And ye shall be holy unto Me: For I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.

-Leviticus 20:26

For thou art an holy people unto the LoRD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

-Deuteronomy 14:2

The following ten scriptural grounds undergird the Reformed position that believers and their children are proper subjects for baptism.

1. God's Covenant of Grace includes children as well as adults. God's special covenant relationship extends to the children of believing parents as well as to the parents. The Word of God makes a clear distinction between the children of believers and unbelievers. The children of believers are set apart from all other children on earth and placed in a special relationship with God and His Word. They are referred to as "holy" -not in an inward, personal sense, but in an outward, federal way. While only the spiritual children (those of spiritual rebirth) are included in an inward, saving relationship to God's covenant, all the natural children of believers (those of natural birth) are included in the outward relationship with its respective blessings and responsibilities (as defined later in this chapter).

"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6).

"For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hands of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass" (Ezra 9:2).

The New Testament clearly informs us that this was not only a special national relationship of Old Testament Israel, but also teaches that if only one of the parents is a believer, the covenant relationship still extends to their children.

"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy" (I Corinthians 7:14).

John Calvin summarizes this truth by stating:

"The children of the Jews, because they were made heirs of the covenant, and distinguished from the children of the impious, were called a