Susan said: Ron, Maybe it would help if you define exactly what you mean when you say you believe in "treating Covenant children as Christians."
This sounds like you are saying that you are treating them as though they are already Christians.
I think we should treat our children as gifts given to us by God, who we are to teach about God, salvation and the Bible while praying for them and hoping that one day God will graciously shows them mercy, they will put their faith in Christ and be saved. Do you mean more than that here?
Susan,
I don't believe I ever said that we should treat covenant children as "Christians." What I have said is that we ought to treat covenant children as ones for whom Christ died -- and who need to repent and come to faith in Christ alone. I, with you, "think we should treat our children as gifts given to us by God, who we are to teach about God, salvation and the Bible while praying for them and hoping that one day God will graciously shows them mercy, they will put their faith in Christ and be saved."
Pilgrim has said that because I would tell my children that Christ died for them and that they should place their trust in him in order to apply God's redemption (obviously not in those exact words) that I, therefore, treat them as saved. I deny this charge because to be saved is to be already converted.
To close the loop, I believe that God's promise of salvation is only to the elect alone. This promise is without condition. Just like there are members of many congregations who are not truly children of the promise, we still are to regard them as such if their doctrine or lifestyle does not give us occasion to question their profession. As for children of believing parents, I do not regard them as already converted but I do believe they are to be regarded as sheep for whom Christ died -- again though, that must be converted. At the very least, we are to regard them as being in covenant with God, but what does this mean? The children of Israel were to be regarded as covenant breakers for not being circumcised. This presupposes that they were to be treated as already in covenant by birth. Maybe we should start here. What does it mean for an infant to be in covenant and how does that differ from the status of an infant born of pagan parents?
