Udemans’ visie op het zaad van het geloof bij de kleine kinderen van de gelovigen

Samenvatting

Dutch Reformed minister Godefridus Cornelisz Udemans (1581/82-1649) defends the thesis that children of the covenant should be baptized because, by the Holy Spirit, they have ‘the seed of faith’. Udemans employs this concept to argue 1) that children are not
unbelievers; 2) that children progress in their faith, and 3) that this shows the work of the Holy Spirit in believers. Udemans often refers to Beza and argues that the whole Dutch Reformed Church agrees with this concept. The relevance of Udemans’ idea of ‘the seed of faith’, then and now, is the comfort and confidence it provides godly parents in raising their children