Several people responded to my last post, and a number of the replies were long and thoughtful. So thank you, everyone.
But most people seemed to anticipate what I was going to say in regards to the issue of evangelising children. In particular, John H. makes the good point that treating our (baptised) children as our fellow believers frees us from the anxiety of having them make a decision for Christ. We need to be careful here, of course – a lack of anxiety might simply represent a false sense of security. Ruth very helpfully reminds us that children often believe before they can verbalise that belief. I think Susan has nailed the issue – she rightly points out that covenant children should be treated as just that, members of the covenant, and heirs to the Kingdom.
As on so many issues, there are two extremes to avoid. One such extreme, I believe, was proposed by Abraham Kuyper around the turn of last century. Kuyper pondered the relationship between faith and baptism, and concluded that since only regenerate infants can have faith, they alone are truly baptised – others are merely sprinkled with water. Since we cannot tell whether or not a particular baby is regenerate, we presume that all children of believers are regenerate until we see evidence to the contrary. This is called presumptive regeneration. (Note that the Wikipedia article dubiously asserts this view "was the classically reformed position from the Reformation to the present.")
Among other things, this doctrine leads to the sort of problems that Zan mentioned in reponse to my last post. It can lead to people equating baptism with salvation ("I've been baptised, so I must be regenerate") which in turn leads to a carelessness in regards to salvation, and thence to apostasy.
The other extreme is what we can call "presumptive unregeneration" – Archibald Alexander's view that we proceed on the principle that our children are in an unregenerate state.
The happy medium between these two extremes lies in embracing a conditional covenant. That is, we recognise the possibility of someone being a covenant-breaker, and being cut off from the covenant and all its blessings. The covenant of grace is not just made with the elect, but with believers and their children.
Thus, the children of believers belong to Jesus. They a part of God's covenant and as such are objectively holy. They receive the blessings of the covenant. But if they refuse to repent and believe the gospel, they will instead receive the covenant curses.
Yet, until they apostatise, they are genuine members of the covenant. God has promised to be a God to us and to our children. A Christian parent ought to believe and pray according to this promise, expecting that their children will grow in grace and a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In other words, bring up your kids in faith, not fear.
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