The Ransomed

Given the recent interest in Mark Dever and his statements about infant baptism (paedobaptism), I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to put out there just what I think about the issue. I go to a Presbyterian church, and believe along with the Reformed tradition that not only should new converts be baptised, but also the children of believing parents. In order to examine the issue, I think that it is best to start in Genesis (!).

God calls Abraham to be the father of a great nation, and gives him a covenant – a promise to bind God to Abraham and his descendants -

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
(Gen 12:1-4)

We also learn at this point that God justifies Abraham by faith -

And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and [God] counted it to him as righteousness.
(Gen 15:6)

So, Abraham is given this covenant, and God has justified Abraham by faith, in the same way as we are justified this side of the cross (Rom 4:3). Justification by grace alone through faith alone.

The way that God teaches His people to remember this covenant is to give them a certain sign. God gives signs with all His covenants, as a way of looking back to see that God is the one who keeps His promises. In this covenant with Abraham, God gives the sign of circumcision -

And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 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 throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
(Gen 17:9-14)

God called for Abraham and his descendants to remember God’s promise by circumcising all the males in their households. The head of the household, as a member of the covenant, represented the whole family before God. The father’s faith meant that the family was circumcised. This is sometimes referred to as federalism – the head of the family was the Federal Head, representing the family before God. Covenants are always federal in nature – we can see an example of this especially in Romans 5.

As the Bible progresses, we see that the promises to Abraham are not fulfilled in the Old Testament. The descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, enter the promised land, but by the end of the OT they have been exiled several times, and were by no means a great nation, with a great name, who blessed all the peoples of the earth. To fulfil this covenant, God’s people had to look outside of themselves.

Now, we come to the New Testament.

As an interesting side note, how inspired is that page that sits between the Old and New Testaments? I believe that it really makes a difference in how you view the Bible if you just forget about it. In fact, in my old Bible, I took it out (carefully!).

In the New Covenant, we come across many passages which tie the salvation of Gentiles in to the covenant made with Abraham -

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
(Gal 3:7-9)

The New Testament makes it clear that the promise made to Abraham was what we would now call “the gospel” – that the Lord Jesus, as head of His people, would ransom them, and make a nation of them, and bless all the nations through them. The covenant with Abraham was about Christ, and the body of Christ – the church.

We don’t find anything in the New Testament which removes the idea of federalism – no Jews complaining that their children are no longer blessed through their parents’ faith. In fact, we have a very interesting example of Paul dealing with this idea.

Imagine – you are a Jewish woman, and your children have always been a member of the covenant due to the fact that your husband is a Jew. All of a sudden, Paul comes along preaching justification by grace alone through faith alone, and you are converted. But, sadly, the federal head of the family isn’t – your husband remains an unbeliever. Of course, you would worry that this might change things. Paul writes to you in 1 Corinthians 7 -

If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
(1Co 7:13-14)

Then, later in the epistles, Paul writes this to the Colossians -

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
(Col 2:11-12)

Clearly, what Paul is saying is this: the circumcision that Christ experienced was bestowed on believers when they were united with Him. Now, the act of baptism signifies that – being buried with Christ and being raised with Him. The sign of the covenant with Abraham – circumcision – has been replaced with the sign of baptism.

So, what we have is this:

• The same gospel has been preached to us as to Abraham – justification by grace alone through faith alone.
• The same covenant has been entered into by both Abraham and Christians – what Reformed theologians have called “The Covenant of Grace”.
• No retraction anywhere in the New Testament of the idea of a federal household principle.
• The replacement of the sign of circumcision with the sign of baptism.

I believe that these truths point us necessarily to the principle of infant baptism – if the household of one believer is made holy, and the pattern we receive from God is based upon households, then we should not refrain from baptising our infants.

This is what Allie and I will do, God willing, if He decides to grant us children. Let the interaction continue!