(8th article of Baptizing Babies is not Biblical)
God announced through his prophets that a New Covenant was going to be established.[1] On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, just hours from being crucified, Jesus announced that the New Covenant was being made in His blood.[2] Years later, the Apostle Paul even calls himself and his colleagues “ministers of the New Covenant.”[3] God used Paul’s gospel proclamation to bring people into the New Covenant. Paul would go on to spend much ink teaching that the New Covenant Law of Christ is better than the Mosaic Law and that the Abrahamic Covenant had been fulfilled in Christ.[4] The author of Hebrews even writes that the Old Covenant made with Moses had become “obsolete” because the New Covenant and the new mediator, Jesus Christ, had replaced it.[5]
What does all of this New Covenant talk have to do with baptizing babies? Everything. As discussed in previous chapters, we have no evidence of any baby ever being baptized in the New Testament. Nor do we have any command ever given by Jesus, the Apostles, or other New Testament writers to baptize babies. So, with no Biblical example or command to do so, one who abided by the principle of sola scriptura might easily conclude that babies are not supposed to be baptized and that to do so would be an unbiblical practice. However, many baby baptizers will agree with those in the believers’ only baptism camp on these two points. So, what can the baby baptizers use for their reasoning for baptizing babies? They attempt to make their argument based on the continuity (or sameness) of the New Covenant to other covenants. For instance, one of the most popular baby baptizers of our day, Douglas Wilson, writes,
The covenant made with Abraham is still in force today; this glorious covenant made with Abraham millennia ago is nothing other than the new covenant.[6]
Given the passages used to open this chapter regarding the supremacy and distinction of the New Covenant, it is preposterous to say that the Abrahamic Covenant is the same as the New Covenant. If such were the case, why didn't any New Testament writers say as much? They never say that the two are the same or that the "New" is just another way of saying "Abrahamic." Instead, they understand the New Covenant to be, guess what, indeed new—not pretending to be new or a little bit new, but really genuinely new.
If baby baptizers understood the New Covenant, then they would change their view of baptizing babies immediately. However, their wrong view of the sameness of the covenants is precisely the error that leads them to believe that just as babies were circumcised under the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants, so now babies are to be baptized under the New Covenant. As one of the most renowned and learned baby baptizers, B.B. Warfield wrote,
Circumcision, which held the place in the old covenant that baptism holds in the new, was to be given to all infants born within the covenant. Baptism must follow the same rule. This and this only can determine its conference: Is the recipient a child of the covenant, with a right therefore, to the sign and seal of the covenant? We cannot withhold the sign and seal of the covenant from those who are of the covenant.[7]
It is such failure to see the “newness” of the New Covenant that causes baby baptizers to also believe that just as the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants had a mixture of circumcised true believers and circumcised non-believers, both baptized believers and baptized non-believers should be expected in the New Covenant. Therefore, they reason, just as circumcision was given indiscriminately to all who were in the lineage of Abraham, so now all babies are to be baptized who are in the lineage of a Christian. Forcing the covenants to be seen as basically the same is the root of baby baptizers’ justification of their practice of baptizing babies, but it is also the fatal flaw in their reasoning. Rightly seeing the difference in the New Covenant is vital in understanding why baby baptizers have wrongly arrived at their practice of baptizing babies.
Proving that baby baptism is not included anywhere in the Bible is easy. Proving that baby baptism is never commanded is easy. However, preparing for their argument from covenantal continuity takes a bit more preparation due to their amazing hermeneutical gymnastic ninja theological presuppositions. For instance, one of the most famous baby baptizers, John Lightfoot, a contributor to the Westminster Confession of Faith, wrote (and many others still cite): “It is not forbidden to baptize infants; — therefore, they are to be baptized.”[8] Lightfoot, Warfield, and Wilson represent different generations of baby baptizers who all use the absence of a negative command to enforce a positive command based on their view that the Old and New Covenants are basically the same. Is their reasoning right? I will argue that God has made it abundantly clear that the New Covenant is not the same and that treating it the same would be contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture.
A Bit of Biblical Backstory.
