In regard to membership in the local church: One must consider the difference between a communicant member and non communicant member. Communicant members are seen as in the internal covenant and elect by presumption based on their confession and fruit. Non communicant members do not have either of these things. Hence we cannot make any judgements either way.
At the base of PR is the covenant. However, Westminster never made the distinction you are making and neither do the scriptures. As previously mentioned, Jesus destroys any hope for covenant faithfulness in the passage I quote above. The Pharisses were saying that they had Abraham as covenant head and that validated their standing. Christ tells them, ‘No!’
“And what covenant do we speak of but the covenant of grace? And what are the benefits of that covenant but regeneration and the many other benefits of Christ?”
You fail to make the distinction between ‘holiness’ that true faith brings and holiness that 1 Cor 7 speaks of; they are not one and the same. You fail to make this distinction, irresponsibly.
You miss the trees for the forest; much of the same that I was guilty of in the past. My hopefulness toward my child is no more than a petition to God. It is not based on presumption as I have no grounds to presume either way, whether regenerate or unregenerate. I have the covenant, yes, but not conclusively.
