1 I Belong to God: A Covenantal Catechism Prefatory Note This catechism is written by a father who desires nothing more than to see his children walk with the Lord all their days. It is also written out of the conviction that this is exactly what God promises to faithful Christian parents. We must parent out of faith, not fear. We must train our children to understand what God has done for them in making them a part of his covenant and kingdom even in their infancy. We must train our children in such a way that their whole lives will be a grand Amen to their baptisms. I believe it was Alfred North Whitehead who said the whole history of philosophy was simply a giant footnote to Plato. I’m not sure that’s right, but I am sure that the whole Christian life may be seen simply as a footnote to one’s baptism. The importance of baptism to one’s identity and assurance can never be overestimated. In baptism, God graciously unites us to his Son and pours his Spirit out upon us. He weds us to Christ and ordains us to his priesthood. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches, baptism is not a mere picture, but an effectual means of salvation. Understanding infant baptism, therefore, is critical to faithful Christian parenting. This is not to say baptism in isolation guarantees salvation, but God never intended baptism to stand on its own. Rather, as we combine the waters of baptism with the obedience of faith and life in the church, we find that God has already given us and our children every blessing in Christ. This catechism may simply be considered an aid in unpacking the significance of your child’s baptism. Such an approach to parenting, of course, cuts against the grain of our modern Western individualistic sensibilities. I think of Karl Barth’s objection to infant baptism: it violently imposes a religious identity on the child without his consent. Sure it does, but this is just what God requires of us in passages like Deuteronomy 6:1-25, Ephesians 6:4, and Proverbs 22:6. Nothing could be more gracious than enculturating our child into the life of God’s kingdom. Besides, a religious identity will inescapably be imposed upon our child. The only question is, Will it be a Christian identity, as the Bible requires? Or some non-Christian identity? We must reject the ridiculous notion that our children are neutral in relation to God until they reach some mythical age of accountability. We must teach our children what God has done for them in Christ’s death and resurrection and what he applies to them through the means of grace in the life of the church. We are not to try to convert our baptized children; rather, we teach them to persevere in the faith that they have already received in baptism. We are not to treat them as outsiders until they are old enough to make a profession of faith; rather, we enfold them into the life of the body from their earliest days. It is totally incongruent to baptize a child on the basis of God’s covenant promise and then doubt the reality of that promise until the child is older. This practice undercuts everything infant baptism means. It is an insult to our heavenly Father who wants our children to know that he loves them and it turns the means of grace into means of doubt and confusion. A baptized person is a Christian until and unless he apostatizes. Let us treat our baptized children as the Christians that they are, as elect, as forgiven, as Spirit-indwelt.
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I Belong to God: A Covenantal Catechism
Prefatory Note
This catechism is written by a father who desires nothing more than to see his children
walk with the Lord all their days. It is also written out of the conviction that this is
exactly what God promises to faithful Christian parents. We must parent out of faith, not
fear. We must train our children to understand what God has done for them in making
them a part of his covenant and kingdom even in their infancy. We must train our
children in such a way that their whole lives will be a grand Amen to their baptisms. I
believe it was Alfred North Whitehead who said the whole history of philosophy was
simply a giant footnote to Plato. I’m not sure that’s right, but I am sure that the whole
Christian life may be seen simply as a footnote to one’s baptism. The importance of
baptism to one’s identity and assurance can never be overestimated. In baptism, God
graciously unites us to his Son and pours his Spirit out upon us. He weds us to Christ
and ordains us to his priesthood. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches, baptism
is not a mere picture, but an effectual means of salvation. Understanding infant baptism,
therefore, is critical to faithful Christian parenting. This is not to say baptism in
isolation guarantees salvation, but God never intended baptism to stand on its own.
Rather, as we combine the waters of baptism with the obedience of faith and life in the
church, we find that God has already given us and our children every blessing in Christ.
This catechism may simply be considered an aid in unpacking the significance of your
child’s baptism.
