CHILDREN OF PROMISE Acts 2:38,39
One of the practices we value as a denomination is infant baptism. The logic behind infant baptism is not that baptism automatically saves our children. Rather, we see it a sign and a symbol of the covenant that God enters into with believers and their children. Under the terms of that covenant, God promises to work grace into the lives of our children as we as parents seek to be faithful in bringing them up in the fear and nurture of the Lord.
One of the verses in scripture that is often used in connection with infant baptism is Acts 2:39: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (NIV).
There are three things I want to point out about this verse:
1) The emphasis is on The Promise: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (Acts 2:39, NIV). That immediately raises the question: What is the promise? Well, in the context of Acts 2, especially taking into consideration the preceding verse, the promise clearly refers to the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter put it this way, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.,” (Acts 2:38, NIV).
The Holy Spirit is the agent of the Godhead who makes real in our lives the gift of salvation that Christ has obtained for us through his death, resurrection and ascension. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us aware of our sin, draws us to Christ, brings us to faith, enables us to yield to the authority of Jesus and transforms our lives from glory to glory so that we learn to become obedient children of God the Father. It is the Holy Spirit who one day will bring about a new creation where everybody will fully worship and serve the living God. Therefore, the gift of the Holy Spirit is really the gift of salvation made real by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
All through scripture, God is coming to his people with a word of promise that he will save his people; he will forgive their sins, release them form Satan’s power, and will restore them to himself. The promise of Acts 2:39 is the promise of God’s Holy Spirit given to God’s people.
Notice that the Holy Spirit is a gift; He is freely given. His presence cannot be earned because you are better, smarter, or have worked harder than other people. He is given as a gift, based on the two prerequisites of repentance and faith. Look again at the previous verse, “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” (Acts 2:38, NIV). To repent means to make a U-turn away from sin; to be baptized is to be joined with Christ and recognize that he died for us, rose from the dead so that our sins could be forgiven and his grace could be imparted to us. True conversion will always involve repentance and personal faith in the finished work of Christ.
It is very important to understand this point because one of the criticisms that is sometimes raised against the practice of infant baptism is that it gives people a false sense of security. This false security says that my parents presented me for baptism, therefore, my sins are forgiven, and I belong to Christ. The extension of this idea is that it does not matter how I live my life, I belong to God and when I die I will go to heaven.
Let me say categorically that from a biblical point of view that is not what scripture teaches. A true relationship with God will always manifest itself in true repentance and true faith. Look at how John the Baptist speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees says it, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire,” (Matthew 3:8-10, NIV).
The apostle Paul echoes a similar sentiment when he says, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring,” (Romans 9:6-8, NIV).
What he is saying in this passage is that God has children, but he does not have grandchildren. Part of the challenge for Christian community is to impart faith to the subsequent generations. Our job is to lead our children by exposing them to grace, telling them the stories of faith and modeling these principles in our own lives. It is God’s job to work grace into their lives and to lead them to personally embrace Jesus and surrender themselves to him as Lord and Saviour. That is why infant baptism is followed by profession of faith later on in life.
2) Recipients of the promise. "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (Acts 2:39, NIV). Note there are three distinct groups of people mentioned here:
First, you. This refers to the people listening to Peter, both Jews and Jewish converts from all over the Roman Empire. They were gathered in Jerusalem for the Old Testament feast of Pentecost. Next he mentions your children, which refers to their offspring. And the last recipients are all who are far off. That is a euphemism for Gentile believers. Let me talk briefly about each, beginning with Jews and Gentiles.
It is hard for us today to fully grasp the cultural and religious gap that existed in New Testament days between Jews and Gentiles. Jews of course were the covenant people of God. Their unique distinction, according to Paul in Romans 3:1-2, is that they had received God’s self revelation. “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God,” (Romans 3:1-2, NIV). They had the law and the prophets. They knew who God was, what he wanted and while they did not always live the way he wanted them to live they at least understood clearly the difference between right and wrong.
The Gentiles had none of those things; they were without God, without hope, and without biblical revelation. In the words of Paul to the Ephesians, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more,” (Ephesians 4:18, 19, NIV).
The best way to understand this difference is to think of it in terms of a morally righteous church-going person who loves God and tries to live by scripture. Contrast this image over against the person who knows nothing about God, or the church, and has no conscience, living his life according to his own passions and desires. That is the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles.
