What's the Sign of the Covenant?
An exposition of Genesis 17 (with a discussion of infant baptism)
Covenants Come with Signs
When we make a commitment we usually are asked to leave our signature as our sign. The sign of a marriage covenant is rings and, for a woman in Western culture, for her to change her last name to that of the husband. Chinese don’t do that. The sign of a commitment – a name change, a ring, a signature – shows you have made the commitment.
God who, who has already made the commitment, demands we make a commitment and take the sign. Listen to this exposition of Genesis 17 to hear what is the sign of your covenant:
Sanctification (17:1-8)
God is El Shaddai who (Almighty), the all-powerful God who cannot be limited by anything out-side Himself. “Walk” with the Lord: every part of daily life, is to be in step with God Almighty. For Abram holiness was to be the sign that God committed to him. God commits five times with an “I will” (17:4-6).
Before God asks for a commitment, He makes a commitment.
Our “I wills” must be based on God’s “I wills”.
God sanctifies Abram by changing his name (17:5): Abraham, “father of a multitude.” Abraham is to commit himself to the God who has already committed to him.
If we are committed to the Lord we must be committed to the other offspring of Abraham: the true church.
For more about how God’s commitment to us produces our commitment to Him, listen to the YouTube link above.
Sign (17:9-14)
The sign of the covenant here is circumcision; for us, a new heart (Col. 2:11f). The sign changed. In Galatians 5:2, “if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.” Deuteronomy 30:6 foretold that the new covenant would have a circumcision of the heart that would cause those with this sign to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
“A Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:29).
Why We Do Not Baptize Babies
Our sign of the covenant is in our hearts, where God has given us love for Him; it’s not “by the letter,” by a ritual. It’s not baptism. Reformed people who baptize babies say baptism is the sign of the covenant and so baptize babies just like Abraham is here told to circumcise them, because they say baptism has replaced circumcision. But the Bible never says that. It says our sign of the covenant is in the heart, giving us love for God. Now, that will result in baptism because if you now “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” you will want to obey Him and so you will be baptized. But baptism doesn’t put you in a covenant – or relationship – with God. It shows that you already have one.
Those who argue that baptism is the new sign for the new covenant then say that just as babies were circumcised and considered in covenant with God, so too babies should be baptized and considered in covenant with God. That is the main argument for what is called “covenant theology’s” defense of infant baptism. They say there is a complete continuity (nothing changes), that the sign of the covenant is applied to infants today just as it was to them then. There is one “covenant of grace,” administered here in the Abrahamic covenant, later in a Sinai covenant and the covenant with David, and that Christ fulfills those covenants and gives us the new covenant and everything not explicitly changed is retained.
For more about how circumcision is a type of the circumcision of the heart and not baptism, listen to the YouTube link above.
Baptism Does Not Replace Circumcision
Reformed infant-baptizers say that circumcision replaces circumcision; that circumcision was a type of baptism. But the Bible never says that. It says that circumcision is a type of the circumcision of the heart (getting a new heart, being born again.) God makes a commitment — a covenant — and the sign of that commitment is giving His people a new heart. Then they love God and are disciples.
Baptism is not a sign of the covenant. It doesn’t replace circumcision, or put babies in a covenant with God, and the New Testament never talks about “covenant children.”
There is a continuity of covenants. But, here, the sign of the covenant is explicitly changed. After all, if the Lord had intended a complete continuity with the old covenant, then why not simply continue circumcision? If there is no change, why did the sign of the covenant change? Why not require Christians to be circumcised, as some were proposing in the early church? In other words, the fact that we have baptism and not circumcision is a sign that there was some change. Besides, those who use this passage to argue for the baptizing of babies, don’t do it on the 8th day, like required here in Genesis 17:12. If they’re really doing it as a replacement for circumcision, they should do it on the 8th day, and only for boys.
Baptism Is the Sign of The Circumcision of The Heart
The New Testament never talks about “covenant children,” or shows us anyone being baptized on the basis of someone else’s faith, of small children being baptized because their parents were believers. The command to be baptized, by the Lord Jesus Himself in Matthew 28:19, is for the church to baptize disciples. How can we know if a baby is a disciple? Baptism is a sign for disciples to point to their commitment to the Lord.
Since baptism is the sign of the circumcision of the heart, we should reserve it for people who show that sign.
For more about how Biblical covenant theology does not support infant baptism, listen to the YouTube link above.
Sarah (17:15-21)
God commits even further, narrowing His options. God tells Abraham Sarah will bear the child to carry on this covenant. God changes her name to “Sarah”, to mark that change is required.
Abraham laughs. And God Almighty laughs back. The covenant will not pass down through Ishmael. It will be with Isaac. “Isaac” means he laughs
Surrender (17:22-27)
“That very day.” Abraham immediately obeys, without looking for other options. He showed what true faith does: he surrendered. Surrender – walking before God wholeheartedly – is the sign God has made a covenant with you.
God’s covenant with you shows in your surrendering to Him.
The King who came from Sarah committed Himself to this plan of salvation; He committed to come in human flesh, to suffer, to surrender even to death, so that you could surrender to life. Your commitment to Him is the sign that He already committed to you. That is, His covenant of grace with you gave you the sign of the covenant — a circumcised heart that loves the Lord — so you surrender to God. Do you have the sign that He’s committed to you?
For more about how our surrender to God is a sign of God’s prior covenant with us, listen to the YouTube link above.
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Caswell County’s & Danville’s Reformed Church.