Presumed Child Covenant Membership

Those who baptise children in infancy often question the Baptist's reluctance to administer the sacrament to those young children who profess faith due to the difficulty of determining the genuiness of such a profession. Whilst acknowledging that the real debate lies elsewhere in the assumptions that are being made for any children born into the covenant community, the Baptist is entirely justified to redirect the question back to their Paedobaptist friends.

If one assumes that children of believers are within the covenant until they prove otherwise, exactly what manner of behavior from the three year old would be deemed as evidence of covenantal unfaithfulness and worthy of community discipline and possible future excommunication should they not repent? Or is there a certain age under which this does not apply and if so where would one find evidence for this? As hard as it may be for the Baptist to discern when young children may be admitted as full members of the community, it seems equally as difficult for the Paedobaptist to discern when a child's behavior shows covenant breaking, especially when the assumption is that God's promise is to their children as much as to professing parents. A subjective call is required by both Baptist and Paedobaptist parents alike.

For how long should those who understand their infants as being fully fledged members of the covenant maintain a judgement of charity when a child shows more and more evidence of lacking a new heart?

To therefore take an agnostic view in terms of the state of the young child and wait for evidence seems wise. However as we'll consider in future posts, the real debate is not over what one thinks of a childs subjective profession but rather over how one considers God's promises to Abraham and Isreal to function in the New Covenant.