Teaching Children
Appendix
4
Title:
"Little Innocents?"
Author:
Sinclair Ferguson
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"The
wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be
born, speaking lies."
Psalm 58:5
Last thing
at night, when our children were small, I often secretly watched them
as they slept: there they lay, breathing rhythmically, almost imperceptibly,
relaxed, at ease, enjoying "the sleep of innocence." But man
- perhaps especially a father - looks on the outward appearance. What
of the heart on which God gazes?
Wearing
biblical lenses we come to see a more sinister reality: our children
may be unknowing and naive, but innocent they have never been. Like
ourselves they are guilty and depraved. Already, as Robert Murray McCheyne
once wrote, the seed of every known sin is planted in their hearts.
The truth
is not merely that if things work out badly our children may drift spiritually
and morally; rather, the drive to do so is already embedded in their
hearts. All that is required for the tragic harvest is that they allow
themselves to give expression to their heart's desires. For in the sense
in which Reformed theology has used the term, our children are already
totally depraved; that is, as Louis Berkhof expressed it: " . .
. inherent corruption extends to every part of . . . nature, to all
the faculties and powers of both soul and body; and that there is no
spiritual good . . . in the sinner at all, but only perversion"
(Systematic Theology, p. 247).
The total
depravity of our children is a faith-doctrine, a biblical insight. Our
natural instinct is to think of new-born children as moral and spiritual
tabulae rasae, clean sheets on which to write a successful life. Admittedly
the page may soon be a little blotted (the occasional temper tantrum!),
but the background is still basically white, surely?
Not so,
according to the Scriptures: the wicked go astray from the womb and
speak lies from birth, insists the psalmist . Even if we see these words
as describing only some ("the wicked" are a specific category
in the Psalms), we would be foolish to minimize what David is saying:
the fruit is already in the root. We commit sin because our basic nature
is twisted.
This is
as true of a David as it is of "the wicked." That was the
revelation which stunned him when Nathan exposed him after his adultery
with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah.
This is
not a self-justifying excuse; it is a confession of sin. David's sin
was not an aberration in an otherwise satisfactory life, but a revelation
of congenital heart-disease.
How can
this be? Paul explains it in terms of the unity of the human race in
Adam. Sin entered the world through him, and death followed. All sinned
in Adam the representative head of the whole of humanity.
The proof
of this is seen in the way death spread to all and reigned over them.
Paul adds: "even over those who had not sinned according to the
likeness of the transgression of Adam" (Rom. 5:14), i.e., those
who had not been recipients of the special verbal revelation of God's
will.
Paul may
not be thinking here exclusively of infants; but no class of persons
more clearly illustrates this terrible consequence of the fall than
do infants who die before they are even capable of understanding God's
command.
Why does
this happen? Death does not come, ultimately, from "natural causes,"
but because our representative Adam has catastrophically brought us
down in his fall. This is what our forefathers wisely taught their children:
"In Adam's fall we sinned all."
By his
disobedience we have all been constituted sinners. As a result of our
natural relationship with him we have come to share in his depravity
from the very beginning of our existence. We are flawed from conception.
None of us has a "normal" birth.
Nor is
it long before this manifests itself in a thousand ways: are all tantrums
expressions of physical discomfort? Are we not shocked to see the willfulness
of children? Or do we fail to ascribe to God every evidence we see of
a gracious character forming? Do we know our hearts so little that we
think it is thanks to ourselves?
In a world
drifting on a sea of parental moral and spiritual confusion, the doctrine
of the total depravity of our children is actually an important practical
anchor. Parents who understand its significance recognize the divine
wisdom in teaching the commandments of God, given as they are largely
in negative form. God wrote them for sinners. They also recognize the
importance of teaching God's law in the context of God's grace in Christ
and through the Spirit. With Augustine we know that God will give what
He commands.
God has
not given us angels, but sinners to train to be saints. Since the situation
is further complicated by the fact that parents are also sinners, we
constantly need to rely on the teaching and directives of Scripture.
While that is a subject all on its own, here are some simple guidelines.
Recognize
that your children are miniature versions of yourself. Learn to think
in terms of Adam and Christ, sin and grace. That itself will help you
realize why God has given you the command not to exasperate your children.
In bringing
up your children, do not commit child-idolatry (in which the one commandment
is "never say no") or self-idolatry ("he/she will reflect
my glory"). Rather, by God's promised grace, parent a sinner into
sainthood.
Take seriously
the promise of God's Word that He will be your God and the God of your
children. But if you believe in infant baptism, do not make the mistake
of presuming that covenant children do not need to repent and believe
the Gospel. For in baptism we recognize the need of the washing of regeneration
and place our children under a life-long covenant responsibility to
repent of sin and to believe in Christ.
In times
when there is grievous sin, never forget that there is more grace in
Christ than there is sin in your heart and your child's heart combined.
In Christ there is a way back from the far country of a life style even
for children who have given full expression to heart depravity. So Monica
discovered after years of praying for her son, Augustine.
After all,
"And such were some of you" (1 Cor. 6:11) and did you not
find grace in Christ?
* * *
Appendix
1 Children
in worship
Appendix
2 Children
in Church
Appendix
3
Telling the children
Appendix
4
Don’t deprive the children
Appendix
5
"Little Innocents?"
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