Mark Jones on covenant children and baptism

[Polanus1561]

This article will likely not change any opinions here, but I think the answers to these question help clarify the issue at hand and the answers helps each other's views even more.
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Raising Children Well: Baptism as an Expression of Love – reformation21

Editor's note: this is part 2 of Raising (Covenant) Children Well. You can read it here. Enjoy and be challenged. Children of believers are to be baptized because they are covenant members, heirs of the promise that God made to be their God. Fellowship with Christ and his body technically occur…

www.reformation21.org

Applying Baptism to Everyday Life

As a Presbyterian, I believe the only proper context for applying gospel truths to our children is in the context of baptism. If our children are not covenant children and thus not to be baptized, we are also faced with several difficult questions:

1. When my children sin and ask for forgiveness from God, can I assure them that their sins are forgiven? In other words, are our children allowed to have Christian assurance? Can an unbaptized child in the church, who is viewed as a member of Satan’s kingdom, receive assurance of forgiveness from God when they ask for forgiveness? If yes, why cannot they be baptized and receive the outward sign of the invisible reality?
2. When we ask our children to obey us in the Lord should we get rid of the indicative–imperative model for Christian ethics? On what grounds does one ask their four–year old son to forgive his brother? Because it is the nice thing to do? Or because we should forgive in the same way Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32)?
3. Can little children in family worship sing Psalm 23 (esp. v. 6) or “Jesus loves me, this I know” (“…little ones to him belong…”)?
4. When my children pray during family worship to their heavenly Father, what are the grounds for them praying such a prayer? Do they have any right to call God their “heavenly Father”? Do non–Christians cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15)?

 

[MyCrows]

This article will likely not change any opinions here, but I think the answers to these question help clarify the issue at hand and the answers helps each other's views even more.
--

Raising Children Well: Baptism as an Expression of Love – reformation21

Editor's note: this is part 2 of Raising (Covenant) Children Well. You can read it here. Enjoy and be challenged. Children of believers are to be baptized because they are covenant members, heirs of the promise that God made to be their God. Fellowship with Christ and his body technically occur…

www.reformation21.org

Applying Baptism to Everyday Life

As a Presbyterian, I believe the only proper context for applying gospel truths to our children is in the context of baptism. If our children are not covenant children and thus not to be baptized, we are also faced with several difficult questions:

1. When my children sin and ask for forgiveness from God, can I assure them that their sins are forgiven? In other words, are our children allowed to have Christian assurance? Can an unbaptized child in the church, who is viewed as a member of Satan’s kingdom, receive assurance of forgiveness from God when they ask for forgiveness? If yes, why cannot they be baptized and receive the outward sign of the invisible reality?
2. When we ask our children to obey us in the Lord should we get rid of the indicative–imperative model for Christian ethics? On what grounds does one ask their four–year old son to forgive his brother? Because it is the nice thing to do? Or because we should forgive in the same way Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32)?
3. Can little children in family worship sing Psalm 23 (esp. v. 6) or “Jesus loves me, this I know” (“…little ones to him belong…”)?
4. When my children pray during family worship to their heavenly Father, what are the grounds for them praying such a prayer? Do they have any right to call God their “heavenly Father”? Do non–Christians cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15)?

I haven't read the article yet, but as a father trying to raise seven kids (by the grace of God), I have wondered about many of these points you have raised.

 

[Polanus1561]

I haven't read the article yet, but as a father trying to raise seven kids (by the grace of God), I have wondered about many of these points you have raised.

just to be clear, they are the points in the article. My only input here is to say it is a good article that is helpful for understanding the issue; helpful for all.

 

[JD]

https://christoverall.com/article/l...ist-approach-to-raising-children-in-the-lord/

Likewise, I think this article does a good job of interacting with the same types of questions from the Baptist side.

To borrow from the language of Richard Furman, an eighteenth century Particular Baptist, the children of church members are “wards” of God’s church members. That is, the children of believers are not members of the covenant, but as family members of church members, they receive the blessing of growing up in a home that is ordered by Christ, provided that the parents conduct themselves according to God’s Word (1 Cor. 7:14).​

...​

It is good to remember that Christian parents do not serve their children by treating them as though they are already in the covenant. Instead, Christian parents serve their children, who are born in Adam and under the wrath of God, by telling them where they stand in the story of God’s redemption. If they are outside of Christ, they serve them well by explaining the realities of sin and death, and if their children are considering the claims of Christ, they serve them well by calling them to repent and believe so as to enter into the new covenant.​

...​

Indeed, godly parents serve their children well by making these covenantal divisions clear. And with confidence that God answers prayer and saves sinners, they can, as priests in the kingdom of God, pray for their children, pray with their children, and explain to their children how God delights to hear the prayers of faith. In that context, then, they can continue to explain the content of that faith and make invitations to believe on Christ. To be sure, Presbyterians can and will do this too, but there remains the confusion of the covenants.​