Family Worship
and making the home a little church:
"The pious and zealous endeavours both of magistrates
and ministers for the reformation of manners, and the suppression of vice and
profaneness, are the joy and encouragement of all good people in the land, and
a happy indication that God has yet mercy in store for us: If the Lord had been
pleased to kill us, he would not have shewed us such things as these. Now I
know not any thing that will contribute more to the furtherance of this good
work than the bringing of family -religion more into practice and reputation.
Here the reformation must begin. Other methods may check the disease we
complain of, but this, if it might universally obtain, would cure it. Salt must
be cast into these springs, and then the waters would be healed. Many a
time, no doubt, you have been urged to this part of your duty ; many a good
sermon perhaps you have heard, and many a good book has been put into your
hands with this design, to persuade you to keep up religion in your families,
and to assist you therein: but I hope a further attempt to advance this good
work, by one who is a hearty wellwisher to it, and to the prosperity of your
souls and families, will not be thought altogether need less, and that by the
grace of God it will not be wholly fruitless: at least it will serve to remind
you of what you have received and heard to this purpose, that you may hold fast
what is good, and repent of what is amiss. Rev. iii. 3. The lesson then
which I would recommend to you from this text, is this: That the families of
Christians should be little churches; or thus, That wherever we have a house,
God should have a church in it. Unhappy contests there have been, and still
are, among wise and good men about the constitution, order, and government of
churches. God by his grace heal these breaches, lead us into all truth, and
dispose our minds to love and peace ; that while we endeavour herein to walk
according to the light God has given us, we may charitably believe that others
do so too; longing to be there where we shall be all of a mind. But I am now
speaking of churches, concerning which there is no controversy. All agree that masters
of families who profess religion, and the fear of God themselves, should,
according to the talents they are intrusted with, maintain and keep up religion
and the fear of God in their families, as those who must give account; and
that families, as such, should contribute to the support of Christianity in a
nation, whose honour and happiness it is to be a Christian nation. As
nature makes families little kingdoms, (and perhaps economics were the first
and most ancient politics,) so grace makes families little churches; and those
were the primitive churches of the Old Testament, before men began to call upon
the name of the Lord in solemn assemblies, and the sons of God came together to
present themselves before him. Not that I would have these family churches
set up and kept up in competition with , much less in contradiction to, public
religious assemblies, which ought always to have the preference: The Lord
loves the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, (Ps. Ixxxvii. 2.)
and so must we; and must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together,
under colour of exhorting one another daily at home. Far be it from us to offer
any thing that may countenance the invading of the office of the ministry, or
laying it in common, and the usurping or superseding of the administration of
sacraments. No, but these family churches, (which are but figuratively so,)
must be erected and maintained in subordination to those more sacred and solemn
establishments. Now, that I may the more distinctly open to you, and press up
on you, this great duty of family religion, from the example of this and other
texts, of a "church in the house, " I shall endeavour, I. To show
what this church in the house is, and when our families may be called churches.
And , II. To persuade you by some motives, thus to turn your families into
churches. And then , III. To address you upon the whole matter by way of application."
