Dancer’s Notes and Quotes

by Richard Bacon 

CHAPTER ONE: Children of the Covenant.
Creation, Fall, and Redemption in Christ

Children are a gift to us who belong to God.
God made man in his image and gave him dominion over the earth.
Because of the Fall, the only hope for man, adult or infant, is through our redeemer.
All mankind has fallen in Adam and is totally depraved.
Arminians have no doctrine of original and see sin originating in man’s free will.
But free grace, which is necessary because of original sin, means that the atonement can be imputed to a baby.

The Seed of the Covenant of Grace

Noah and his family knew grace, yet Ham would be cursed because of his children’s  upbringing.
Abraham was promised seed, through whom grace would work.
Not only did Abraham believe God, but he believed that his offspring would be blessed.
The promises were not just limited to seed who had come to maturity (as is possible in Gen 17:7), but seed in infancy (17:12).
Gen 17:14 shows that the child is held accountable for breaking the covenant through not being circumcised.

Holy Before Baptism

Baptists see circumcision merely as a national sign.
But circumcision marked inclusion into the covenant community, not simply that they were of the same blood.
John Calvin emphasised that children become participants of the blessings of the covenant through the visible church (see IV.16.5).
Covenant infants are saveable because they are electable, atoneable, and vocable by the Spirit, so should be given the rights and privileges.
We maintain that children have become members of the visible church.
As such they have rights.
At baptism, it is the parents who are dedicated to obedience of the raising of the child to which it has a right.
Children are baptised because they are already holy (1 Cor 7:14).
Berkhof: “…children can be regarded as believers before baptism, and as such ought to be baptised.”
God elected Jacob but not Esau, but both were in the pale of the church so were circumcised. Though Esau despised it, it did not mean it did not exist. Circumcision did not depend on election or profession of faith. Esau was in the covenant but not of the covenant.
Baptism is tied to regeneration, though it may take place before during or after.

The Doctrine of Infants in the New Testament.

What does baptism rather than circumcision mean for infants in the NT?
In the numerous household baptisms, the household was baptised because of the head of the household.
1 Cor 7:14 - the unbelieving spouse is set aside (sanctified) for the sake of raising children. The children are therefore sanctified and to be baptised.

Two reasons for writing this book:

The simple reason: there has been a great deal of scholarly work in recent years which needs to be brought to the attention of a wider readership.

The complicated reason: The dominant approaches to the parables of the 20th century are misguided and require rethinking.

The following assertions are often found in textbooks

1. In the history of the church the dominant way of interpreting has been to treat them as allegories. So, the details have spiritual significance.

2. Modern scholarship has rightly rejected the allegorical in favour of “one main point”.

3. Nevertheless, there are some allegorical elements, but are the exception not the rule.

4. Thus the occasional explicit interpretations of parables are exceptions and not normative

5. Apart from these allegories most of the parables and parts of parables are indisputably authentic.

The problem is that the only interpretations of Jesus use allegory! Moreover they do not account for the enigmatic statement that the parables are for the disciples, not outsiders. The consensus is being challenged. A minority affirm the following:

1. The parables in the gospels are more allegorical than realised.

2. This makes the parables more authentic sayings of Jesus (because we do not have to explain away the allegorical parts).

3. Many parables make more than one point.

The newest work advocates neither “one point” or allegorical approaches, but that the parables stand as metaphors and cannot be divided up.