Holy seed - 22 September 2011 |
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My friend Robin Phillips has drawn my attention to this lengthy quotation from Robert Rayburn’s article “The Presbyterian Doctrines of Covenant Children, Covenant Nurture and Covenant Succession,” which (as Robin says) serves “as a pointer to the vast reservoir of scriptural teaching on this subject”.
It’s long, but it’s good.
So here it is:
“Everywhere in the Bible the Lord declares it to be his purpose that Christian marriages produce a holy seed (Mal. 2:15). One of the primary features of the covenant the Lord established with his people is that it embraces families and has always in view the continuation of its saving blessing for generations to come (Gen. 17:7-9). The place this feature occupies in the divine economy of salvation is indicated by its comprehensive and emphatic reiteration throughout Scripture (e.g. Exod. 20:6; Deut. 4:37-40; Ps. 100:5, 102:28, 103:17-18; Isa. 44:3, 54:13, 59:21, 65:23; Jer. 32:38-39,35:19; Ezek. 37:25; Zech. 10:6-7; Acts 2:38-39, 16:14-15, 31). It must be plainly stated that the promise made to the children of the covenant is not that of a special status of privilege but is precisely the promise of the gospel, eternal life in heaven. Whether the form of the promise is that God should be their God (Gen. 17:7), or that he will extend to them his righteousness (Ps. 103:17), or his Spirit (Isa. 59:21), or his forgiveness (Acts 2:38-39), or his salvation (Acts 16:31), the covenant which thus embraces the children with their believing parents is the covenant of grace…. The spiritual culture of their children, their instruction in the works and will of God, their preparation for a life of faith is made the direct responsibility of the church’s parents according to a great many texts (Gen. 18:19; Exod. 10:1-2, 12:24-27, 13:8, 14-16, 31:12-13; Deut. 4:9, 6:4-9; Ps. 44:1, 78:1-8; Isa. 38:19; 2 Tim. 3:14-15). The entirety of Proverbs is illustration both of the manner and substance of that covenantal nurture (the covenantal name of God is used throughout the book). According to Scripture the covenant home is to be both a school of faith and a temple in which the acknowledgment of God and his worship confirm and adorn the instruction (cf. Ps. 118:15; 2 Sam. 6:20). The larger community of faith and especially the ministry also bear responsibility for this nurture of mind and heart (Hos. 4:6; Mic. 2:9; Jer. 2:8-9; 2 Chron. 24:2, 26:5; cf. Zech. 11:16)….
First, over and again the Scripture declares that the nurture of covenant children in knowledge, faith, love, and obedience will issue in a life of covenantal faithfulness. Faithful parenting will result, by covenanted grace, in believing children. Immediately upon the definitive revelation of the promise of covenant succession in Gen. 17:7, covenantal nurture is identified as the instrumentality of its fulfillment (18:19 cf. 22:16-18, 26:3-5; Deut. 28:1-4). The straightforward connection established between the meeting of this condition and the fulfillment of this promise must neither be ignored nor minimized. That the faith and salvation of the covenant’s children is suspended on the faithfulness of their nurture is a biblical commonplace. The point is made repeatedly and emphatically. Psalm 78:1-8 may be regarded as a locus classicus (cf. Gen. 18:19; Deut. 4:40, 5:29; Ps. 102:28, 103:17-18, 112:1-2; Isa. 59:20-21). The fact of the connection between faithful nurture and covenantal faithfulness in the life of the church’s children is one of the grand themes of Proverbs (e.g. 2:1-7:27, 14:26, 19:18, 22:6, 15, 23:14) and is unquestionably the presupposition of these many texts, (some of which are listed under V supra) which urge upon parents the duty of instructing their children in the faith and leading them in the ways of God! We find Paul in Eph. 6:1-4 playing the role of the godly father to the church’s children and in the same breath admonishing parents so to raise their children as to bring their spiritual blessing to pass….
The same connection between parents’ faithfulness and their children’s salvation is also made negatively. This is a specific application of the general laws, comprehensively taught and illustrated in Scripture, that children will suffer for the sins of their parents (Ex. 20:5; Jer. 2:9; 32:18; 36:31; Lam 2:11; Hos. 4:6; Luke 11:50) and will imitate their parents in wrongdoing (1 Kgs. 22:52; 2 Kgs. 17:41; Ezek. 20:24,27). Responsibility for the betrayal of the covenant on the part of the priests Hophni and Phinehas is laid at the feet of their father, Eli (1 Sam. 2:29, 3:13; note ‘young men’ in 2:17). It is surely intended to be instructive that the account of Amnon and Tamar (2 Sam. 13) immediately follows upon the account of David’s adultery. David was no Job (1:1-15).”
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog