Good News for Households (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 27; Acts 16:9-40) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Promise for Households
II. The Baptism of Households
Herman Hoeksema: “... our fathers understood very well that there is always in the congregation an elect kernel and a reprobate shell, and that not all is Israel which is of Israel. But they understood also, O so well, that therefore the congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ may not be called according to the name of that reprobate shell, but must bear the name of the elect kernel. Therefore they did not hesitate to lay it upon the lips of the congregation that God establishes an eternal covenant of grace with us and our children, and that He seals and confirms the same unto us by holy baptism. Therefore they did not hesitate to require of godly parents the confession that although our children are conceived and born in sin, yet that they are sanctified in Christ” (Believers and Their Seed, pp. 115-116).