Such an approach to parenting, of course, cuts against the grain of our modern Western
individualistic sensibilities. I think of Karl Barth’s objection to infant baptism: it
violently imposes a religious identity on the child without his consent. Sure it does, but
this is just what God requires of us in passages like Deuteronomy 6:1-25, Ephesians 6:4,
and Proverbs 22:6. Nothing could be more gracious than enculturating our child into
the life of God’s kingdom. Besides, a religious identity will inescapably be imposed upon
our child. The only question is, Will it be a Christian identity, as the Bible requires? Or
some non-Christian identity? We must reject the ridiculous notion that our children are
neutral in relation to God until they reach some mythical age of accountability. We must
teach our children what God has done for them in Christ’s death and resurrection and
what he applies to them through the means of grace in the life of the church. We are not
to try to convert our baptized children; rather, we teach them to persevere in the faith
that they have already received in baptism. We are not to treat them as outsiders until
they are old enough to make a profession of faith; rather, we enfold them into the life of
the body from their earliest days. It is totally incongruent to baptize a child on the basis
of God’s covenant promise and then doubt the reality of that promise until the child is
older. This practice undercuts everything infant baptism means. It is an insult to our
heavenly Father who wants our children to know that he loves them and it turns the
means of grace into means of doubt and confusion. A baptized person is a Christian until
and unless he apostatizes. Let us treat our baptized children as the Christians that they
are, as elect, as forgiven, as Spirit-indwelt.
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Counting and treating our baptized children as Christians is not a matter of pretending
or presuming. As John Murray put it, ‘Baptized infants are to be received as the children
of God and treated accordingly.’ For us as parents to do anything less is to simply
disbelieve and disobey the covenant. When we tell our children that God is their Father
and that Jesus died for their sins, we are telling them something true and helping them
internalize their covenant identity. True, baptized children can renounce their Father
and become prodigals; they can reject Jesus as their husband and become adulterers.
But having once passed through the waters of baptism, however inconsistent their actions
are with that baptismal identity, they are still the actions of baptized persons. Baptism is
an act with eternal consequences for the faithful and the unfaithful. Covenant members
who fall from grace can only expect God’s harshest judgment. Just as the promises of
salvation are for us and for our children, so the warnings of apostasy are for us and for
our children as well.
But apostasy is not our expectation. As we trust in God’s promises concerning our
children and as we nurture our children through teaching, discipline, and prayer, we may
be confident that God will preserve them. Christian parents must continually instruct
and remind their children of the status, roles, privileges, and responsibilities that their
baptism places upon them. Our children must learn that the Christian story, lifestyle,
rituals, and most importantly the Christian Savior, all belong to them. In baptism they
were incorporated into Christ’s body, inducted into the royal priesthood of the church,
and initiated into the new creation. They must know that these things define who they are
and how they are to live. By God’s grace, they will grow up never knowing a day when
they did not love their heavenly Father. When they do stray into sin, we must ‘grab them
by their baptisms,’ as Philip Henry used to say, and gently bring them to repentance
through loving discipline.
I should say a few words about the origin, structure, and use of this catechism. This
catechism is basically my homespun revision of the PCUSA’s 1998 child’s catechism. In
fact, several of the introductory questions are drawn almost verbatim from that work,
though thereafter fragments from several other more traditional catechisms have been
woven in. I took my inspiration from the surprisingly strong PCUSA model and revised it
extensively, aiming to incorporate seven basic features. First, this catechism intends to
be intensely personal. Some catechisms are just a list of rather abstract definitions. The
Westminster Shorter Catechism is a wonderful little document, but it was written by a
geometry professor and it reads like it. This catechism, however, is full of warm personal
language (a lot of ‘I,’ ‘we,’ etc.) that inculcates in the child a covenantal self-
understanding. He can’t help but know that the covenant promises are his. Of course,
like the Bible, it also includes warnings lest the child grow presumptuous. Second, this
catechism is presuppositional. It leaves no room for doubt that God delivers on his
promises made to the child in the waters of baptism. The child’s present standing in the
kingdom is never called into question. Its message is clear: God has saved you; now be
loyal to him. God has united you to Christ; now be who you are. Children need to know
that they share in the same relationship with God that their parents have. They
participate in the same covenant blessings, face the same danger of apostasy, and stand
in need of the same gift of perseverance. Parents need to understand this about their
