October 2007 • Volume XI, Issue 18
(Our
Vol. 10, Issue 24)
Contents:
Marrying in the Lord
The Salvation of Baptized Infants
(2)
I Corinthians 7:39
requires that if a Christian marries it must be "only in the
Lord." Most obviously this forbids marrying unbelievers and therefore
dating them, because the purpose of courtship is to ascertain if it is
God’s will that you marry that person. The sin
of professing believers dating and marrying unbelievers led to the apostasy of
the antediluvian church and the destruction of the old world by the flood
(Gen. 6:1-2)!
Disobeying the command of God by marrying (or courting) a non-Christian
is one of several ways in which a child of God foolishly places upon his
shoulders a (very painful) unequal yoke: "Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness?" (II Cor. 6:14). Thus the Westminster
Confession states, "It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry
[including priests, monks and nuns!], who are able with judgment to give their
consent. Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. And
therefore such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with
infidels, papists, or other idolaters: neither should such as are godly be
unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their life,
or maintain damnable heresies" (24:3).
But what if
someone is saved after they are married and God has not converted his or her
spouse or what if a Christian has sinfully married an unbeliever? Does this
mean that they should divorce? No! "If any brother hath a wife that
believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him,
let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an
husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not
leave him" (I Cor. 7:12-13). (For more, see
"Married to an Unbeliever;" CR News X:23-24.)
Christians ought only marry godly, orthodox believers. Moreover, if
Paul solemnly entreated his Corinthian brethren, "by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ," that they all speak the same thing and be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment so that there may be no
divisions among them (I Cor. 1:10), how much more
does this apply to two believers who are considering becoming one flesh in
marriage? Surely, there must be no divisions among them! Surely, they ought to
speak the same thing and be of the same mind and the same judgment!
Two believers
contemplating wedlock ought to be of one mind and one judgment about the nature
of marriage itself (a one flesh union "till death us do part"), the
roles in marriage (husband as loving head and wife as submissive helper thus
mirroring Christ’s relationship with His church) and the purposes of
marriage (intimate companionship and mutual help, rearing godly children, and
avoiding fornication). They must also, of course, be of one mind and one
judgment as regards biblical doctrine, as faithfully summed in the Reformed
confessions.
But there is
another way of considering the unity required by the calling to marry
"only in the Lord" (7:39). We are hereby taught that we ought only marry one who confesses and lives according to
the lordship of Jesus Christ—His sovereign ownership and
government of all things.
Christ is Lord
of creation. Is it marrying "in the Lord" to wed a "theistic
evolutionist" or a "progressive creationist"? Such a person
denies Christ’s lordship, as the One who made all things in heaven and on
earth in six days, by compromising with evolutionism. Christ is Lord of
history, as the sovereign ruler over all things, including sin and catastrophes and Antichrist, according to God’s eternal decree
(Eph. 1:11).
Does your
boyfriend or girlfriend believe this? Christ is Lord of redemption, dying on the cross to blot out the sins of His people
(Matt. 1:21),
His sheep
(John 10:15),
His seed (Isa. 53:10) and His church
(Eph. 5:25)
—and not the goats
(Matt. 25:33)
nor the seed of the serpent
(Gen. 3:15)
nor the "synagogue of Satan"
(Rev. 3:9).
Christ is Lord of election and reprobation (
Rom. 9),
regeneration
(John 3:8;
James 1:18),
calling, justification, adoption and glorification
(Rom. 8:30).
How can someone
who has received the truth of sovereign grace be "perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (I Cor.
1:10) with one who suspends God’s salvation on the "free will"
of the sinner? Christ is Lord of the church, as its only redeemer, head and
king. His will in Scripture must determine the church’s doctrine,
sacraments, discipline, worship and government, and not man’s feelings or
modern culture or ancient tradition. Christ is Lord of the covenant,
establishing it not only with believers but also with their elect seed (
Christ is Lord
also of the whole of our lives: body and soul; work and rest; family, home,
children and friendships, etc. He is our master and we are His property, so
that all our abilities and time and possessions stand in His service—in
courtship and marriage too!
Thus
Christians ought to marry (and date) orthodox believers in the fear of Jehovah,
seeking to please Christ and at all times submit to and honour
His lordship. Such marriages glorify God, strengthen the church and result in solid Christian homes … and happy and contented spouses
(Ps. 127-128)!
The Salvation of Baptized
Infants (2)
In the last News, I
argued that elect children from believing parents are typically saved in
infancy or even prior to birth. The reader who sent in the question also asked,
"Can an infant baptized into the true church not reach the point of true
salvation?" Answering this will also give opportunity to add an important
teaching of Scripture to what I wrote in my last article.
