spes clara

When we read Paul’s letters, what can we tell about the status of children in the believing community? How does Paul speak of them? Let’s pose a few questions:

Does Paul consider children as a sub-group of ‘little unbelievers’ in the midst of the ‘real’ believers in the church? Does any of Paul’s teaching betray any thought that children are seen by God as being categorically different from the adult professing believers? If little children of believing families are not part of the New Covenant, does Paul provide important instructions on how their parents should evangelize them?

As far as I can tell, the answer to all these questions is “NO”.

Paul does not consider children as a sub-group of ‘little unbelievers’ in the midst of the ‘real’ believers. He does not betray any thoughts that children are seen by God as having a different status from the adult professing believers. He does not provide any instructions on how their parents should evangelize them in order bring them to faith.

Let’s also consider what Paul thinks about those who reject Christ. Firstly, we know that Paul had a deep concern for them, and was willing to work incredibly hard to see them become Christians. For example:

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22; NIV)

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1; NIV)

Paul cared about those outside the church. Paul prayed for them, thought about them, and shared the gospel with them.

But at the same time, Paul sees a very sharp distinction between the church (which he calls ‘the temple of the living God’) and those outside the church. There is a fundamental spiritual divide.

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them
    and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.”

Therefore,

“Come out from them
    and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
    and I will receive you.” (2 Cor. 6:14-17; NIV).

So, here’s a question. Are we really to think of the children of believers in this way? If the children of believers are not believers in the credo-Baptist sense, then surely they are (in some sense) to be equated with “darkness,” “Belial,”  “unbeliever,” and “unclean” (v. 17b). If explicit, professed faith is the means by which we determine who belongs to Christ and who doesn’t, then until a child meets that standard, how can they not be seen as an unbeliever? Surely these children are outside of Christ, and technically outside the true church?

If this is how Paul thinks of children, then we should find consistent language which indicates this. But we don’t. Instead, we find consistent language indicating that children of all ages were included in the church, right alongside the adult believers. They are definitionally regarded as part of the church. Let’s see a few points where this is apparent or implied.

1. Children as ‘holy ones’ and ‘faithful ‘

When Paul addresses various groups within the Ephesian church he includes children and commands that they be raised as Christians, not treated like unbelievers.

The salutation at the beginning of the Epistle to the Ephesians indicates that Paul is sending this letter to “the saints” (hagioi, or “holy ones”) and “faithful” (pistoi) in Christ Jesus. Here is how he puts it:

“To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1; NIV)

Towards the end of the Epistle, Paul finds it necessary to issue some clear instructions to govern the home life of the people who constitute the Ephesian Church. He provides instructions for wives (vv. 24-27), then husbands (vv. 28-33 ), then children (6:1-3) then slaves (6:5-8) and lastly those who have slaves (6:9). In light of what we know of first century households, this list of instructions is clearly appropriate because it covers the majority of ‘people groups’ within the microcosm of the family home. In thinking of the Ephesian Christian community, Paul clearly considers children as among those who are “the saints” and “faithful” in Christ Jesus!

This idea is further supported by his specific instructions to the children in these Christian families:

^{“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Eph. 6:1; NIV).}

The prepositional phrase en Kurio (“in the Lord”) is not found in many manuscripts but it is certain enough to be considered authentic by virtually all English translations of the Bible, as well as being retained by the UBS Greek New Testament (5th ed.). The phrase “in the Lord” appears elsewhere in Paul’s writings. One interesting verse uses this phrase as Paul sends greetings to the Christians who are part of a certain Roman household:

“Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord” (en Kurio). (Rom. 16:11; NIV)

Paul’s use of “in the Lord” in Ephesians – in light of his opening salutation in chapter 1 – show what he thinks about the status of children in the church. They are “in the Lord”, just as the Christians in the Roman household of Narcissus are “in the Lord”. Needless to say, this is an extremely unusual way to speak of children who are unbelievers or not full members in the believing community along with their parents.

Paul’s instructions to fathers confirms the view that children are part of the believing community, and to be raised as Christians:

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  (Eph. 6:4; NIV)

If Paul thinks of the children of believers as “unsaved” and “unclean”, he could have chosen his words much more carefully. The fact is that Paul considers the children: (1) as full participants in the Ephesian believing community (hagioi and pistoi in Christ Jesus); and (2) as young people who are to be raised as Christians. Paul’s language seems to better support covenantal paedobaptism, rather than credo-baptist assumptions about who really constitute the New Covenant people of God.

2. Baby Timothy

When Paul writes to Timothy, he recalls that Timothy has known the Scriptures from his infancy:

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:14-15; NIV)

In verse 15, we see that Paul uses the Greek word brephos, which means “baby”.

Brephos is a rare word that is only used 6 times in the New Testament  (here, in Luke and Acts; also in 1 Peter 2:2). It’s the word used where babies are brought to Jesus in Luke 18. It’s also the same word used for the newborn Jesus in Luke 2:12:

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12; NIV)

This means Timothy’s had training in what the scriptures say, and an understanding of them (commensurate with his intellectual ability) since he was a baby. The wording clearly points to the age from which Timothy has known Holy Scripture – it is not the word for ‘youth’, but refers to a newborn baby. It is also clear that Timothy has a sincere faith, which is in part due to the faith and teaching of his mother and grandmother:

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (2 Tim. 1:5; NIV)

Here we see a beautiful picture of Timothy’s upbringing ‘in the Lord’. In Paul’s mind it’s clear that Timothy: (a) learned, or was taught, “the Holy Scriptures” from the time of his infancy (v. 15); (b) that Timothy still knows “those from whom he learned it” (v. 14b); and (c) that the faith of his grandmother and mother “lives in him” (2 Tim. 1:5b).

At least in the case of Timothy, Paul speaks naturally and warmly of a child being taught about Christ and raised to be a Christian. There is simply no sense in which Timothy was presumed to be unregenerate by his family or Paul. Children are to learn the Holy Scriptures from their youth with a view to seeing their faith grow and show itself in explicit ways that are commensurate with their age.

Paul presumes the inclusion and participation of the children of believers. Until they show themselves through a pattern of unbelieving behaviour to be ‘outside’ the church, they are ‘inside’ the church.

More points to come about this.