God initiated a covenant with the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt and their subsequent arrival at Mt. Sinai, referred to as the Mosaic Covenant or, since it has been replaced, the "Old Covenant." At that time, the people agreed to obey God's covenantal commands. As the mediator between God and Israel, Moses came to the people and told them the terms of the agreement, and the people agreed, as seen here:
Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do."…Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." (Exodus 24:3, Exodus 24:7)
Though the Israelites were quick to affirm that they would obey the rules of the covenant, their actions soon revealed the opposite. The Israelites almost immediately broke the covenant by rejecting the one true God, who had mercifully rescued them from Egypt, by creating an idol to worship instead of worshipping the one true God. As God said to Moses of the event,
"They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it, sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (Exodus 32:8)
This episode would not be the last of the Israelites' disobedience, but just a hint of their perpetual covenant breaking that was to come. Along with repeatedly breaking the covenant, they reaped the consequences God had previously announced.
"But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit." (Leviticus 26:14-20)
Not to overgeneralize, but much of the Old Testament is the story of Israel routinely breaking covenant with God by their disobedience and worship of other gods. For instance, the book of Judges is the over three-hundred-year history of Israel’s cycle of covenant breaking. Israel would rebel against God, God would punish them, Israel would cry out to God for help, God would rescue them, and once again, Israel would rebel. Generation after generation of Israelites continued to abandon God, break the Covenant, and be punished. The last verse of Judges summarizes the sinful state of Israel very well by saying, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."[9] Their actions revealed they loved themselves more than God and desired to be autonomous (a law to themselves). Eventually, God punished Israel for breaking the Covenant by raising the nations of Assyria and Babylon to conquer and remove Israel from the land that He had given them.
Is There Any Hope?
In the apex of Israel’s darkness, doom, and despair, as Israel and Judah were defeated, captured, and exiled for their sin, God announced that He would make a New Covenant far superior to the previous covenant. Look what God says through the prophet Jeremiah about the coming New Covenant:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Does this sound like the same covenant? Absolutely not, and a seminary education is not required to see that. A simple reading of the text should lead anyone to see that Jeremiah is prophesying about a covenant that will be new. To ensure that we don't overlook the magnitude of this announcement, let's examine several critical statements of the prophecy to see what God said to expect of the New Covenant. As we review this announcement, let's consider what it should mean regarding the baby baptism argument.
1. “New” Means New.
"I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah"
When God says He will make a “new” covenant, it is vital to trust that He means what He says. While previous covenants certainly have a prominent place in history, God, through Jeremiah, is clearly announcing a future covenant that will be both different and better. The newness of this covenant should not be taken lightly. To read or hear baby baptizers speak of it, you would think that the New Covenant is virtually identical to the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants. In fact, they will usually shy away from the Biblical term “new” and refer to it as the “renewed” covenant. However, there is a major difference between new and renewed. We must trust that God knew what He was saying when He emphasized the coming of a New, not renewed, Covenant.
Who is going to be the recipient of the New Covenant? Undoubtedly, people from the divided kingdom of Judah and Israel will be reunited in the New Covenant, but that is not all. We must read this announcement in light of the revelation that came through Christ. The members of the New Covenant are not only from the 12 tribes of Israel but also include people from any nation. The common denominator is not the same nationality but the same faith. Those in the New Covenant are all people who believe in the gospel for salvation. The New Covenant people are not those of the same descent but those of the same belief. The promise given to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring comes to fulfillment through Abraham's Offspring, Jesus Christ. Paul makes this point abundantly clear in his letter to the Galatians.
"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. …There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:7-9, 28-29)
Under the New Covenant, God has acquired a new people for Himself, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. The New Covenant people, as we will see, are in Covenant with God through faith in the New Covenant Mediator, Jesus Christ, not by birth, circumcision, or baptism.
2. The New Covenant is Not Like the Old Covenant.
"I will make a new covenant … not like the covenant that I made with their fathers."
The two covenants are not the same! This point must not be overlooked. God says the covenant that will be made will not only be new but, to ensure there is no confusion, He adds that it is "not like" the Old Covenant. These two words, "not like," should lead any reader to easily understand that this is not a previous covenant that has been improved or adjusted a bit. Yet, baby baptizers like to make the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and New Covenant so similar that they call them different administrations of the same covenant. But God Himself even says the New Covenant is unlike the Old Covenant and, by extension, the Abrahamic Covenant.
If God says that the New Covenant will not be like the previous Covenant, yet people try to make them alike, then they are missing the entire point, leading them to make hermeneutical and theological mistakes. One of which is the practice of baptizing babies. They reason that since infant circumcision was required under the Abrahamic and Old Covenants, then something similar must be necessary for babies to be included in the New Covenant. However, their reasoning is based solely on their wrong assumption that the New Covenant is not particularly new. Instead, they should acknowledge the word of God given to Jeremiah and embrace the fact that the New Covenant is different and that change is not the circumcision of babies to the baptism of babies.
