Question on Paedo-Baptism

[puritanpilgrim]

What covenant are infants baptized into?

 

[puritanpilgrim]

Into the Covenant of Grace with respect to the profession of faith in Christ made by one or both of their parents.

Is that the new covenant or the old?

 

[puritanpilgrim]

So baptized infants are under the new covenant?

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hello Aaron,

Or one might say they are baptized into the everlasting covenant, under the administration of Christ's new covenant (which was already present in seed form in Abraham's administration of it – cf. Gal 3:29).

 

[Semper Fidelis]

A few things to help understand our Covenant theology that we believe the Scripture teach:

Q. 31. With whom was the covenant of grace made?
A. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.114

Q. 32. How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant?
A. The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a Mediator,115 and life and salvation by him;116 and requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him,117 promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit118 to all his elect, to work in them that faith,119 with all other saving graces;120 and to enable them unto all holy obedience,121 as the evidence of the truth of their faith122 and thankfulness to God,123 and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation.124

The two questions deal with the same Covenant but one is "eternal" and the other is "historical". One of the weaknesses of Baptist Covenant theology is that it keeps the Covenant of Grace beyond the reach of human apprehension. By that I mean that there is actually no way by which a man can legitimately say: "I see the New Covenant in action right here in this setting today."

Why?

Because when a person restricts all operations of the New Covenant to the electing action of God then one is left with something that is known to the mind of God and not to the minds of men.

Your confession does not state that you are baptized into the New Covenant. Why? Because your profession may not have been legitimate when you were baptized. Baptism as an ordinance does not make anyone, professor or child, a member of the New Covenant in credo-Baptist theology.

Your question for us should really be: Why can you guys be confident that any of your baptized members are members of the New Covenant if the Covenant of Grace is with Christ and, in Him, all the elect? It's not really an adult/infant question in truth because the big difference between us is our conviction that there is a type of New Covenant participation that involves adults and children who are not elect and it goes to the heart of what Word and Sacrament are ordained for but, especially, what baptism is and isn't.

Sacraments:

I. Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and his benefits, and to confirm our interest in him: as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church, and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his Word.

II. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.

III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments, rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it, but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.

A few notes:

1. God is Creator and we are creatures. We are bound up in time and history. Sacraments represent something to us, as timebound creatures, of God's eternal plan. It is God condescending to us to give us something visible.
2. Sacraments set up a visible differentiation between us and the world.
3. The graces signified in Sacraments are soveregnly granted by the Holy Spirit to the elect.

The Church's role in Word and Sacrament is to hold forth Christ and let God be God with respect to election. We don't administer Sacraments on the basis of election but on the basis of being the Church and being obedient to Christ. Christ, as the Mediator, uses the means of Word and Sacrament not only in the conversion of individuals (maybe at the first hearing or sometime later in life) but also their upbuilding and assurance. Sacraments are visible signs of our interest in Christ and are meant to strengthen believers because we have faulty memories. It reminds us that salvation depends on the Lord and not on us. I'm grateful for a Sacrament that does not require me to remember whether I *really* believed when I was first baptized.

Getting to baptism then:

Baptism:

I. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, or his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his Churchy until the end of the world.

V. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.

VI. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet, notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God's own will, in his appointed time.

Note:

1. Baptism signifies being united to Christ.
2. It does not necessarily confer union with Christ. That's up to the Holy Spirit.
3. It's not the minister's job to be God and to either declare a person elect or reprobate but obey the command to baptize and declare the Promises of God to those who profess faith in Christ as well as to their children.

Thus, returning to the original question: What are infants baptized into?

If you're asking me whether an infant is necessarily baptized into the New Covenant in the sense that he necessarily enjoys all the benefits of union with Christ then the answer is "No". It's up to the Spirit.

If you're asking me whether baptism has separated him from the world and that he has had the Promise of God declared to him in the same way the promises are declared to everyone who is baptized then the answer is yes. As in Hebrews, all of us baptized are commanded to press in daily.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hi Rich,

Given the qualifications you've noted, and the clarity in your post, I'd like to amend my post above to say, We are baptized into Christ (and into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit –Rom 6:3; Matt 28:20) under the New Covenant administration of the Covenant of Grace.