Introduction
Among Calvinists, there is a perennial debate over who is the proper recipient of baptism. Paedobaptists assert that baptism is for all members of a household in which at least one of the parents demonstrates signs of regeneration. That includes newborn infants, because such are members of the household. Credobaptists assert that baptism is for all persons who demonstrate signs of true repentance. That does not include newborn infants of believers, because newborn infants cannot demonstrate repentance. Paedobaptists baptize the infants of professed believers, and Credobaptists only baptize professed believers.
Distinct Positions on Baptism and Covenant
The distinction between Credobaptists and Paedobaptists is ultimately a distinction between how each understands the nature of the New Covenant. Paedobaptists believe that, by virtue of parents being within the New Covenant, children born to those in the New Covenant are themselves in the New Covenant. Credobaptists believe that, only by virtue of the second birth, are persons in the New Covenant. Let me explain how this plays out. If Paedobaptists Jack and Jill have a baby, Paedobaptists assert that Jack and Jill’s child is in the New Covenant, and therefore that baby must be baptized as soon as possible. Conversely, if Credobaptists Jim and Jane have a baby, Credobaptists assert that the baby must demonstrate evidence of being born again before being baptized. Paedobaptists assume that their children are in the New Covenant by virtue of birth. Credobaptists make no such assumption, but instead they believe that each individual must be born again to enter into the New Covenant, as Jesus Himself asserted in John 3:3.
Paedobaptists believe that the New Covenant is one and the same with God’s covenant with Abraham, whereby God commanded Abraham to be circumcised and to circumcise all his offspring as a sign of the covenant (Genesis 17). At the Day of Pentecost that sign of circumcision was replaced by the sign of baptism. Instead of circumcising their sons, Paedobaptists believe they must baptize all their sons and daughters. Baptism then, for the Paedobaptist, replaces circumcision as the sign of the covenant, essentially believing in one covenant and two signs. Credobaptists conversely believe in two distinct covenants, each having its own distinct sign.
The Categorical Error of Paedobaptists
That is precisely where the logic of the Paedobaptist position fails. By equating baptism with circumcision and the Abrahamic covenant with the New Covenant, Paedobaptists make a categorical error. The Abrahamic covenant, while embryonically containing the hope of the New Covenant, is not the New Covenant. The New Covenant makes promises that the Abrahamic covenant does not. Whereas the Abrahamic covenant does not guarantee regeneration and forgiveness for each member, the New Covenant does (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Hebrews 8 confirms that the New Covenant contains what the Old Covenant did not, to the point of calling the New a “better” covenant with “better promises” (Hebrews 8:6), while quoting the promise of the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31:31-34. The first covenant became “obsolete” at the advent of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:13). Paedobaptists make a categorical error by equating the Abrahamic covenant and the New Covenant as one and the same, while wrongly drawing the inference that baptism must replace circumcision. Paedobaptism is based on a false premise and a false inference. The two covenants in fact are distinct, with the New Covenant containing the better promises of regeneration and forgiveness for all its members, promises not guaranteed to each member of the Abrahamic covenant.
Conclusion
In summary, the Abrahamic covenant and the New Covenant are distinct covenants. Yes, the Abrahamic covenant contains the embryonic hope of the New Covenant, but the Abrahamic covenant is not the New Covenant. All descendants of Abraham are heirs of the Abrahamic covenant, but not all descendants of Abraham are in the New Covenant. Not all descendants of Abraham are regenerate and forgiven, but all members of the New Covenant are regenerate and forgiven. For this reason, circumcision was given to those who entered the Abrahamic covenant by their natural birth, but baptism is only given to those who show evidence of entering the New Covenant by their spiritual birth.
