An Echo of the Abrahamic Promise in the New Covenant

The promise of the New Covenant is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Although our Reformed Baptist brothers in Christ claim that the nature of the New Covenant excludes the practice of infant baptism, the details of the text suggest otherwise.

Moreover, although the New Covenant is a discontinuation of the Mosaic Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32), it is a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant, and since the Abrahamic Covenant included children, the New Covenant also includes the children of covenant members.

It is not the purpose of this post, however, to demonstrate the theological validity of this argument about the inclusion of children. Instead, this post simply seeks to highlight an echo of the Abrahamic promise in the New Covenant. It is true, though, that this echo should be part of the larger argument about the continuity of the Abrahamic and New Covenants and the inclusion of children in the administration of the New Covenant.

The echo of the Abrahamic promise in the New Covenant is found in Jeremiah 31:33: “…And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This verse echoes the Abrahamic promise found in Genesis 17:7, which says, “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” This is the great promise of the Abrahamic Covenant. Indeed, this is the great promise of the covenant of grace in every administration. God promises to be God to his people. But who are his people?

Here is what the exegete needs to observe – the background of the phrase “my people” in Jeremiah 31:33 is “you and your offspring after you” in Genesis 17:7. In other words, God includes the offspring (seed, descendents, children) of covenant members in his people.

Emphatically, then, the New Covenant does not exclude people (i.e. children of covenant members) who were previously included in the Abrahamic Covenant. In point of fact, the New Covenant celebrates their full inclusion because the New Covenant promises to write the law of God on the heart, not merely on tablets of stone (cf. Jeremiah 31:33).