At our church we believe that
children of believers are “covenant children.”
As such, these children are entitled to the sign and seal of
baptism. But if you are like me, having
our children baptized leads naturally to other questions. For starters, what exactly does it mean that my child is a “covenant child?” How are
they different from other children? Other important questions follow: Should I assume my child is an unbeliever
until a profession of faith is made? Or
should I assume he/she is regenerate until a profession of unbelief? Do they need to have a profound “conversion
experience?” Do they need to be
converted at all? What does it mean to
train them in the fear and nurture of the Lord?
How do I do it? If you have
ever found yourself wresting with any of the above questions, than I encourage
you to pick up Joel Beeke’s short booklet: Bringing
the Gospel to Covenant Children. A
part of his Family Guidance Series,
Beeke focuses on three major concerns that relate to evangelizing our covenant
children: (1) Understanding the need, (2) Teaching the proper content, and (3) Using
the proper means. This blog will
summarize the first part, properly understanding the need to evangelize our
covenant children. The second and third
parts will be treated in a later post.
Understanding the
Need
Beeke defines a covenant child as
“a child born to at least one confessing Christian parent, who is baptized, and
is growing up in the community of the church with all of the riches and
privileges which that entails.” His
concern in this section is to help Christian parents avoid the twin mistakes of
overestimating or underestimating the covenant
relationship their children have to God.
Parents who overestimate the
covenant do so by assuming their child is regenerate until they prove they are not
(presumptive regeneration). These
parents come close to identifying covenant membership with the regeneration and
conversion of their children. This view
leads to tragic consequences, as parents may see no need to tell their children
they must be born again and come to faith and repentance. The necessity of the new birth, a personal
relationship with God, and self-examination by the Scriptures are all
minimized. On the other hand, many
parents underestimate the covenant relationship. Many of these parents believe that under the
new covenant the children of believers no longer have promises extended to them
and thus have lost their special place in God’s covenant - a conclusion
contrary to the Biblical testimony. Many
reformed churches underestimate the covenant relationship, not by refusing to baptize
the children, but by “reducing the sacrament to mere form and custom without
insisting on what it should mean for the lives both of the parents and their
baptized children.” Such a church “has
no eye for the promises of God in baptism, no heart for pleading those promises
in prayer, and no clear understanding of how God earnestly calls covenant
children to a lifestyle consecrated to Himself and separated from the
world.”
What then is the significance of a
child’s covenant relationship to God?
Beeke gives six points to help parents properly estimate the covenant
while avoiding the extremes which treat the covenant either as a substitute for
regeneration or as a matter of indifference.
First,
baptized children must be born again. Baptism
affirms the covenant privileges and responsibilities of the child, but it does
not make them partakers of Christ. Grace
is not automatically conveyed through baptism and faithful child-rearing. Second,
our children must be directed to Christ as the only way of salvation. Third,
our children must be taught that their baptism (as well as ours) demands
heartfelt obedience to God. They must
be taught that being outwardly good and obedient falls short of their
covenantal obligation to God. Fourth, Baptism requires parents to
instruct their children in the Christian faith.
Fifth, God has a claim on our
children even in their unregenerate state, “just as he had a claim upon all the
children of Israel, calling them His even when many were not truly born
again.” Sixth, God ordinarily works savingly among his covenant seed. We do not presume regeneration, but we can
have confidence that “among his covenant people, His saving grace is the
norm.” God is not obligated to save our
children, but “Scripture affirms that the Holy Spirit richly blesses the
evangelizing and nurturing of covenant children in knowledge, faith, love, and
obedience (Prov 22:6). Faithful parenting, by the Spirit’s blessing, frequently
issues in regeneration and a life of covenantal faithfulness (Psalm
78:1-8).”
Beeke concludes by emphasizing that
the covenant relationship of our children should urge us to diligent effort in
raising our children and not lead us to complacency. “…The covenant of Grace
offers parents a great deal of hope outside of ourselves in a sovereign,
covenant-keeping God, who will not forsake the works of His own hands. Covenant theology should encourage us to
evangelize our children as we daily, prayerfully, and expectantly depend upon
the triune God for his blessing upon our efforts.”