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children. The covenant promise does not mean we can expect our children to some day
have a ‘conversion experience.’ That turns the Word of God inside out. Nor is the
promise simply one of external privilege. The promise made to believing parents is that
their children are saved, and that by means of diligent and faithful parental nurture and
discipline, they will persevere. Third, this catechism is narratival. The basic form in
which God’s revelation comes to us is not a philosophical treatise or even a systematic
theology, but a story. This is especially how we should teach our children. After a few
introductory questions that even very young children can get a handle on, I have tried
hard to make the catechism track with the unfolding plot line of the Bible. There are
numerous interjections that keep the catechism from flowing as smoothly as it might, but
nonetheless, the narrative of Scripture as a whole clearly emerges. For example, the Ten
Commandments are not taken up at the end as a sort of ethical appendage to Christian
doctrine. Rather, they are put in their proper place in the story. The post-exilic
restoration era is included as a bridge from the old covenant to the new. The Trinity is
also taken up in historical, revelational sequence – after the institution of baptism, with
its Trinitarian formula. And so on. The point here is not simply that our children will
know the story that Scripture tells, but that they will see that this story is their own – that
it is constitutive of their identity and their community. Fourth, this catechism is liturgical
in nature. I included questions on the ‘divine service’ because the way we engage
worship (and the way we teach our children to engage worship) is so important. We
must see that in worship, God renews his covenant with us. We must see that the essence
of the liturgy is gift – God’s public work on behalf of his people. Through the priesthood
of Christ, we are drawn into the inter-Trinitarian life of God. The liturgy, properly
structured, is nothing less than the gospel in action. God gives freely, we receive in faith,
and then we give back, as all is enfolded in a glorious circle of love and fellowship,
springing forth from the groundless mercy of God in and through Christ and the Spirit.
This catechism enables us to use the weekly service as an opportunity to further impress
the gospel into the hearts and minds of our children. Fifth, this catechism is intertextual.
I have sought to pack it with various allusions to and echoes of Scripture and the
church’s great confessions, creeds, and catechisms. As our children become more
educated in Scripture and in the great traditions of their faith, they will find many
formulations of doctrine and turns of phrases already buried in their consciousness. I
have not included prooftexts, but I hope the Scriptural foundations of the catechism’s
content will be obvious to all who are familiar with God’s Word. Sixth, this catechism
strives to be thoroughly Christocentric. Christ is presented as the center of the Scriptures
and redemptive history. Of course, this cannot be done apart from typology, so this
catechism gives our children a taste of shadow/reality and promise/fulfillment patterns of
biblical interpretation. In Christ, all the promises made to the old covenant saints are
Yes and Amen, the creation is brought to its intended goal, and the kingdom of God is
realized. In him, we have election, justification, adoption, sanctification, glorification,
and every other Spiritual blessing. This catechism, from beginning to end, keeps the
focus on the person and work of the Savior. He is exhibited as the heart of the biblical
narrative and the hope of the church through the ages. Finally, this catechism is
catholic. Sure, there is much in it that is distinctively Reformed, but that is because I
believe the Reformed faith to be the purest expression of catholic theology. The
Reformers were really Reformed Catholics, and we should be as well. But this means our
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focus will be on the central tenets of biblical teaching. Thus, I have included the three
great pillars of all Christian catechesis: The Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and
the Nicene Creed. Really, if your child knows these three things, he knows everything.
And almost as importantly, he is freed from wearing the blinders of a self-righteous
sectarianism.
I have intended to make this catechism rather flexible so it can serve a wide range of
uses. In particular, I wanted something that would be of use through the whole course of
childhood. The introductory questions can obviously be learned by a fairly young child.
Many of the subsequent questions have much longer answers, but parents may find them
helpful teaching tools, even if they don’t have their children memorize them completely.
I did not write this catechism to multiply catechetical forms. The Reformed church has
plenty of useful catechisms, though our understanding of those catechisms is often
skewed since revivalism has eclipsed classic Protestantism among modern American
evangelicals, giving rise to a pietistic, introspective, individualistic faith. Thus, I truly
believe this catechism has a niche to fill in our current situation. The real heart of
catechesis is to form in our children a covenantal identity, a sense of belonging to God
and to the church. Our children need to be taught who they are in Christ so they can live
faithfully in the church, family, and world. May God by his grace enable us and our