BORN IN ZION: THE CASE FOR THE CELEBRATION OF INFANT BAPTISM

In covenantal theology, Zion and the church are one and the same, so children born to Christian parents are children born in Zion.

The Psalmist wrote of the privilege of being born in Zion in Psalm 87:

A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.

1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.

 2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion

         More than all the dwellings of Jacob.

 3 Glorious things are spoken of you,

         O city of God! Selah 

 4 “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me;

         Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia:

         ‘This one was born there.’ ”

 5 And of Zion it will be said,

         “This one and that one were born in her;

        And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”

 6 The LORD will record,

         When He registers the peoples:

         “This one was born there.” Selah 

Throughout the ages, the reformed church has believed that there is the visible church and the invisible church; the invisible church being all of those who are chosen and elect of God, the visible church being the community of believers we commonly refer to as “the church”(i.e. the First Baptist Church, the Eastside Presbyterian Church, etc.). While there is only one route into the invisible church (by grace alone, through faith alone), covenantal theologians teach that there are two ways into the visible church. Like our dispensational brethren, we believe that one can enter into the visible church by profession of faith. But unlike them, covenantal theology also acknowledges that one can be born into the visible church.

If the sign and seal of one’s entrance into the visible church through profession of faith has always been baptism, then why shouldn’t the same sign and seal be applied to one born into the visible church? While it may be harmless to make a child wait until he or she is old enough to “make his calling and election sure”, why would we want to? (And then there is always the question, how old is that, anyway? Isn’t it true that wheat and tares will never certainly be distinguished in this age? So at what minimum age can the visible church be certain that any of her members belong also to the invisible church?)

There are abundant benefits and blessings that are the birthright of one who has been born in Zion, born into the visible church. Here is a child who, by God’s grace, will never carry the deep scars of the world on their body or their soul. Here is a child who will, hopefully, never know the outer darkness. Yes, the sign and the seal can wait. The child will be no less a child of Zion. But isn’t that something worth celebrating, that “this one was born in Zion”? The Psalmist certainly thought so!

There is a scene from the movie “The Matrix” in which the main character, Neo, is introduced to the young man known as Tank. Neo, newly freed, retains the holes in his flesh that once connected him to the Matrix. To his surprise, he notices that Tank has no holes.

NEO:

You don't have...

TANK:

Any holes? Nope. Me and my brother Dozer, we are 100 percent pure, old fashioned, home-grown human. Born free. Right here in the real world. Genuine child of Zion.