3. All New Covenant Members Will be Supernaturally Changed.
"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts"
God will solve the problem of the Old Covenant by getting to the root of the problem and placing His laws inside of all members of the New Covenant. This internalizing of God's law for every single member of the New Covenant differs greatly from the Old Covenant. This is no slight difference, as the baby baptizers like to think, but a tremendous change. No longer will the covenant consist of those who hate God’s law and those who love God’s law, but only those of whom God has done a supernatural internal work upon their hearts, which results in a love of the law of God.
Under the Old Covenant, God's laws were external and given to a people comprised of believers and unbelievers. God gave instructions to Moses in the form of the Book of the Covenant, and the "Ten Commandments" were written on tablets of stone. The Israelites kept stone tablets in the Tabernacle/Temple in the Ark of the Covenant in the center of their camp. Yet under the New Covenant, God will personally write His law, not on stone tablets like before, but on the hearts.
Unlike the Old Covenant, the New Covenant people of God will all experience the transforming work of the Holy Spirit so that all of the covenant members will be regenerated believers. Now, instead of the Ark of the Covenant being the carrier of God's law, each of His New Covenant people will, in effect, be the Ark. Each believer is the temple of God due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the carrying of God's law within them. Paul picks up on this significant difference as he explains the New Covenant in 2 Corinthians when he writes, "And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."[10]
The work of God upon every member of the New Covenant should alert us to a significant difference between that of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic (Old Covenant). Baby baptizers and believers-only baptizers agree that the Older Covenants consisted of those who were regenerated and those who were not. One only had to be circumcised to become a member of the Covenant community, which was done for all children on the 8th day.[11] However, the fact that God writes His law on the heart of every member of the New Covenant lets us know that the New Covenant community has a different point of entry.
Under the New Covenant, 100% of its members have been regenerated. This difference has practical applications to understanding or misunderstanding circumcision and baptism. Baby baptizers would have us believe that as babies were circumcised to be placed in the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants, so now babies should be baptized to be placed in the New Covenant. However, we see nothing like that in the New Testament regarding the children of believers. Baby baptizers will try to use the occasional "household" baptisms as proof that the sign changed but the command remained the same, but as we have seen, such "household" baptisms were for those who believed within the home. No unbelieving babies, children, teens, servants, or adults were baptized. Under the New Covenant, only believers are baptized, for they are the same ones to whom God has given a new heart.
4. All New Covenant Members Have Permanent Covenant Membership.
"I will be their God and they will be my people"
Every person within the New Covenant will be God's possession. Israel was constantly suffering the consequence of their rebellious hearts, turning to other gods, and being rejected by God. However, under the New Covenant, God inscribes His laws upon each individual's heart to prevent such apostasy from happening. All of those within the New Covenant will persevere in their singular worship of the one true God and will always be His people, never to be cast out or rejected by Him. The internal work of God is a permanent work that cannot be undone and guarantees that all who are in the New Covenant will remain. As Paul writes in Ephesians 1,
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Likewise, Peter uses the language of possession as he describes those in the New Covenant.
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)
Paul and Peter acknowledge the permanent relationship that all New Covenant people now have with God. God has done a supernatural work within them that cannot be undone. He is and always will be their God, and they are and always will be His people.
Baby baptizers are unwilling to see that all who are in the New Covenant are the possession of God and that all who are in the New Covenant likewise acknowledge, believe, and obey the One True God. Baby Baptizers believe that they can place people into the New Covenant, yet some of them will grow up to become covenant keepers and others will grow up to become covenant breakers, just as babies who grew up did under the previous covenants. But as you can see, God does not leave any room for covenant breakers to be included in the New Covenant. All New Covenant members worship the one true God and are the possession of the one true God. That relationship is permanent and unbreakable.[12]
5. All New Covenant Members Have a Saving Knowledge of God.
"they shall all know me,"
We do not want to take this passage to say that no teachers will be needed under the New Covenant or that every believer has perfect knowledge of the Bible at the moment of salvation. This is certainly not the case, as we see that there was much teaching given by apostles, elders, etc., after the New Covenant arrived. However, the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that all members of the New Covenant know God in a saving relationship. This knowledge is a salvific knowledge of God, not just the basic knowledge that God exists.[13] The “knowing” that God speaks of in Jeremiah, in context, is clearly speaking of the relationship created as one is saved. Such a person now knows God in a way an unbeliever never will. Look at how the word "know" is used in the following New Testament examples and notice how it corresponds to salvation.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23)
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28)
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
"Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?" (Galatians 4:8-9)
From these passages, it is clear that knowing God means much more than simply acknowledging He exists, and so it is in the New Covenant. Those who know God are saved, are his possession (sheep), and obey His voice. Compare the knowledge of God given to those in the New Covenant to those in the Old Covenant, and you will see a vast difference. Jeremiah knew the problem well, as he, the messenger of God, had been commanded to instruct the people about God. However, they laughed at him, beat him, imprisoned him, threw him in a well, and eventually stoned him to death.[14] This type of mistreatment was common for those who tried to teach the covenant people on behalf of God.
