Baptism (part 3)

This time I wanted to move on and reflect on a brief passage of Believer's Baptism:

Believer's baptism also demonstrates that the church is a new covenant community - all those within it know the Lord (Heb 8:11). The church of Jesus Christ is not a mixed community of believers and unbelievers. It consists of those who have confessed Jesus as Savior and Lord. Paedobaptists often say that Baptists do not escape from the charge of a mixed community since some of those who claim to be converted do not truly belong to the people of God. It is true, of course, that some of those who claim to believe are subsequently revealed to be inauthentic (eg. 1 John 2:19). Nevertheless, a profound differenceexists between Baptists and paedobaptists, for Baptists do not allow anyone into the church without trying to discern whether the person is truly saved, whereas paedobaptists knowingly include some who do not believe into the covenant community. (p.3)

(That last sentence there, BTW, is basically the reason for the note the other day that I'm intending to read Paedofaith as well).

What the comment from Believer's Baptism really lead me to think of was Ephesians 5:22-32 and just how closely models match reality. The passage in Ephesians describes marriage between a husband and wife as analogous to the relationship between Christ and the church. The model in Ephesians only partially fits - what happens when the husband (who in this relationship seems to represent the role of Christ) sins?

The Old Testament model wherein all (male Isrealite) children are circumcised to show that they are members of the covenant, doesn't wholely parallel those who have "circumcized hearts". Consider Romans 9:6b-8a (ESV):

For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

At the same point in time the credobaptist model doesn't seem to fully describe the special status of children of believers. To quote a brief passage of the Believer's Baptism book (that I referred to in my previous post on this topic):

While there is no hereditary right to salvation or church membership inherent in the circumstances of one's birth, children of believing parents do stand in a special providential relationship to the people and promises of God.

One could view the Old Testament sign of circumcision as accentuating God's blessings to the children of believers, and the New Testament as instead accentuating that salvation does not come merely based on who your earthly ancestors are. I'm not quite sure if such an understanding would fit with what is known of ancient Middle Eastern legal covenants though (nor am I sure where I can find some good historical coverage of this topic).