First, I
assume that the questioner writes of baptism "into the true church,"
because only baptism performed by a true church is a means of grace. If this is
the meaning, he is certainly correct, for one of the
marks of the true church is that the sacraments are administered according to
the institution of Christ. This point is an important one and worth noting.
The answer to
the question, "Can an infant baptized into the true church not reach the
point of true salvation?" is emphatically, "Yes! Yes, it is possible
that a child of believing parents, baptized into a true church, not reach the
point of true salvation?" That is, not all baptized infants are saved;
many are lost.
Before I
explain this further, I want to make a caveat regarding the question’s
suggestion that usually salvation comes in later life to a baptized child. This
is not correct when one is speaking of the children of believers. As I
explained in the last News, the children of believers are usually saved either
before birth, perhaps at the time of conception, or very shortly after birth.
Scripture seems to suggest the former, as in the cases of Jeremiah and John the
Baptist (cf. "Covenant Children and Infant Baptism;" www.cprf.co.uk/quotes/infantbaptism.htm).
Not all
children of believing parents are saved. We must reckon here with the truth of
predestination, including both election and reprobation. Sovereign election
determines those who are saved, and sovereign reprobation determines those who
are not saved. As the Canons of Dordt put it,
"That some receive the gift of faith from God and others do not receive it
proceeds from God’s eternal decree ... According to which decree He
graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines
them to believe, while He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment to their
own wickedness and obduracy" (1:6).
God’s
sovereign and eternal decree of election and reprobation not only determines
who will be saved and who will not be saved on the mission field, but it also
determines who will be saved and who will not be saved in the covenant lines of
believers and their seed. The elect children of the covenant are saved; the
reprobate children of the covenant are not saved.
This divine distinction
was already true in the home of Isaac and Rebekah.
Although Esau was the firstborn and the heir of the birthright, he was
reprobate. Though Jacob showed in much of his life that he was no better than Esau, he was elect. Esau was not saved; Jacob was
(Gen. 25:19-26;
Mal. 1:2-3;
Rom. 9:10-13).
Election and reprobation ruled throughout the nation of
What was true
in the old dispensation is also true in the new. Throughout the history of the
church, the divine distinction within the lines of the covenant was carried
out: not all the children of believers are saved. Believing parents, while they
joyfully receive their children from God as children of God’s covenant,
know that not all their children are saved. They know that the decision as to
the salvation of their children rests with God. They bow before His sovereign
will. They rejoice that God is so merciful that He gathers His church from the
children they bring forth.
Some charge
the Protestant Reformed Churches with teaching "baptismal
regeneration," that is regeneration by means of baptism. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Others charge the Protestant Reformed Churches with
teaching "presupposed regeneration," that is, that the churches teach
that believers presuppose the regeneration of all their children. But this is
also a slander and a lie. Believers know that God saves according to His good
pleasure and that God has not promised to save all their children.
Some argue
against the position of the Protestant Reformed Churches (and all Reformed
churches) by asking the question: Why then do believers baptize all their
children, when they know that not all are saved? I have a great deal of
difficulty understanding the force of this objection. Why does every church
that preaches the gospel preach to all without distinction when they know and
believe that God saves only some? If these churches are not Arminian
(preaching a gospel that God loves every one and is gracious to every one),
they will have to admit that it is wrong and contrary to God’s will to
preach only to the elect. They preach to elect and reprobate—as well they
should.
Baptism is a sacrament
that is added to the preaching to signify by an outward sign the truth of the
gospel. It ought not to strike us as strange that the sacrament of baptism is
also administered to all the children of believers. But this fact does not deny
that baptism is a sign and a seal of the washing away of sin in the blood of
Christ. And that which baptism signifies and seals is that only the elect are
saved by the blood of Christ. Prof. Herman Hanko
Prof. Hanko will preach for the CPRC in Ballymena at all services on Lord’s Days 18 & 25 November and 2 December, and lecture on "The Reformation’s Emphasis on Piety" in Porthcawl, S. Wales (7:15 pm, 30 November)—DV.
A DVD of a
2-hour debate on "The Charismatic Gifts and Cessationism"
(Rev. Stewart v. Rev. Antwi) is available from the
CPRC for £2 or can be seen on-line at http://www.cprf.co.uk/cessationismresources.htm
Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Lord’s Day services at 11 am
& 6 pm • Ballymena Protestant Hall,
Pastor: Angus Stewart,
Phone: (028) 25 891 851 •
E-mail: pastor@cprc.co.uk •
Website: www.cprc.co.uk