Originally Posted by Ligonier Ministries
According to God's promise (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39), the children of believing parents are included in the covenant of grace and must be received as members of the church by baptism.
Is this true? When I read Acts 2:39 completely there is a qualifier that contradicts the above statement. Notice what it actually says:

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Acts 2:38-39 (ASV) 38 And Peter [said] unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. (emphasis is mine)
1. What is the promise? It appears to be the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit.
2. To whom is the promise given? To the hearers of those present that day; Jews, and their children, AND "to all that are afar off", i.e., Jews, AND "[even] as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him (GOD)".
3. The promise of salvation and the Holy Spirit is clearly not given to Jews, their children nor the Gentiles automatically!! nono The promise of salvation which is the Gospel belongs to those whom God by the Spirit are
efficaciously called. Salvation is infallibly promised to all who repent and believe on Christ and no one else. Thus children of believers are not given the promise of salvation de facto. The children of believers are promised salvation IF they are regenerated by the Spirit and they repent of their sins and savingly believe on the Lord Christ. As I stated before, the covenant children are given the three-fold 'means of grace' which IF attended by the sovereign and secret work of the Spirit upon all who have been ordained to eternal life.

A wrong view here most always results in another error which is far more hotly debated than who should be baptized and how are children of believers to be considered in regard to their spiritual state. And that subject is the death of infants. The popular view is actually two: a) children of believers who die in infancy are saved, b) all children who die in infancy are saved. The first has been around for centuries and is officially held by the Dutch Reformed Churches as found below:

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Canons of Dordt
FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE
Article 17

Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they, together with the parents, are comprehended, godly parents have no reason to doubt of the election and salvation of their children whom it pleaseth God to call out of this life in their infancy.
However, contrary to either of these two views, albeit they are extremely popular and held across denominational boundaries and even by pagans today, the Westminster Confession (Presbyterian) and the Savoy Declaration (Congregational) state that "elect infants" who die in infancy are saved.

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Savoy Declaration
Chapter 10
Article 3

Elect infants dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth: so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
One of the best commentaries on this part of the Confession and explanation of infant salvation is, in my opinion found in the following article: Infant Salvation by Robert E. Davis.

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simul iustus et peccator

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