James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.

Infant Baptism (2)

In our previous article on infant baptism we saw from the baptism form that whereas our children are without their knowledge partakers of the condemnation in Adam, so also are they without their knowledge received unto grace in Christ. This truth is evident from the fact that God establishes His covenant of grace with believers and their seed. This the baptism form demonstrates by calling our attention to Genesis 17:7 andActs 2:39.

Having laid down this very important truth, the baptism form proceeds to call our attention to the command of God to Old Testament Israel to circumcise their children. Says the form, “Therefore God formerly commanded them to be circumcised, which was a seal of the covenant, and of the righteousness of faith.”

We ought to notice, first, that the Old Testament rite of circumcision is called here “a seal of the covenant, and of the righteousness of faith.”

In Romans 4:11 we read that Abraham “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.” The idea here is that by faith in Jesus Christ we are righteous before God. This is the great truth of justification by faith alone without the works of the law. And according to Romans 4:11 circumcision was in the Old Testament a seal of that righteousness by faith. It was through circumcision that God sealed or guaranteed to all and every believer in the Old Testament that in the way of his faith he was righteous before God, justified and thus an heir of life eternal.

For that reason, circumcision was also a seal of God’s covenant in the Old Testament. For at the heart of the covenant is the righteousness which is by faith. God draws near to us in His covenant fellowship and friendship only on the basis of the perfect righteousness which is ours by faith in Christ. Being, therefore, a seal of the righteousness which is by faith, the rite of circumcision was in the Old Testament also a sign and seal of God’s covenant of grace.

Now the baptism form calls our attention to the fact that in the Old Testament God commanded this seal of His covenant to be administered to all the children in Israel. We read of this in Genesis 17. In Genesis 17:7 we read of the wonderful promise of God to Abraham to establish His covenant with Abraham and his seed. Then in versesGenesis 17:9-14 we read that God commanded Abraham to keep this covenant by circumcising every man child born into his generations. Every man child must receive the sign of the covenant in the form of circumcision when he was eight days old.

According to the baptism form the basis of this command is to be found in the fact that God promised to establish His eternal covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed in their generations (cf. Genesis 17:7). This in turn meant that the seed of Abraham, even as children, were received unto grace in the promised Christ. On that basis they were to receive the sign of the covenant in circumcision.

We have already seen that not all the natural descendants of Abraham were elect of God and thus true members of God’s covenant. Born into Abraham’s generations was a twofold seed: an elect, spiritual seed as well as a reprobate, carnal seed. Born to Abraham was not only Isaac, but also Ishmael. Born in Abraham’s generations was not only Jacob, but also Esau. There was always a twofold seed. And God’s covenant was with the spiritual seed alone. They alone were received unto grace in the promised Christ.

Nevertheless, because God had established His covenant with Abraham and his spiritual seed, God desired that all the seed of Abraham, the spiritual as well as the carnal seed, receive the sign of the covenant in circumcision.

And there was good reason for this.

God desired the true spiritual seed of Abraham to receive the sign of the covenant to serve as a means of grace to strengthen their faith in the promised Savior. When this spiritual seed, even as children, were brought to faith by God’s grace, their circumcision, which was a seal of the righteousness of faith, served as a sure testimony of God to them that even as children they were righteous before God in the way of their faith. This served as a powerful means to strengthen the faith of God’s little saints in the Old Testament.

But God also had a purpose in the circumcision of the carnal, reprobate seed born into Israel. The fact that the carnal seed also received the sign of the covenant did not detract from circumcision. For also here circumcision served the purpose of God. It served to harden the hearts of the carnal seed, even in their childhood. The sign of the covenant they bore in their flesh served to turn them against God in bitter hatred so that they might fill the cup of iniquity according to the purpose of God’s reprobation.

The baptism form also calls our attention to the fact that Christ embraced the little children of Israel, laid His hands on them and blessed them (Mark 10). The line of thought followed by the baptism form is this:

1) God established His covenant with Abraham and his seed in their generations so that Abraham’s seed, even as children, were received unto grace in the promised Christ.

2) Therefore, God commanded that all the children born in Abraham’s generation (Israel) receive the sign of the covenant in circumcision.

3) Therefore, Christ also embraced these children, laid His hands on them and blessed them.

