Scholten
Puritan Board Freshman
My wife and I are members of the Christian Reformed Church in the United States. From the early days of our marriage, before we had kids, we were troubled by the wording of our forms for the baptism of infants. They spoke of the infants of believers as being "children of God." While studying at Calvin Theological Seminary I asked a professor there about this terminology. One comment he made was that these forms dated back to the Reformation. At that time the Reformers sometimes in penning their theology were almost writing to the Catholics as it were and saying we're not like the Anabaptists.
I am currently carrying on a dialog with Baptists and one of them has brought up Romans 8 and 9 and made the claim that the New Testament teaches us that the only children of God are those who have accepted Christ. In studying that phrase at this time I searched the Old Testament to see if the Israelites were ever referred to as the children of God. They are often referred to as the people of God. I could not find one clear instance where they were referred to as children of God. They are referred to at least 82 times as the people of God. (Reference below.)
Is it correct to say that God never refers to those in the Abrahamic covenant or in an external covenant as His children and He reserves that familial language for believers?
The following are references I have found where God refers to the Israelites as His people: Ex. 3:10, 6:7, 7:4, Lev. 26:12, I Kings 8:6, II Kings 20:5, I Chron. 11:2, 17:7, 9, 21:3, 21:17, 22:18, II Chron. 6:5, 6, Is. 10:2, 10:24, 26:20, 43:20, 51:22, 57:14, 63:8, 65:19, 22, Jer. 2:31, 4:11, 7:12, 23, 8:19, 22, 9:7, 11:4, 12:14, 16 (3 references), 15:7, 23:2, 32, 24:7, 29:32, 30:3, 31:1, 14, 31:33, 32:38, 50:6, Lam. 2:11, 3:48, 4:3, 6, 10, Ez. 11:20, 13:9, 10, 18, 21, 14:11, 33:31, 36:12, 28, 37:12, 23, 37, 38:16, 44:23, 45:8, 46:18, Dan. 9:19, Hos. 1:10 “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”, 4:6, 11:7 Joel 2:26, 27, 3:2, Amos 7:8, Micah 6:5, 16, Zeph. 2:9 (2 times), Zech. 2:11, 8:7, 8
I am currently carrying on a dialog with Baptists and one of them has brought up Romans 8 and 9 and made the claim that the New Testament teaches us that the only children of God are those who have accepted Christ. In studying that phrase at this time I searched the Old Testament to see if the Israelites were ever referred to as the children of God. They are often referred to as the people of God. I could not find one clear instance where they were referred to as children of God. They are referred to at least 82 times as the people of God. (Reference below.)
Is it correct to say that God never refers to those in the Abrahamic covenant or in an external covenant as His children and He reserves that familial language for believers?
The following are references I have found where God refers to the Israelites as His people: Ex. 3:10, 6:7, 7:4, Lev. 26:12, I Kings 8:6, II Kings 20:5, I Chron. 11:2, 17:7, 9, 21:3, 21:17, 22:18, II Chron. 6:5, 6, Is. 10:2, 10:24, 26:20, 43:20, 51:22, 57:14, 63:8, 65:19, 22, Jer. 2:31, 4:11, 7:12, 23, 8:19, 22, 9:7, 11:4, 12:14, 16 (3 references), 15:7, 23:2, 32, 24:7, 29:32, 30:3, 31:1, 14, 31:33, 32:38, 50:6, Lam. 2:11, 3:48, 4:3, 6, 10, Ez. 11:20, 13:9, 10, 18, 21, 14:11, 33:31, 36:12, 28, 37:12, 23, 37, 38:16, 44:23, 45:8, 46:18, Dan. 9:19, Hos. 1:10 “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”, 4:6, 11:7 Joel 2:26, 27, 3:2, Amos 7:8, Micah 6:5, 16, Zeph. 2:9 (2 times), Zech. 2:11, 8:7, 8