"But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers." (Jeremiah 7:23-25)
Under the Old Covenant, God continually sent His messengers to the covenant people to implore them to know and obey Him, yet time after time, they refused instruction. However, in the New Covenant, all know God, have ears to hear, and have a new heart that desires to obey Him. How can any of what Jeremiah describes of the members of the New Covenant be said of a baby?
What does the New Testament give as a prerequisite for baptism? Not birth, but belief. On the Day of Pentecost, after Peter's evangelistic plea, Luke records that "those who received his word were baptized."[15] Peter presented the gospel to the people, and the people believed in the Good News for their salvation. Knowledge of God was given, and that knowledge was received by all who were saved that day. To know God in the New Covenant is the equivalent of being saved. In other words, there is no one in the New Covenant who does not know God and is not known by God in a salvific manner. The fact that every member of the New Covenant will know God in a saving way proves that only those who know God should be seen as members of the New Covenant. Yet baby baptizers continually place babies into the New Covenant without any evidence of them knowing God.
6. All New Covenant Members are forgiven.
"For I will forgive their iniquity,
Even though the Old Covenant offered a temporary forgiveness of sins, the fact that the sacrifices had to be repeatedly offered pointed forward to the need for a greater, ultimate sacrifice that would permanently bring about the forgiveness of our sins. Christ achieved this through his life, death, and resurrection. As a result, the Old Covenant is “not like” the New Covenant.
Putting these points together, we see that the Old Covenant consisted of a mixture of believers and unbelievers, saved and unsaved. The Old Covenant pointed forward to the full and permanent forgiveness of the New Covenant, which was made up of only people God has forgiven by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Whose sins are forgiven, the saved or the unsaved? Obviously, only those who are saved are forgiven of their sins and rescued from the wrath of God. The New Covenant exclusively consists of those whom God has forgiven.
When this distinction between the covenants is not understood, theological confusion occurs. For instance, Presbyterians believe that forgiven and non-forgiven people are included in the New Covenant. They do not see the New Covenant as being made up of only believers who, according to Jeremiah, know God, are God's possession, have His law written upon their hearts, and have been forgiven by Christ's atoning work. Instead, their desire to see continuity between the Old and New Covenants causes them to believe that non-believers are members of the New Covenant and become so at baptism. This is why they baptize babies. Although their children are not yet believers, they are encouraged to be baptized. They believe baptism under the New Covenant equals the initiatory right that circumcision held in the Old Covenant. They reason that since the Old Covenant included believers and unbelievers under "Israel," the New Covenant is no different. However, such continuity does not exist. They forget that the New Covenant is "not like the old," and the purity of its membership is a difference that must not be overlooked.
All members of the New Covenant have had their sins forgiven. To include someone who has not had their sins forgiven in the New Covenant is impossible. If we look back over the New Covenant language of Jeremiah 31, we see that the one putting people into the New Covenant is God Himself. God is the one who supernaturally brings members into the New Covenant by faith in Christ. Baptism becomes a symbol of one's salvation. This is why the New Testament only records people being baptized after believing. Only believers have been redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Christ. Baptism was never prescribed to anyone except believers who professed Christ as their Savior. This is why babies and children should not be baptized until and unless they confess their sin and profess Christ to be their Savior. To baptize them before belief is to confuse the Old and New Covenant membership requirements.[16] A person who has not received forgiveness of sins is not a member of the New Covenant.
7. God keeps No Record of Sin for Any New Covenant Member.
“I will remember their sin no more."
