There are two sacraments in the New Covenant, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  The major argument in the Church these days seem to be the question of who are the rightful recipients of these sacraments.  In the circles I traversed, the question really narrows down to a question about covenant children.  Are children of believers to be baptized even before they can articulate a verbal profession of faith?  Should baptized children partake of the Lord’s Supper before they can articulate a personal profession of faith? 

These are the questions with which evangelicals are struggling today.  It is about our children.  How do we view our children – are they in the covenant, out of the covenant, or somewhere in between?  How you answer that question should determine how you observe the sacraments.

The view of children seems to be an easy one to answer in the Old Covenant, and yet, somehow a lot harder in the New.  There was no question in the Old Covenant that Israelite children were set apart from other children.  They were circumcised which was a sign of the covenant (cf. Genesis 17:7-14).  They also ate the covenant meals their parents ate (cf. Deuteronomy 16:1-17).  But when we come to the New Covenant, we sometimes too easily set aside the Old Covenant context upon which the New is built. 

The Church today is called Israel (Galatians 6:16).  Often the New Testament uses Jewish language as it directly pertains to the church (cf. Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 2:11ff; Philippians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 10; et al.).  So why then do we treat our children as “Moabites,” “Hittites,” and “Amalekites,” when we should treat them as “Jews?” Or said another way – why do we treat our children as pagans, when we should treat them as Christians? 

Why is circumcision relevant for children of the Old Covenant and baptism not?  Why are the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles inclusive of the children in the covenant, and the Lord’s Supper not?

The majority of American Evangelicals make a major disconnect between the Old and New Covenants that the Bible does not make, and both their doctrine and practice becomes skewed.  Hebrews 8-10 reveals the distinction between the Old and New Covenants, and it’s not about the way we view our children in the Covenant.  The distinction is not a difference in the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s not the means of salvation – for it has always been by faith in the Person and work of Christ.  The distinction is the Old Covenant held forth Christ through the ceremonial laws as types and shadows, and the New Covenant holds forth Christ as the fulfillment and the reality of that which was before promised.  Look it up and see for yourself.  Hebrews 8-10 specifically reveals the difference between the Old and New covenants as it pertains to ceremonial law – not moral law, and not even civil law, but ceremonial law.

If the gospel message to Abraham was that God would be His God and also the God of his children (Genesis 17:7), and the Bible reveals to us who believe that we are children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:7, 29), then doesn’t the same covenant message apply to us for our children?  In other words, part of the gospel promise and good news includes our children just as it did with Abraham (cf. Acts 2:39; 16:31).  Now this doesn’t mean that our children are saved by virtue of their genes.  However, the gospel promise does include our children.  For their salvation, they must believe the gospel as well, but are they not privy to all of the means of grace in the Covenant to that end – just like the children of the Old Covenant were?

We don’t baptize our children to ensure their salvation. We baptize our children because they are in the Covenant, set apart unto God and holy (1 Corinthians 7:14).  Therefore, we are instructed to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord trusting God’s promise for their salvation.  We are to view and treat our children differently than if they were the Moabite children from next door.  We teach them to worship Jehovah – even before they can speak.  We include them in worship – even before they can make a profession of faith.  We view them as children of the covenant privy to the benefits and privileges of covenant members – and if members of the covenant, then baptized, and if baptized, then partakers of the covenant meal.  God has not changed the organic familial structure through which the gospel propagates. 

So if you view your children as outside of the covenant until they make a profession of faith (like that fixes all the problems), then you will neither baptize them nor allow them to the Table.  If you view your children as somehow half-way in the covenant, then you may baptize them before their profession of faith, but will not allow them to the Table until they articulate an active faith in Christ.  But if you view your children as in the covenant of God and are “holy” (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:14), then we will treat them as such with the means of grace God has provided, including baptism and the Lord’s Supper.