The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Monergism

Pilgrim said:
William,

It surely sounds like you are defending your denomination rather than the error they embrace?

Pilgrim said:
As to your question as to where I got the version of the "Form for the Baptism of Infants", it was scanned in from the back of the Psalter Hymnal which was dated some 40 years old. As I mentioned before, in most all of the Dutch Reformed churches I have attended who used this hymnal which contained the Three Forms of Unity and various forms for baptism, the Lord's Supper, etc., this Form was included and used.

Most of these forms were composed during the sixteenth-century Reformation, The forms for the administration of infant baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the solemnization of marriage first appeared in a 1566 edition of the Dutch Psalter edited by Petrus Dathenus (1531-1588), a leading minister in the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. In composing these forms Dathenus borrowed heavily from existing liturgies based on Calvin's Geneva liturgy. The Reformed churches adopted these forms at the Convent Of Wesel in 1568. The forms for the administration of church discipline, the ordination of ministers, and the ordination of elders and deacons were added by the Synod of the Hague in 1586. The form for the baptism of adults was accepted by the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618-19.

An English translation of these forms, original prepared in the Netherlands for use in the English and Scottish refugee churches, was later revised ,and adopted by the Reformed Church in America. This translation, with minor revision and correction, Was adopted by the Christian Reformed Church in North America in 1912 and first appeared in the 1927 edition of the Psalter, . . .

Pilgrim said:
And to make it clear once again which evidently I have not done, the colored portions were colored by me to point out those portions in the Form which teach "presumptive regeneration".

Pilgrim asked
What does it mean that the children of believers brought for baptism are "sanctified in Christ"? Can you give Scriptural evidence to support your understanding?

Eighthly, the form for baptism asks of parents and witnesses, “Whether you acknowledge...that they (their children) are sanctified in Christ, and therefore, as members of His church ought to be baptized?” In order to understand this question correctly, it must be noted:
(1) This form addresses members of the covenant and speaks of their children.
(2) To be sanctified does not imply that the children at that moment are in truth possessors of the principle of faith, regeneration, and sanctification. It also does not imply that all baptized children are, and particularly, that my child is elect, will be converted, and be a partaker of salvation. Rather, it means in a general sense that children of members of the covenant, by virtue of the covenant made with them and their children, are entitled to its benefits and will become partakers of them. This is in distinction to the children of those who are not members of the covenant and for whom there are no promises in the Word. The salvation of the latter, if they die in infancy, is a matter which pertains to the sovereign and secret dealings of God, there being no foundation in regard to which something can be stated about them. And as long as children of members of the covenant manifest nothing which is either in their favor or disfavor, we may not discriminate among them, but by reason of the promise must deem them to be children of God until the contrary manifests itself. Therefore, to be sanctified in Christ means to be a partaker of Christ.

(3) To be sanctified does not mean to be included in an external covenant, for there is no external covenant. The parents have the salvation of their child in view, and not something of an external nature. The sacraments are not seals of an external covenant, but only of the covenant of grace, and signs and seals of the righteousness of faith. Also the child is acknowledged as being sanctified in Christ, which cannot be said in reference to an external covenant. It is furthermore acknowledged that the child is sanctified prior to baptism, and therefore ought to be baptized. The child therefore does not become a member of the covenant by virtue of baptism; he was already a member prior to baptism, and prior to the child’s baptism there was also no other covenant but the covenant of grace.
(4) Some wish to change the form and say, “to be sanctified in Christ, or those who are sanctified, must be sanctified in Christ.” This is the result of ignorance and misunderstanding concerning this matter. If they wish these words to mean something different than to be in the covenant of grace (which appears to be the intent), I cannot understand on what basis they let their children or other children be baptized, since there is no other foundation for baptism but the covenant of grace, of which baptism is a seal.