The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Are you Reformed?

1. Another thread would be nice.

2. Why wouldn't there be infants baptized when entire households were baptized? Why would infants NOT be baptized with the sign of the new covenant when for 3000 +/- years children were included in the covenant and received the sign of the old covenant (males)? Where is the command or teaching that children are no longer recognized as part of the family of God in some sense when that is exactly what the Jews would have expected.

3. Remember, the biblical teaching is that infants are NOT to be baptized because they are regenerated in baptism...... nor are they to be baptized because they are presumed to be elect... nor are they to be baptized because they are presumed regenerate... nor are they to be baptized because they are born with the 'seed of faith'.... They are to be baptized with the sign of the covenant because they, being children of one or more believing parents, are no longer "unclean" but "holy" (1Cor 7:14), i.e., set apart from the children of this world and given the privilege of the means of grace whereby they can be saved by God's sovereign mercy and grace. Baptism is NOT "an outward sign of an inward reality (salvation)" by nature. It is NOT a sign of the recipients salvation. It is a sign of God's salvation in Christ (the Gospel) and a seal of that salvation to those who actually possess a Spirit-wrought faith which has united them to Christ.