Now here is what I want us to note; two things:
a) God wants to equally save both groups. God’s love extends over all that he has made. He doesn’t like Jews better than Gentiles. He doesn’t like a good Christian better than somebody who lives in the gutter. He wants to save them both. In fact, he raised up the Jews and entered into covenant with them for the purpose of creating a nation who could uphold his testimony, where he could reveal himself, and through whom the Christ could be born with the view of saving the rest of the world. That is the advantage of being a Jew. God came to them with revelation, but the purpose of that revelation was not only to save the Jews but also the Gentiles. God’s promise to Abraham was that all “nations on earth will be blessed through him….” (Genesis 18:18). God has always been mission oriented, making disciples of all nations.
b) Both groups can only be saved through the cross. That is to say that whether you are a good Jew, a good Christian, or you are down in the gutter and have broken every law in the book you need to come to Jesus and experience his redemption. Paul puts it this way: “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit,” (Ephesians 2:15-18, NIV). What he is saying is that both Jew and Gentile can only be reconciled to God by coming to Jesus and as they do, the dividing wall represented by a barrier in the temple breaks down and God makes one brand new community of believers out of them.
It is important to understand this because it is very easy, as well as very tempting, for ‘good church-going’ people to think we are better than those ‘bad’ people. We can be just like the Pharisee who says I am glad I am not like other sinners or like that publican there. The fact of the matter is whether we are far or near, we all need Jesus. Our sin may be less obvious or better hidden than theirs but they run just as deep and we need Jesus just as much as they do.
Paul puts it this way talking about himself and his credentials. He says, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ,” (Philippians 3:4-7, NIV).
A good analogy of this is that of three people in a boat about to sink in the middle of the ocean. One cannot swim at all, another can swim thirty feet and the other can swim thirty miles. But the difference in skill is not going to matter; they are all going to drown because the shore is hundreds of miles away. All three people in order to survive need someone in a lifeboat to save them.
The same thing is true with regard to our children. The danger of growing up in Christian home is to confuse knowing about God with knowing God. I was in college studying for the ministry when a friend of mine came along and challenged me about my faith commitment and I discovered that I was not sure if I had ever come to the cross. I remember kneeling at my bed saying, “Lord I think I’ve done this but incase I haven’t this is too important to ignore, I give you my life.” We need to teach our children that a relationship with God happens when they come to faith and give their lives to him and are transformed.
3) God must call us. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (Acts 2:39, NIV). Here is a sobering biblical truth: we cannot bring ourselves or our children to faith. It is something God must do. Jesus puts it this way: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." (John 6:44, NIV). Coming to faith and becoming a Christian is always a supernatural act of God. By nature we are all children of wrath prone to hate God and hate our neighbour. There is nothing in us that wants to seek out God, submit to his authority and do his will. God has to work his grace into our hearts and into the hearts of our children; he has to call us. There are three components to being called by God.
a) He creates is us a hunger us for God. When people come to faith, it is almost always because at some level deep in their hearts there is a sensitivity and a hunger for God and the things of God. Often people are not aware of this hunger, but at the core of their hearts they wonder if God is real and if they can find him. The Methodists would call this prevenient grace; a Calvinist would probably call it election. God knows who belongs to him. Salvation begins by God planting in our hearts a seed of faith that longs for home.
b) External call. An external call is when you or I are confronted by the Gospel message, it may happen by reading the Bible, a friend explaining the Gospel, coming to church, etc. Somewhere along the line there is an explanation of the Gospel that has these components: you are a sinner who deserves to die, Jesus died on the cross for you sins, was raised for your justification, and you need Jesus because you cannot save yourself.
c) Internal call. Jesus said, “Many are called but few are chosen” (Mt 22:14). Not all the seed that gets scattered finds soil that will receive it and bear fruit. The internal call comes when your heart has been prepared by God’s grace. Then when the Gospel call comes, you hear the word and it speaks right to the core of your being. Realizing that you are a sinner in need of Jesus, you bow before him and give him your life. By faith you receive his forgiveness and restoration. At that point you are reconciled to God and become part of God’s forever family. You become part of that new community that God is building. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (Acts 2:39, NIV).
