Holy Baptism (4)

We and our children

Our baptismal form is rich in content. We should read it attentively and with discretion. For example, we should do so when there is spoken of “we and our children,” while in another place there is spoken of “this child.”

Isaac and Ishmael were both circumcised, and they both lived under the administration of the Covenant of Grace in the tent of Abraham. Were they both converted? The case was the same with Jacob and Esau. There appeared to be a difference. This was not a difference by nature, but God had made a difference. To be separated by means of the sacrament is a privilege, but it is not a conferring of grace. On the field of the covenant is drawn a line of division which God has placed there. The conferring of grace comes forth out of the fruits of regeneration, being stopped by God and to be accepted in His beloved Son. This is true for “us and our children,” but it can also be that “this child” hardens himself, which is apparent in the loving of sin and the rejection of the gospel.

Essence and administration

The epistles in the New Testament belong to the essence of the Church. What is meant when this is said? When Paul writes in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God…” then he does not mean that all of his hearers are included in that “we.” God is the interpreter of the essence of the Church; they are His elect, His regenerated children. It is they to whom Paul is referring with his “we.” This is how the Canons of Dort confess it in Head 2, Article 8: “…should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith.” Yet the Lawgiver says to all hearers who sit under the Word of God, “I am the LORD your God…” They live, therefore, under the administration of the Covenant of Grace, but it is apparent that it is not all Israel which is so named (1 Corinthians 10:1-13). To the essence of the Church belong the true believers in Christ, who await their salvation only from Christ, being washed in His blood, sanctified, and sealed by the Holy Ghost (Confession of Faith, Article 27). Just as not all the people who stood around Mount Sinai were converted, so likewise that was not the case in the church of Corinth. That is very clear in both epistles. That is also not the case with the New Testament church which meets together under the administration of Word and sacrament. The differentiation between the essence and the administration of the Covenant of Grace is, therefore, a biblical fact which resonates in all of our confessions.

Not all mankind are God’s people

Our forefathers also make this distinction in their baptismal instruction. Sometimes it is clearly about “this child.” This cannot be understood any other way than, namely, each child which is baptized. This child belongs to the natural seed of the church. The parents of all of these children confess that “they are sanctified in Christ, and therefore as members of His church ought to be baptized” in their answer to the first question asked at baptism. They have an external bond with Christ. On the basis of John 15:1-8, we differentiate between two sorts of branches:

“Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit” (2a);

“…every branch that beareth fruit” (2b).

There are, therefore, branches which, it is true, have an external bond with the Vine but who do not bear fruit. How heartrending, for they are cut off and cast into the fire (John 15:2a&6). That is why, in the closing prayer of the form, it is asked if it may be different with this child. There the church prays that this child, by the powerful operation of the Spirit which makes alive, may learn to know of the bond with the Saviour and that he may “increase and grow up” therein. We read another example in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12. The people of Israel “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat (Manna); and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them” (verses 2-4). Paul adds that “that rock was Christ” (verse 4c). In spite of this, many were slain because of their tempting of Christ (verse 9). Here you have several examples and proofs from Scripture that being separated in baptism is not the receiving of grace.

We and our children

In our Form for the Administration of Baptism we hear, “applying unto us that which we have in Christ…till we shall finally be presented without spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life eternal.” It is clear that this refers to the essence of the Church. That is why we hear in the closing prayer, “Almighty God and merciful Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou hast forgiven us and our children all our sins, through the blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ…and adopted us to be Thy children, and sealed and confirmed the same unto us by holy baptism.” With the knowledge of a living faith, the Church of all ages acknowledges the Lord that He has glorified the Covenant of Grace among young and old. The water in baptism also speaks to the fact that He will continue to carry out His electing good pleasure. The Church and her spiritual seed are and remain the proof of that.

It then follows in the closing prayer, “We beseech Thee, through the same Son of Thy love, that Thou wilt be pleased always to govern these baptized children…” Unmistakably, this speaks about every baptized child, for whom personally the saving and remaining work of God’s Spirit is prayed.

Confessed and prayed for

We must, therefore, read our form with discretion. When does it mean the essence of the Church and her spiritual seed chosen by God? When does it refer to every baptized child? Prayer is offered for them that they may be “incorporated by the Holy Spirit into Thy Son Jesus Christ.” That goes essentially further than being outwardly sanctified and separated. It is therefore confessed that this child “is sanctified in Christ.” Following this, prayer is offered for this same child,

Following this, prayer is offered for this same child, that he or she may assuredly have a portion in the body of Christ, the elect Church of all ages. To say it differently, prayer is offered that this natural seed may belong to the spiritual seed of the Church through the unfathomable mercy of the Holy Spirit by means of rebirth and conversion.

We must make a well-grounded differentiation between what is confessed and for what is prayed. Our forefathers definitely did not say that all baptized children belong to the essence of the Church because of birth and baptism. Let us hold fast to this difference as was also so clearly articulated by Rev. Kersten.

(To be continued)

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