Exploring the New Covenant Pt 1: Introduction

While things have been fairly quiet on the blog here, thoughts have been racing through my head of late.

Particularly, thoughts relating to the New Covenant ... what is is... what the benefits are... and especially who makes it up: Is it comprised of believers only?  Or are nonbelievers included in this New Covenant as well?

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church emblem.

Growing up from a slightly Pentecostal and then a standard evangelical background, I grew up recognizing that the New Covenant was comprised of believers.  I have no recollection of learning anything to the contrary. 

However, while investigating churches in the O'Fallon / St. Peters / St. Charles, MO area, my wife and I have spent the last month or so at Mercy Road Fellowship, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) plant near Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters.  Aside from a small Acts 29 church plant of maybe 15 people, this is by far the smallest congregation I've been involved in on any capacity.  at least 1/3 of the warm bodies that make up the place are young children (it seems) and there are only about a total of 30 or so adults any given Sunday thus far.

Despite its small congregation size, the worship and liturgy is very Christ-centered.  The teaching portion of worship is also commendable.  The song portion of worship is organized AND you can hear the people next to you singing ... which we had not experienced together since the move until we visited Mercy Road.  This congregation has a deep desire to proclaim the forgiveness of sins found at the cross of Jesus Christ.

So why am I discussing an EPC congregation in the midst of a post seemingly concerning the New Covenant??

I'll outline it briefly:

1. Mercy Road Fellowship is a Presbyterian church
2. Presbyterians baptize both adult converts and children of believers
3. The aforementioned baptism is seen as a sign of the New Covenant, and therefore
4. The doctrine of the New Covenant should be investigated, to ascertain whether or not children of believers are to be admitted into the New Covenant prior to repentance and faith.

The issue of baptizing babies in and of itself is not what irks me so.  IF children of believers really do have "covenant status" under the New Covenant, it would seem logical they receive the sign of the New Covenant - that is, baptism.  However, if the New Covenant is NOT to include the unrepentant individual (regardless of the age), it would necessarily be wrong to administer the sign of the covenant purposefully to an individual not under said covenant.

These are my concerns as I move forward into looking at the New Covenant.  In future posts, I will look at Scripture dealing with the New Covenant and bring up some points laid before me by my Presbyterian brothers in the faith.

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