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Hmmm again! Peter did not mention either Abraham or Gen 17:7ff. You are reading them into the text (eisogesis! ). What he was doing was expounding Joel 2:28-32 (Acts 2:17ff) and saying, 'This is that!' The promise of Joel had come to pass in their time, and the promise has reference to Joel 2:32; 'And it shall come to pass that whoever calls upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved.'
Steve are you unable to trace the covenant promise from Gen 17:7—to Isa 44:3—to Joel 2:28-29—to Acts 2:28f? Do you not understand that when one calls upon the LORD that he enters into a covenant relationship with the Lord—the likes of which were laid down in the Abrahamic Covenant. A covenant relationship included not only the believer, but their children as well as demonstrated throughout the entire OT and the NT by the oikos formula and 1 Cor 7:12f. The only way one could accept your interpretation of Acts 2 is to accept that salvation is not a covenant relationship—which of course is against the Scripture (Jer 31:31; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; 2 Cor 2:12, 3:7; Heb 8:1, 8; 9:15, 12:24).

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Now who are they? Well, they could be those far off in time, but they are usually comprehended by 'children'. They could be those far off in distance, the Jews of the Diaspora, but if we compare Scripture with Scripture, we come to Eph 2:17. 'And [Christ] came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.' In the context of the preceeding verses this can only mean the Gentiles, and so it does in Acts 2.
Of course, those who were far off were Gentiles. And if adult Gentiles entered into a covenant relationship of salvation with the LORD, their children also were in the covenant. Just because someone is in the covenant does not mean they are saved as proved over and over again in the OT and as Paul demonstrates even in the NT:

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Rom 9:6-13 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Apparently Paul believed in covenant continuity. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/Eeeeeek.gif" alt="" /> Though both sons were in the covenant, only one was elect. However, please note that this is Paul’s NT theology! To deny this is to deny the full essence of the Gospel itself. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/drop.gif" alt="" />

Reformed and Always Reforming,