We can be rather brief on this particular point of Jesus blessing the little children. Quite obviously Jesus blessed the children of believing parents. These parents showed their faith in Jesus by following Him and desiring that Jesus bless their children. Jesus complied with this request to bless their little ones because, said He, “Of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). In other words, Jesus blessed these children because among these children Jesus discerned the true seed of Abraham with whom God had established His covenant and to whom, therefore, also the blessings of the covenant belonged. Hence, the blessings, which God had signified and sealed in the circumcision of these little children, Christ at this point also proclaimed to them.

Now the baptism form comes to perhaps the key argument to establish the validity and necessity of infant baptism. Having established the fact that the children of Israel in the Old Testament were to receive the sign of God’s covenant in circumcision, the baptism form argues that baptism is come in the place of circumcision. Therefore, infants of believing parents in the new dispensation are to be baptized as heirs of the kingdom of God and of His covenant.

The baptism form does not prove that baptism has come in the place of circumcision; it merely asserts this as fact. This assertion, however, is easily demonstrated from Holy Writ. Thus, for example, both baptism and circumcision point to the same spiritual realities. Baptism is a sign and seal of the remission or forgiveness of sins (cf. Acts 2:38) as well as spiritual renewal (cf. Romans 6:4); But circumcision in the Old Testament carried with it the same significance. It too spoke of a righteousness before God which includes the forgiveness of sins (cf. Rom. 4:11) as well as spiritual renewal (cf. Deut. 30:6). And both of these spiritual realities, the forgiveness of sins and spiritual renewal, are what comprise the washing away of sins depicted so graphically in both circumcision and baptism. In addition to this the Bible identifies both baptism and circumcision by using them interchangeably. This it does, for example, in Colossians 2:11, 12: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

From all this we are led to conclude that there is but one covenant of God throughout all history, the covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed. In the old dispensation this covenant was limited primarily to the natural descendants of Abraham; in the new dispensation it embraces also the Gentiles who are adopted by God’s grace into the covenant as spiritual children of Abraham.

In turn this wonderful covenant of grace has essentially but one sign and seal. The form of this covenant sign changes from one dispensation to the next. Nevertheless, there is essentially but one sign and seal of this covenant. In the old dispensation the sign of this covenant was circumcision. Christ had not yet come to establish the covenant in His blood. Hence, God ordained circumcision to be the seal of the covenant. Circumcision was performed as a matter of cleanliness and hygiene. It also involved the shedding of blood. As such it was a very apt sign of the washing away of sins in the blood of the promised Christ. But now the Christ has come. He has shed His blood to wash away sin and realize the covenant. Hence, the sign of circumcision falls away. With the shedding of the blood of atonement, the shedding of blood, also in circumcision, forever loses its significance for God’s people. In the place of circumcision God has ordained the sign of baptism. It is essentially the same sign as circumcision. For it too graphically portrays the washing away of sins in the blood of Christ. Circumcision and baptism are essentially one.

Now according to the baptism form, since baptism has taken the place’ of circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant, children of believing parents are to be baptized. Even as the children born into natural Israel received the sign of the covenant in the old dispensation in the form of circumcision, so also now in the new dispensation the children of spiritual Israel are to receive the sign of the same covenant by being baptized. They are to be baptized as heirs of the kingdom of God and of God’s covenant. This baptism will have the same effect that circumcision had in the Old Testament. For the true spiritual seed who receive baptism, their baptism will serve as a means of grace. However, when the sign of the covenant comes upon the carnal, reprobate seed, it will serve to harden their hearts according to the purpose of God’s reprobation.

Finally, the baptism form instructs us that “parents are in duty bound, further to instruct their children herein, when they shall arrive to years of discretion.”

The years of discretion referred to here are the years when our children are able to discern and understand the spiritual realities implied in baptism. And let us not underestimate the understanding of our children. At a very young age our little children can begin to understand the realities of sin, the meaning of Christ’s death to wash away sin, the meaning of baptism, and many other spiritual truths that comprise their salvation.

When children arrive to these years parents are duty bound to instruct their children in these truths. This is not first of all the duty of the church or the Christian school, although they too certainly must instruct our children in these things. The task of instructing children in the spiritual realities implied in baptism is first of all and primarily the obligation of parents. God has called parents to train up their children.

This instruction is very important. For God uses the faithful instruction of parents along with the good instruction parents provide for their children in the church and the Christian school to bring their spiritual seed to faith in Jesus Christ and thus to the salvation which is signified and sealed in their baptism.

Let us as parents not be slothful in training our children. But let us press on in zeal and dedication, anticipating on the basis of God’s promise great things in our children.