----- Original Message ----- 

From: "John Reisinger" <24jreisinger26@...>

> JGR  But the child could not die if were not actually guilty and deserving

> of death.



The importance of what you say here cannot be understated.  Unfortunately,
even MacArthur doesn't understand the implications of what he says.  He is
undermining the very gospel he thinks he is defending.  We can say many
things about infant salvation.  We can say they all go to heaven.  We can
say only elect infants die.  We can say some are elect and some aren't (my
own position).  But we cannot:



 1. Deny imputed guilt.  This denial has grievous implications to what we
say we believe about salvation.  Without imputed guilt, there is no imputed
righteousness.  Without imputed guilt, there is no doctrine of "original
sin".  The very word "sin" implies "guilt".  If there's no guilt, there's no
sin because one anticipates and presupposes the other. If we sinned "in
Adam", we are guilty "in Adam".



Imputed guilt and imputed righteousness are two sides of the same coin.
Federal representation is not federal representation without imputed guilt.
Adam is not the federal head of Romans 5 if there is no imputed guilt (which
is why it isn't surprising to find that the same people who deny imputed
guilt also have a hard time affirming federal headship).  In denying imputed
guilt, MacArthur unwittingly is denying Christ's imputed righteousness...
because Christ's imputed righteousness is necessitated by imputed guilt.
When imputed guilt is denied, sin is redefined as something that is
relegated to the conscious will.  When sin is redefined as something
relegated to the conscious will, God's unconditional election is compromised
because the question of one's salvation is shifted from the divine decree to
the person's choie... i.e. God's election is "conditioned" on whether or not
the person is able to make a conscious decision.  I do not believe that
those who deny imputed guilt wittingly undermine the doctrines of grace.
But they fail to realize the doctrines of grace are interconnected.



The suggestion that a child is not guilty of sin until he actually commits
as sin undermines the gospel itself. not just because it undermines imputed
righteousness, but because imputed guilt is inseparable from the penalty
imposed for man's guilt.  The penalty for man's guilt is death.  It's
impossible to suggest that Adam's guilt is not passed along to *all* of his
descendents.   It doesn't get much simpler: the wages of sin is death.
Babies die.  Babies are guilty.  We are condemned because we are sinners,
not merely because we sin.



 2. Call God's morality into question.  The creature is in no position to
question God's morality, yet too often God's morality is invoked as *reason*
to insist on that all infants are saved.  And we must be careful not to
invoke God's morality in our discussion of Adam's federal representation,
especially for sentimental reasons.  Even some great theologians have
introduced God's morality into the discussion.  Any time we hear or see a
sentence start with "What kind of a God would.. Etc. etc." that should be a
red flag.  The creature is in no position to question God's morality.  When
we call God's morality into question, God's justice is slighted.  And what
many in our own circles fail to realize, when they say "What kind of a God
would." in their defense of infant salvation, they are making precisely the
*same* argument for the *same* reasons as the liberal who says "What kind of
a God would send anyone to hell?"



Paul anticipated the "morality objection" in Romans 9, precisely because he
knew there would be those object to his OT interpretation that Esau was
damned before he was born: can the clay say to the potter "why have you made
me like this?"



We can say many things about the salvation of infants. but the gospel is
lost if we deny Adam's federal representation and his imputed guilt to us.
If we believe that all infants who die go to heaven, then we must do so on
grounds other than the denial of these fundamental truths.  As has already
been stated here, God is just.  And we *must* leave it at that, regardless
of our position.