https://andrewgroves.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/a-church-in-the-house-_-mathew-henry.pdf
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2025/09/calvin-on-fathers-teaching-children.html
Calvin on Fathers Teaching Children Diligently (Deut. 6)
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/deuteronomy/6.htm
And these words. In these four next verses God again
commands (as before) the study of His Law. And first, indeed, He would have it
implanted in their hearts, lest forgetfulness of it should ever steal over
them; and by the word "heart" He designates the memory and other
faculties of the mind; as though He had said that this was so great a treasure,
that there was good cause why they should hide it in their hearts, or so fix
this doctrine deeply in their minds that it should never escape. Afterwards He
enjoins that constant conversation should be held about it with their children,
in order that fathers should diligently attend and apply themselves to the duty
of instruction. The word snn [234] shanan, which Moses uses, means properly
"to whet." Commentators think that it is employed metaphorically for
"to reiterate," or "to repeat constantly," because, when
the heavenly doctrine is inculcated, it will scarcely even thus be duly
impressed on their hearts; but, since it is here used in the conjugation Piel,
its signification may be transitive, viz., that they should cause it to
penetrate their minds, as if they should prick them with the point of a sword;
for the other translation does not seem consistent. But it is sufficient for me
to state my opinion, lest any should be offended by its novelty. Lastly, he
exhorts them to exercise themselves in its meditation both publicly and
privately, in order to stimulate their want of energy. But, although he may
seem to speak hyperbolically, yet if any one will carefully consider how slow
and careless men are in learning, and how forgetful they are when they seem to
have made some progress, he will readily acknowledge that Moses does not urge
them so strongly on insufficient grounds, but that it was highly necessary for him
to be thus rigid in exacting their attention. For this reason the Prophet
in Psalm 1:2, pronounces
them to be blessed who meditate in God's law "day and night." He
leaves, then, no portion of time unoccupied with meditation on the Law; whether
they are at home, or abroad, or when they retire to rest, or when they rise in
the morning. To this precept David appears to allude in Psalm 119:62, where he says,
"At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous
judgments;" and again, Psalm 119:148, "Mine
eyes prevent the night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word." But
still, by the expression "talk of them," Moses does not urge the
people to empty talkativeness, to which many are too much inclined, but he
would have them severally thus establish themselves and be teachers of each
other. He enumerates these various engagements, lest that change of occupation
by which the mind is wont to be distracted should withdraw the godly from the
right path, as though he commanded them to make this their chief aim in
whatever business they might be engaged. For the same reason he desires
bracelets and frontlets to be made of the precepts of the Law, contrasting
doubtless this spiritual ornament with chains [235] of gold, as much as to say
that they would more properly take delight in the pious recollection of the
Law, than in those trifling ornaments which attract men's senses. The Jews
understanding this literally, accounted this external ostentation a mark of
holiness, so as to think that they had almost done all they needed, when they
wore the Law on their arms and foreheads. Thence their mistaken zeal proceeded
still further, so that, as each desired to be thought better than others, they
widened their phylacteries in proportion, for so they denominated the borders
of their garments, on which were written certain sentences of the Law, as
safeguards. This error our Lord severely reproves in the Scribes and Pharisees,
(Matthew 23:5,) because it
was a mere mockery of this admonition, and a profanation of its doctrine. The
intention of God sufficiently appears in the passage from Exodus, which I have
subjoined, and in which they are simply commanded to be diligent in keeping the
Law. But there is good reason why diligence should be required, not only on
account of the matter being highly important, but because, through our vanity,
we are apt to relax our exertions, unless our slowness of heart is stimulated.
https://tulipdrivenlife.blogspot.com/2026/10/raising-children-for-lord-jesus-christ.html
Raising Children for the Lord Jesus Christ is why the
Earth Exists
We should not give much weight to men who cannot rule or
refuse to rule their households well (1 Tim. 3:4-5; Titus 1:6), especially if
they are in leadership. This is a warning and a focus to prioritize the family
for all of us -- God cares more for how you lead and love your wife and raise
your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord than He does about your
political labors, financial status, how gifted you might be at teaching
biblical doctrine, how based you were on racial and national matters, how many
spats you got into or battles won online, and other lesser endeavors.
You cannot have a people and a heritage, natural or Spiritual, if you lose your
own children due to sinful neglect, incompetence, impatience, prioritizing
other things that should not be as highly valued or invested in, etc. if you
reform your country but your wife is a bitter, contentious women and your
children resent you and reject the Lord Jesus Christ, what have you gained?
Nothing but misery, except for the salvation of your own soul by the skin of
your teeth perhaps. But a true Christian desires to see his own flesh and blood
walking with the Lord, and if it were righteous would even long to take their
punishment for them.
