The antipaedobaptists maintain that the sign of circumcision used in the Old Testament dispensation represents something altogether different from the sign of baptism in the New Testament dispensation.

Baptism is the sign of the Covenant of Grace and the solemn admission of the person baptised into the visible church of God; therefore, if the Holy Scriptures clearly teach that circumcision is a sign of the Covenant of Grace and the admission of the person circumcised into the visible church of the Old Testament dispensation, it is established that both signs are used to signify the same things, and that Christ has instituted the sign of baptism in place of the sign of circumcision. At present we are not considering the reason for the change in the sign, but that baptism has taken the place of circumcision.

Circumcision was the sign of the Covenant of Grace used in the Old Testament dispensation. In Genesis 17, we read that God established His covenant with Abraham, and we submit that the inspired Apostle is better equipped to interpret this passage of Scripture than the Antipaedobaptists. Paul positively identifies Christ, and Christ alone, as the seed referred to in the covenant established with Abraham: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. 3: 16. The Apostle definitely states that the covenant is not made with many, but with one; to Christ. The covenant described in Jeremiah 31: 33, and Hebrews 8: 10, is simply an expanded form of the promise recorded in Genesis 17: 7. "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

The Covenant of Grace originated with God, and goes back until the past is exhausted and we meet eternity. In Micah 5: 2 Christ is represented as the One "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Prov. 8: 23, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was made"; also see Matt. 25:34, 2nd Tim. 1: 9, Titus 1: 2, 1st Peter 1: 20, Rev. 13: 8. While the Covenant of Grace goes back to all eternity, it is referred to as the New or Second Covenant because it became operative after the Covenant of Works was broken, through the weakness of the flesh: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. It is also called the New Covenant because of its stability in relation to the Covenant of Works (Heb. 8: 6-13). On the heavenly side the party to the covenant is God, essentially considered as the Father, upholding the Majesty and Authority of the Godhead. The Son of God, Christ, is the party representing man. He is a person of infinite merit and perfection. Thus the promises are made with Christ as the representative of man.

The following promises given by God and recorded in the Old Testament are typical or emblematical of the Covenant of Grace, and it should be carefully noted that the promises are made with parents, as representatives of their descendants. The promise made with Noah with reference to destruction by flood, Genesis 9:9, "Behold I will establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you." The covenant established with Abraham, Genesis 17. The covenant regarding the priesthood made with Phinehas, Num. 25: 12, 13. The covenant made with David with reference to the establishment of his kingdom, 2nd Sam. 7: 12.

The promises of the Covenant of Grace are made with Christ as the Head and Representative of His people; therefore the covenant was established with Abraham and recorded in Genesis 17: 7. "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." It cannot be disputed that this is the Covenant of Grace, the promises made to Abraham's seed, which is Christ, Gal. 3: 16-17. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made." "And this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." The token or sign of the Covenant of Grace given to Abraham, and to all those the covenant embraced in the Old Testament dispensation, was circumcision: "And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and thee." Gen. 17: 11. The Apostle Paul emphatically declares that circumcision was the sign of righteousness imputed to all who by faith embraced the covenant; "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet; being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe. Rom. 4: 11. Thus in the Old Testament we have set before us the sign of circumcision as the sign and seal of the Church of God on earth.

The promises are to Abraham and his seed, which is Christ, and therefore must not be confined to the natural descendants of Abraham; for the blessings received and bestowed upon all who believe are called "the blessings of Abraham"; "That the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. 3: 14. Therefore the sign of circumcision must not be considered as a badge of national distinction, as it was not confined to the natural descendants of Abraham; "And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed." Gen. 17: 12.

The whole significance of the sign, circumcision, was the greatest of all blessings; the promise was, "I will be a God unto thee and thy seed." Thus we have the Church set before us in the Old Testament dispensation and the sign or token of circumcision was the right of admission into its membership, "And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." Gen. 17: 14. It is also evident that we must acknowledge the spiritual character and significance of circumcision, as explained by the Apostle. "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly: neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. 2: 28-29.

We feel that sufficient has been said to show that circumcision was the token of the Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament dispensation, or as Paul has said, it was the seal of justification by faith and union with God. Our Lord Jesus Christ has seen fit to change the sign, but not the things signified by the sign. Baptism has been substituted for circumcision. In the New Testament baptism is the token of the Covenant of Grace, the seal of justification by faith and union with God. In the Old Testament dispensation circumcision was the rite by which the individual was received into the Church of God. In the New Testament dispensation baptism is the rite by which the individual is received into the Church of God.

The Antipaedobaptists know very well that circumcision was the initiatory rite of the former dispensation of admission to the membership of the visible Church; and they also know that this rite was applied to adults and to infants eight days old - that is, infants born within the Covenant received the sign of the covenant, and the blessings of the covenant, and the privileges of the covenant. The infants were received into the Church by God's appointment, and the reception of infants within the covenant has never been repealed. Let the Antipaedobaptists show us either by precept or example from the Holy Scriptures where God has changed His mind concerning the reception of infants within the covenant into His Church.

The blessings sealed and signified by circumcision are identical with the blessings sealed and signified by baptism. Paul in his letter to the Colossians said: "And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Col. 2: 10-12.

The Antipaedobaptists in refusing the rite of baptism to infants of believing parents, refuse them the right of membership in the visible Church of God, when by God's appointment they, the infants, were received into the Church by the sign of circumcision at the age of eight days. Without any warrant from the Holy Scripture the Antipaedobaptists are prepared to set aside God's appointment, and by their presumptuous action imply that the infants of today, within the covenant, are excluded from the privileges of the Church which the infants of the Old Testament age enjoyed. Are we to conclude that God is less gracious today than He was then? We repudiate any such suggestion. If parents bring their infants in faith to receive the sacrament of baptism, the seal and sign of the Covenant of Grace, God will fulfil His promise: "I will be a God unto you and your children."