Genesis 17:1-8 - Constructed Theology

Chad Werkhoven
Apr 14
6 min read

We can be absolutely certain regarding the salvation of covenant children.

Genesis 17:1-8 (NIV)

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Articles 1-14

Article 17: The Salvation of the Infants of Believers

Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy,
1. not by nature
2. but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included,
Godly parents
1. ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children
2. whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

Summary

When Abram was ninety-nine years old... I'm always struck by how hard it is to understand spans of time when reading scripture. After all, the whole Abraham narrative began only five chapters earlier in the book of Genesis, which means it wouldn't take long to read about everything that's happened since God called him to pick up and move from one country to another. So it's easy to vastly underestimate the amount of time that's gone by.

But at ninety-nine, Abram wasn't underestimating anything. It had been twenty four long years since he had faithfully responded to God's call, and although God had given plenty of evidence of His providence in Abram's life, His primary promise to make Abram into a great nation (Gen. 12:2) remained stymied by the fact that Abram and his equally old wife were childless.

God's promise was far more than an ordinary promise; it was more than just an optimistically set goal that God hoped to achieve if everything went according to plan. No, God made this promise in the form of a covenant, which is a significant and formal contract of sorts. Essentially, the LORD legally obligated Himself to fulfill the stipulations He had promised to Abram.

In Abram's ninety-ninth year of life, God once again reminded Abram of His covenantal obligation to greatly increase Abram's numbers and to make him the father of many nations. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary - the biological impossibility of a childless couple in their nineties becoming pregnant - God wanted Abram (and us) to know He would always be faithful to His covenant promises.

Dig Deeper

This week we're going to unpack the awesome, comforting doctrine the Canons articulate regarding the salvation of the young children of believing parents. But notice the somewhat cryptic introduction to this article: Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word... The reality is that since there are no smoking gun proof texts that specify the fate of children who die in infancy, we must make a judgment about God's will in this matter.

This isn't comfortable ground for us Reformed folk. One of the greatest tenants of our faith is that it's not grounded on somebody's carefully imagined framework, but rather on the bedrock principle of sola scriptura. If God's Word doesn't say it, we don't believe it. Conversely, if God's Word commands it, we obey it. Period.

Yet you need not worry that the Canons are driving you over a cliff by making a judgment in this matter. All it's doing here is combining several concrete theological truths which are solidly and directly rooted in scripture and deriving a conclusion that logically must be true as well. Actually, you need to do this same thing on a daily basis in life: apply multiple Biblical facts to know how to handle situations the Bible doesn't directly address. This is why you need to be a good theologian!

So even though the Bible doesn't specifically mention the salvation of believer's children, we can be absolutely certain of their salvation because the Bible is so absolutely certain about God's covenant promises. Over and over in scripture, God states that His covenant relationship is between me and you and your descendents after you. In other words, His promises apply to our children. This is why we call them our covenant children.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, God Almighty, who calls us to walk before Him and be blameless;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for wisdom as you construct conclusions each day by stitching together Biblical truths and applying them to the situations you face;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: