Children’s Positive Attitudes in the New Testament Epistles

Abstract

Summary The subject of the article is the attitudes and characteristics of children, which the authors of the New Testament epistles evaluate directly or indirectly as positive and recommend to their addressees in their relation to God, Christ, the Gospel, other people and values. Such attitudes include: service (Phil 2:22), obedience (Eph 6:1–3; Col 3:20; 1 Pet 1:14–16), modesty and innocence (1 Thess 2:7), receiving discipline (Heb 12:4–11), the desire for healthy mother’s milk (1 Pet 2:1–3). Besides, Semitic expressions such as ‘children of Abraham’ or ‘children of obedience’ emphasize the child’s origin and dependence on parents and participation in their goods. While in familiar phrases such as ‘my children’ or ‘my babies’ the cordiality, trust and devotion characteristic for children come to the fore. By recommending children’s attitudes to adult Christians, the authors of the letters do not want to lead them to infantilism, but to preserve the child’s soul. Although they do not refer to the positive statements of the Lord Jesus about children, their view of children is similar. They only pay more often attention to the negative attitudes of small persons.