I received a text question on Sunday after the benediction. The texter was asking me to clear up some verbiage I used that could easily be misunderstood (or misconstrued).
You mentioned “transfer your faith” when referring to our children. Can you clarify what you mean?
This is a simple, yet loaded question.
Firstly, there is no way to transfer your faith that does not involve your child’s receiving it (John 1:12). Yes, Paul seems to understand that a parent “covers” the child in the home (1 Cor 7:14), but faith otherwise is personal.
Secondly, the family prepares the soil. Mistakes will be made, but love covers a multitude of sin and pray like mad, because ultimately it’s in His hands.
Thirdly, the word “faith” has a number of implications and I likely meant ALL of them:
- Theologically, saving faith is a one-time action. The moment we believe in Jesus we have everlasting life. We are justified. We are forgiven. We are sealed. We are born again. And yes, we are babies.
- “Faith” in this context could be thought of as by faith day-to-day following Jesus and His Word by which we grow into mature believers.
- And of course the epistles often refer to the whole of Christian teaching as “the faith”.
As I recall, I had a slide up with the words from Deuteronomy 6:6-8 discussing the parents’ role of continuous teaching. While that slide was up, I also mentioned that we need to be faithfully modeling. It is through those two means that we “transfer our faith” to our children. Our saving faith, our living faith, and our body of knowledge (Ephesians 6:4).
Thanks for asking,
Pastor Scott
Grace Notes 