Under the Old Covenant, God would remember Israel's sins, and they would face the consequences. It is as God is remembering Israel's sin and punishing them, that the blessings of a future New Covenant are announced. God had cause caused Israel to be defeated, captured, and exiled due to their disobedience to God regarding His command not to harvest the land every seventh year. They disobeyed this command for 490 years. God remembered their sins from all of those years of disobedience and put them into exile for 70 years, which was the cumulative time that they should have taken a seventh-year Sabbath but did not.[17]
In the midst of God remembering their sins and punishing them for their sins, God announces that in the New Covenant, He will remember their sins no more. God “not remembering” does not mean that God loses information or becomes less all-knowing. As theologian Stephen Wellum writes,
In the OT, the concept of “remembering” is not simply recall. In the context of verse 34, for God “not to remember “means that no action will be needed in the new age against sin, something the old covenant could only anticipate and point forward to.[18]
This is a major benefit for members of the New Covenant. There is nothing that a member of the New Covenant can do to become a covenant breaker because their sins are forgiven, and God no longer remembers their sin.
The author of Hebrews quotes this passage from Jeremiah two different times as he lays out the beauty of the New Covenant:
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:12-13)
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:17-18)
The sins of all who are in the New Covenant have been removed, forgiven, atoned for, and propitiated for, and that is why anyone who has been regenerated by God and given a new heart for Him can rest in the assurance of their salvation. All past, present, and future sins have been taken away. For example, look at whose sins are remembered on the Day of Judgement:
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done." (Revelation 20:11-12)
Here, we see a clear example of God remembering the sins of people and judging them. Another example of God remembering sins can be seen in this example from Paul:
"But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works:" (Romans 2:5-6)
What does God do with the sins of those who are in the New Covenant? Well, Jesus certainly gives us a good hint hours before His crucifixion as He instituted the Lord’s Supper:
"And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:19-20)
Jesus repeats what He had said through the prophet Jeremiah hundreds of years prior, that in the New Covenant, sins would be forgiven, and then adds more details about how the sins would be forgiven and not remembered. He would die in their place and take the wrath that the members of the New Covenant deserved.
Look what Paul says of what has happened to the sins of New Covenant members as a result of the work of Christ as our covenant representative:
"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)
The Old Covenant law and the prophets (like Jeremiah) bore witness to the fact that righteousness was needed, which the previous covenants could not attain. So, according to Paul, who has received this righteousness and had their sins forgiven? Whose sins will God no longer remember? Whose sins have been atoned for? Who has been justified? For whom has it been propitiated? Paul answers it in Romans 3:22 by saying “all who believe,” and in 3:26 by saying “the one who has faith in Jesus.” It is faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ that grants true membership into the New Covenant He has made. Baby baptism is not the entry point of the New Covenant, but faith in Christ is, which is why it is only biblical to baptize those who profess to have faith in Christ alone for their salvation. Baptism is reserved for those who have been forgiven, not those whose relatives hope they will be forgiven.
Summary: God said the future Covenant would be "new" and "not like" the previous. The New Covenant made by the Person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf should not be seen as just a renewal. Jeremiah announced that the New Covenant would consist of no covenant breakers because of the supernatural work God would perform upon their hearts. Every member will be God's possession, and every member will be faithful to Him. On top of that, every member of the Covenant will have their sins forgiven.
Baby baptizers have entirely misunderstood the entrance to the New Covenant. It is not done by parents, priests, or pastors baptizing babies. Baby baptism intentionally places people into the New Covenant who are not believers, have not been forgiven, who may become covenant breakers, and who may or may not be faithful to God. Upon close examination, we see that the baby baptizers’ view of the New Covenant is nothing like what God says about it through Jeremiah. A correct view of God's New Covenant announcement should immediately cause all baby baptisms as entrance into the New Covenant to cease.
Trey Talley
[1] Jeremiah
[2] Luke 20:22
[3] 2 Corinthians 3:6, Romans 11:27
[4] 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Galatians 3:19-25
[5] Hebrews 7:22, 8:13
[6] Wilson, Douglas, To A Thousand Generations, P. 115
[7] “Children in the Hands of the Arminians,” The Union Seminary Magazine 17, no. 3 (1906):169
[8] The Polemics of Infant Baptism – by Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield | Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind
[9] Judges 21:25
[10] 2 Corinthians 3:3
[11] Genesis 17:12
[12] See Romans 8:29-30
[13] Romans 1:19-21
[14] Jeremiah 20:7, 37:15-17, 38:6
[15] Acts 2:41
[16] Jeremiah 4:4, 9:25-26; Deuteronomy 30:6; 1 Corinthians 7:19.
[17] See Lev. 25:2-4; 26:33-35, 2 Chronicles 36:21, Jeremiah 25:11-12;29:10-14.
[18] Wellum, Stephen, Systematic Theology, p. 469
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