More on Children and Faith

This was posted on Jason’s blog last week. I knew I wanted to read it, so its since then, it’s been marked new in bloglines but I didn’t get to it until now.
Once again, it’s great stuff. Jason always writes the best stuff.

I’m posting here so I can always find it…

Saving Faith and Covenant Children

An overview of the nature of saving faith is very helpful when it comes to considering faith in our covenant children. I continue to agree with and rely upon the Westminster Confession as the best summary of saving faith that I have read. It is as follows:

II. By [saving faith], a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

The first thing to note is that saving faith is, fundamentally, the disposition of a person to believe and obey God in all things. Theologians have sometimes referred to this as a habitus, potentia, or semen fidei (seed of faith) from which individual acts of faith follow. It is essentially rooted in the regenerate mind and heart, and is wrought by the Holy Spirit (see section 1 of the same chapter). When God regenerates, He creates in us saving faith. This saving faith is then exercised in various levels of maturity through responses that are appropriate to the different parts of God’s Word. However, there are certain things that saving faith will always do in every person who has the faculties to express them and these are referred to by the confession as the “principal acts” of saving faith. These are the “main things” or the “chief things” that saving faith always does without exception. However, it is still important to recognize that the principal acts of saving faith do not constitute the essence of saving faith itself. They are particular acts of faith. They are saving faith exercised in response to particular propositions and commands, which in this case, is the Gospel. I believe that part of the difficulty that arises when discussing saving faith (particularly with covenant children) is that these principal acts of faith are often contemplated as the whole of faith itself. Hence, a child is considered to have “come to faith” only after his faith has been exercised in this specific way with a certain degree of understanding. Faith gets described as something that “happened” at a particular moment in time when he believed particular truths, but this is a limited way of contemplating faith. Faith is the present, on-going disposition to believe and obey God in every area of life. In the life of a covenant child who is regenerated at an early age, the principal acts of saving faith are going to be exercised gradually over time, and progressively, in proportion to the development of his faculties and the measure of faith that he has received. But once again, this is not “coming to faith”, this is the maturing of faith. It is the God-given gift of faith expressing itself in greater levels of capacity as the child grows into maturity.

As Reformed paedobaptists, we have every reason to comprehend our children as possessing faith in this broader sense, in its essence, from the time of their infancy. It is according to this broader sense of faith that David could say that he trusted in God even while on his mother’s breasts (Psalm 22:9). When a child is baptized, he is not only received into the visible church, but he also receives the seal of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life (WCF 28:1). For us to consider him any differently is to alter the meaning and significance of baptism. He is a disciple of Christ, for baptism is the beginning of discipleship (Matthew 28:19). For us to consider him any differently is inconsistent with teaching him to call upon the Lord as His Father (Matthew 6:9). In fact, whenever we comprehend our covenant children as able to do anything pleasing to God (worship, serve, love others, etc.) we are implicitly presuming that the child is capable of faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). A covenant child does not become a disciple of Christ by professing his faith later in life, rather, he is exhibiting the fruit of his life of discipleship. This path does not lead to presumption. By understanding saving faith in the broader sense, rather than as an act that occurs at a particular moment in time, we are always summoning our covenant children, along with every other Christian, to persevere in faith. We aren’t waiting for them “to come to faith”, nor do we stop calling them to faith after they “accepted Christ” one time. We are continuously cultivating and nurturing faith by teaching them to believe all of God’s Word all the time. In such a setting, there is no reasonable concern for a child growing up being presumptuous about his salvation, after all, he is always being told to believe.