WE BELIEVE

Should the children of believers (or

There are Christians who interpret even one believer) be looked upon in
the Bible in light of a basic, covenantal the same way as those who belong to
continuity between the Old and New theworld--nodifferentfromanyother
Testaments. Other believers make a unregenerate child, a common unbe-
dispensational discontinuity between . liever? Or should the children of be-
the Old and New Testaments their main lievers belooked uponas set apan from
princtple of interpretation. These du- the world unto God -- members of the
ferent orientations result in conflicting visible community formed by God's
systems of theology, as we have seen, saving covenant? In shon, are the
but they also lead to very spectfic, prac- children of believers viewed by God as
tical differences in living out the Chris- pan of the defiled world or as part of
tian life. the church on eanh?
In particular, the divergence be- The answer to this question was
tween covenantal and non"covenantal obvious in the Old Testament. The
approaches to Scripture comes to con- children of believers were deemed pan
crete expression in their differing views of the covenant community on eanh.
ofthe chtldren of adult converts to the Nothing in the New Testament rescinds
faith. Both schools of thought agree' or cancels the perspective found in the
that the children of Christians are con- Old Testament. Scripture duly warns
ceived and born in sin, that they need us against taking anything away from
to be "born again" and exercise faith in what God has said (Deut. 4:2) or alter-
Jesus Christ for salvation. But cov- ingit based on our own authority(Matt.
enantal and non-covenantal theologies 5:19). Subtracting from God's revela-
disagree over the status of these chil- tionoraddingunauthorizedalterations
dren while their believing parent(s) will earn divine disapprobation (e.g.,
pray for their children, nurture them, Rev. 22:18-19). So let us begin by
and await a Spirit-given profession of examining what the Old Testament
faith by them as they grow up. taught about the children of believers.
6 '" THE COUNSEL (If Cbalcedon 'I' April, 1993
God made a covenantwithAbraham
to bless Abraham himself in faith, to
bless Abraham's seed, and through
Abraham to bless the Gentiles, "the
families of the eanh" (Gen. 12:1-3;
17:1-8). This same three-fold cov-
enantal structure of intended blessing
was reiterated at the very first, evange-
listic proclamation by the New Testa-
ment church. On Pentecost Peter
preached that "the promise is to you, and
to your children, and to all that are far off
[the Gentiles]' (Acts 2:39) -- and he did
so in the context of a call to be baptized
(v. 38). The covenantal inclusion of the
children of believers is a principle found
in both Old and New Testaments,
without abrogatiOri.
The male children of the believer,
Abraham, were to be given the token of
the divine covenant, to be circumcised,
even as Abraham was (Gen. 17:10-12);
indeed, all the males in the believer's
household were set apart to God by the
covenant sign of circumcision. What
did circumcision signify? It was a to-
ken of "the rtghte0U5ness of faith," wrote
Paul (Romans 4:11). Even those who
had not personally come to faith as yet
(eight-day old babies) and those who
wouldnevercometo faith(e.g., lshrnael,
Esau) were given the covenant sign of
faith because they were in a believing
household. The faith of their pai:ents
set them aside from the world as pan of
a "holy' (or consecrated) nation (cf. Ex.
19:6).
likewise, in the earliest days of the
New Testament church we see that the
members of the entire household of a
new convert were set apart with the
covenant sign of baptism (Acts 16: 14-
15) - in virtue of their being pan of the
household (with no mention of profes-
sion of faith; cf. 1 Cor. 1 :16). By
baptism they were set apan from the
world and incorporated into the body
of Christ, the church (l Cor. 12:12-
13); they became pan of God's new
"holy"nation(cf.1 Peter 2:9). TheOld
Testament "baptisms" which are men-
-I
tioned by New Testament writers - in-
volving the ark (1 Peter 3:20-21) or being
under the cloud and brought through the
Red Sea (l Cor. 10:1-2) - included whole
households, just as did New Testament
baptisms. So the principle of covenantal
consecrationforthehouseholdofabeliever
is one found in both Old and New Testa-
ments, without abrogation.
The New Testament counterpart to
circumcision as a sign of God's covenant
is baptism. Paul makes this connection
explicit in Colossians 2: 11-12, where he
writes that members of the church have
been spiritually "circumcised" by Christ,
"having been buried with Him in bap-
tism." Circumcision was a mark that
one belonged to God and was set apart
from the defiled world (e.g., Ex. 12:48).
In the same way, baptism sets one apart
from the world and incorporates us into
the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13).
Circumcision symbolized the cleansing
or cutting away of the sinful nature ("the
fleSh," cr. Col. 2:13), as indicated in the
Old Testament call for circumcised lips

and heart (Ex. 6:12,30;Jel'.4:4). Like-
wise, baptism symbolizes the cleansing
of our sinful nature -- the "washing away
of your sins' (Acts 22:16).
Those who were circumcised were
marked outas holy (consecrated to God)
and cleansed (set apart from the defiled
world of unbelieO, although not every
circumcised Jew lived up to what his
circumcision symbolized. They were
not all Israel who were of Israel (Rom.
9:6); their outward circumcision prof-
ited them nothing (Rom. 2:25-29).
Likewise, those who are baptized are
marked out as holy and cleansed, al-
though not everyone who is baptized
lives up to what that baptism symbolizes
(e.g., Heb. 6:2-6; Acts 8:13, 20); the
outward sign in itself will profit them
nothing (l Peter 3:21).
Neither in the Old Testament nor in
the New is the covenant community on
earth -- those "called out" from the world
(the ec-clesia, the "church") -- a com-
munity exclUSively made up of genuine
believers or those guaranteed to be re-
generate. God had to judge the cov-
enant nation of Israel for her sins (e.g.,
Amos 3:2), even as Christ must reject a
church which will not repent (e.g. Rev.
3:16). Not all who profess that He is
Lord are truly known by Him (Matt.
7:21-23). Circumcision, just like bap-
tism, is administered to those who pro-
fess faith and to their households, with-
out guaranteeing eternal salvation to
either. Both circumcision and baptism
point to saving (cleansing) blesSing and
set apart their recipients from the world,
even when their recipients did (or do)
not demonstrate the reality of what was
signified. The Old Testament church,
both believers and their children, was
required to "keep covenant with God"
by living up to what the covenant sign
indicated. Likewise believers and their
children in the New Testament church
must keep covenant with Godand liveup
to what the covenant sign symbolizes:
theircleansingandconsecration(holiness).
(To Be Continued)
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April, 1993 TIlE COUNSEL o( Chalcedon 7