Are you saying that regeneration does not apply to those of the Old Covenant? It seems to me that you are. You say that the Old and New are not just different different administrations but different covenants, yet you haven't demonstrated this. How are the Old and New Covenants different. Doesn't Paul demonstrate that Abraham was justified by faith the same way that people in the New Covenant are (Rom. 4)? Doesn't Moses tell the Israelites that it is not outward adherence to the Law but inward regeneration that counts ("circumcision of the heart," Deut. 10:16), which is what the New Covenant emphasizes (Titus 3:5). Furthermore, I take you to mean that in the Old Testament God's covenant worked along familial lines. This is implied in the promise to Abraham "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." Gen 17:7. If the New covenant no longer worked along familial lines then we would expect the language to change, but this is not the case as is implied in Acts 2:39 "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call." Also this is implied in the "household" baptisms (Acts 16:33; Acts 16:15).
Further still, baptism is not just based upon circumcision but also the washings and sprinkling of blood that took place in the OT, the flood (1 Pet. 3:20,21), and the passing through of the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1,2). I may add in passing that their were infants who passed through the Red Sea.
Nice try.
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Steven J. Carr (Sven) http://beholdingthebeauty.blogspot.com/ Eagan, MN PCA
"Weak is the effort of my heart / And cold my warmest thought / But when I see thee as thou art / I'll praise thee as I ought."--John Newton
Trophy Wife/Arm Candy: Crystal Ann
Children: Steven Jr. and Hannah Grace