Of course, men should not only raise their families well -- this is the
beginning of faithfulness -- but press on to all their other duties and
callings and do them well also. The things mentioned above are important, but
they are less under our direct control and duty (unless you are in a high
position of authority or office, and even then the influence and bond of the
father in the home is greater than even the pastor with his congregation) and
should not be nearly as precious to us. If they are, we need to repent. There
are many ways to create disordered loves, on the left and on the right and out
of sheer hedonism.
Let Southern Presbyterian Pastor R.L. Dabney's words sink down into your soul,
for they are true words that I wager we do not really believe:
"Seeing the parental relation is what the Scripture describes it, and
seeing Satan has perverted it since the fall for the diffusion and
multiplication of depravity and eternal death, the education of children for
God is the most important business done on earth. It is the one business for
which the earth exists. To it all politics, all war, all literature, all
money-making, ought to be subordinated; and every parent especially ought to
feel, every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and election
sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God—this is his task on
earth.
On the right training of the generation now arising, turns not only the
individual salvation of each member in it, not only the religious hope of the
age which is approaching, but the fate of all future generations in a large
degree. Train up him who is now a boy for Christ, and you not only sanctify
that soul, but you set on foot the best earthly agencies to redeem the whole
broadening stream of human beings who shall proceed from him, down to the time
when men cease to marry and give in marriage. Until then, the work of education
is neverending.
The generation which is trained for heaven is the one that dies; the one that
is born into its place is born in enmity and under the curse. Thus the task of
training is ever renewed, until the final consummation shall make the race
equal to the angels.
In the last place: We observe some sincere Christians, whose minds are so
swayed by the assertion that personal faith must be the invariable
pre-requisite to baptism and admission to the church, that they seem incapable
of ever entertaining the thought that the church membership of the children of
believers may be reasonable and scriptural. The doctrine seems to them so great
an anomaly that they cannot look dispassionately at the evidence for it. But to
one who has weighed the truths set forth above, the absence of that doctrine
from God’s dispensations would seem the strange anomaly. To him who has
appreciated the parental relation as God represents it, the failure to include
it within the circuit of the visible church, to sanctify its obligations and to
seal its hopes with the sacramental badge, would appear the unaccountable
thing.
We have seen that the promise of a multiplying offspring was the blessing of
paradise; that paternity was the splendid expedient of our Maker for
multiplying the human subjects of his blessings and instruments of his glory,
and of making holiness and bliss the sure, hereditary possession of the
increasing multitudes of men, through the probation and adoption of their first
father. We have seen how, when Satan had essayed, with a stupendous, yet
impotent malice, to pervert the invention of God to the propagation of sin and
death, our merciful father rendered his victory void through the woman’s seed,
thus causing redemption in the second Adam to spring again out of the family
tie. We hear him declare in Malachi 2:15, long after the fall, that his object
in founding the family, in the form of monogamy, was “to seek a godly seed.”
Thus the supreme end of the family institution is as distinctly religious and
spiritual as that of the church itself.
Civic legislators speak of the well-ordered family as the integer of which the
prosperous commonwealth is formed. But God assigns the family a far higher and
holier aim. The Christian family is the constituent integer of the church—the
kingdom of redemption.
The instrumentalities of the family are chosen and ordained of God as the most
efficient of all means of grace—more truly and efficaciously means of saving
grace than all the other ordinances of the church. To family piety are given
the best promises of the gospel, under the new, as well as under the old
dispensation. How, then, should a wise God do otherwise than consecrate the
Christian family, and ordain that the believing parents shall sanctify the
children? Hence, the very foundation of all parental fidelity to children’s
souls is to be laid in the conscientious, solemn, and hearty adoption of the
very duties and promises which God seals in the covenant of infant baptism. It
is pleasing to think that many Christians who refuse the sacrament do, with a
happy inconsistency, embrace the duties and seek the blessing. But God gives
all his people the truths and promises, along with the edifying seal. Let us
hold fast to both."
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