Church bulletin:
As we Baptists say, the Presbyterians did all the hard work putting together the excellent Westminster Standards, we just made a few improvements. Unfortunately, one blemish (in my opinion) remained in the 1689 BCF (removed in some later recensions). Ch10 par3 “elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit……..” It seems to me that the clause “elect” is unnecessary and unhelpful as it suggests that some may pass from this world and into judgement. Here are three reasons why I believe we can assume that all deceased infants are saved and therefore elect.
• Judgement is based upon a person’s behaviour: while it is true that we are imputed with Adam’s guilt from the moment of conception and need to be justified (Psalm 51:5), it is our own personal guilt which God actually condemns. In scripture, eternal condemnation is always based upon the manner in which someone has lived (Ecc 12:13-14; Matt 12:36-37; 2 Cor 5:10). All who have consciously committed sin and not sought after God will experience His wrath. But what of those not capable of deliberate sin and not capable of seeking after God?
• Children are described in terms of innocence: God looks upon little ones as practically innocent and not deserving of punishment. Jonah 4:11, “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left —and much livestock?” If God is concerned with the welfare of animals which have not sinned against Him, how much more so those who cannot tell right from left – infants and the intellectually impaired; human beings made in His image. Infants are born constitutionally fallen, but innocent of willful sin – see also Ecc 6:3-5; Matt 18:1-4.
• God is merciful and just in character: He is big with mercy and does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). Judgement is described as His strange work (Isaiah 28:21), therefore, He judges only when necessary. Why would God not elect, regenerate and justify all those people He has chosen to remove from the world in the tender stages of infancy? To save them is completely consistent with the God who abounds in lovingkindness and is righteous in all His ways. To unnecessarily condemn them runs contrary to His self-revelation.
The Bible does not explicitly state that babies go to heaven; neither does Jesus explicitly state “I am God.” They are doctrines, however, which can be soundly and clearly deduced. Ambiguity over this issue is unfortunate because it relates to the character of God – not to mention grieving parents who need to find the tender embrace of compassion. The hand which sends the heavy affliction of early death is the same hand which sends loving assurance.
To my mind, revised later versions of the 1689 are preferable, “Infants [meaning all infants] dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit……..” When all is said and done, salvation is a sovereign work of grace, whether someone is able to respond with faith or not. Thankfully, God is in the business of grace. Much grace.