You see, in my household, my children sin. They are very much like their parents, except I am more sophisticated at hiding it (unless I’m blogging or watching the World Cup). But after we sin, we aim to repent – “repentance is a saving grace” – and ask for forgiveness not only from each other, but also from God. And when my children are in the room praying to God for forgiveness, sometimes without my prodding, I assure them that their sins are indeed forgiven. And I exhort them to depend upon and pray for the Holy Spirit for present and future obedience.
If you are a Christian parent with young children, do you consider your children to be Christians?
There were some lively debates at the Westminster Assembly. One took place over the precise meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:14, where children are described as “holy” (seeChad van Dixhoorn’s work, volume 3:206-09).
Thomas Goodwin believed that the holiness spoken of in 1 Cor. 7:14 “is such a holiness as if they die they should be saved.” Goodwin’s comments elicited some frank responses from his colleagues. Goodwin acknowledges that whether the children have the holiness of election of regeneration is something unknown to him, but he assumes they “have the Holy Ghost.”
Lazarus Seaman – a staunch Presbyterian – believed Goodwin’s position destroys the ground for baptizing infants. Goodwin attempted to clarify his point in his response. He does not affirm that infants of believing parents are actually saved, “but we are to judge them so.” This last point of Goodwin’s is crucial, I believe.
Another Presbyterian, Stephen Marshall, rejected the view that the holiness of 1 Cor. 7:14 is the type of holiness that would save those who die in infancy. Marshall takes the position that the judgment of charity extends only so far, namely, that the “Infants of believing parents are federally holy.”
Rutherford, a different type of Presbyterian, with ecclesiological affinities with several of the “Dissenting Brethren” (i.e., Congregationalists), entered the debate and re-affirmed the distinction between real and federal holiness. He comments: “The Lord hath election and reprobation amongst Infants no less than those of age, as Augustine of Jacob and Esau.”