(verbal revelation), written by God or his designee (written revelation), Progressive Covenantalism and New Covenant Theology, Creative Commons License with Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 3.0 US). These words are best translated into English as “covenant” (not testament) because it is a relationship between two living parties, not a legal enactment effected by the death of one party whereby a living party receives a bequest, an important difference. Covenant Theology Today. What was distinctive was the overall synthesis made by Old Testament covenant-shaped theology, which sought to integrate life tightly around relationship with Yahweh, using a common cultural form in a startling way. Biblical Examples: Adam (Gen 1–2), Noah (Gen 6–9), Abraham (Gen 12; 15; 17), Moses/Israel (Exod 19; 24), David/Kingdom (2Sam 7), and Jesus/New Covenant (Luke 22; Acts 2, Gal 3; Heb 6–10). Furthermore, Matthew makes it clear that Jesus’s baptism is identifying him as the one to whom the Davidic covenant promise of 2 Samuel 7:11–16 was made, which Peter also prominently asserts in Acts 2:22–36 (while also connecting Jesus to the Abrahamic covenant, Acts 2:37–39). Wellhausen considers the covenant between Israel and Yahweh as an idea that owed its ⦠Hence, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin (Heb 9:22). Such reflection is called biblical theology. If you want to study more of covenant theology, here are some resources, generally ordered from shorter and simpler to more demanding. Here’s the staggering thing: he binds himself to us, and he binds us to himself only. It is the design of all God’s commands to bless us. The essential distinction between the two meanings [covenant and testament] is that in a testament the testator expresses his will as to what shall be done after his death, esp. God’s covenants entail benefits and responsibilities, privileges and duties, and in God’s sovereign, good, and wise design these things are meant to be inseparably intermingled, so that we delight in duty and duty is a delight. The word “covenant” occurs over 30 times in the New Testament (almost 300 in the Old), and covenant terminology and related categories and themes are found in every part of it. The formulation of covenant theology is the work of the 16th and 17th century Calvinistic Reformation. When Luke wanted to show early Christians that Jesus’s life and ministry were the fulfillment of God’s ancient purposes for his chosen people, he appealed to the ancient Abrahamic covenant of grace and quoted Zacharias’s prophecy which shows that believers in the very earliest days of fledgling Christian church understood Jesus and his messianic work as a fulfillment (not a ‘Plan B’) of God’s covenant with Abraham (Luke 1:72–73). They are living agreements that confirm and order a person’s life with God and others in this world. The earliest Christians saw a big chunk of the history of God’s people as divided up between the old covenant (that God made with Moses before Israel entered the promised land) and the new covenant (which was accomplished by Christ). Covenant theology sees an inseparable continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament. From Noah to David, successive covenants are seen in the Old Testament as expressions of divine purpose. Please, subscribe or login to access full text content. . The ebb and flow of the epic of history, and therefore of Scripture, is a constant reaction to this covenant. God’s divine covenants are binding relationships. It pre-existed the formulation of dispensationalism by several centuries. Additionally, Paul taught that Jesus’s obedience and death—which he understands in the covenantal terms of Passover lamb and sacrifice (1Cor 5:7), propitiation (Rom 3:25), curse (e.g., Gal 3:13–14)—remedied Adam’s disobedience and death which had resulted in sin and death in all mankind (Rom 5:12–21; 1Cor 15:21–22). John Scott Redd opposes this idea as well, arguing for a single covenant of grace including the Noahic covenant (134). Life with God is not simply about what comes after death but also about living with and for him now. The New Testament writers variously describe Jesus as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant promises, the New Covenant prophecy of Jeremiah, the covenant inauguration ceremony of the Mosaic covenant in Exodus 24:8, and the Passover lamb. In the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic covenants, the covenant rituals (and the elaborations or rehearsals of the stipulations of the covenant) are subsequent to the divine election and promises that inaugurate the relationship. His death is the ground of forgiveness of sins in the New Covenant, and his covenantal mediation assures everlasting communion with God. So, while covenant theology sees a continuity between the Old and New Testaments in regards to Godâs people and the way of salvation, new covenant theology draws a rather sharp line of distinction between the Old and New Testaments when it comes to the difference between the old Mosaic covenant and the new covenant mediated by Christ. Now many are very comfortable talking about Scriptural covenants (like the covenant with Abraham or David) but they get nervous about admitting the legitimacy of theological covenants, like the Covenants of Redemption, Works and Grace. How do you relate that to Jesus fulfilling the Abrahamic, Mosaic and New Covenants? So much of the Old Testament is bound up with the importance of the Sinai covenant as it is sometimes called or the old covenant or the Mosaic covenant because Moses was the mediator. All Rights Reserved. Nicholsonâs book is divided into three parts. In fact, the very first sentence of the New Testament (Matt 1:1) identifies Jesus with the Davidic covenant. The standard form of covenant theology views the history of God's dealings with mankind, from Creation to Fall to Redemption to Consummation, under the framework of three overarching theological covenants: those of redemption, of works, and of grace. Covenant theology (sometimes called Federal theology, because of the Latin word foedus which means covenant) is not sectarian, but an ecumenical Reformed approach to understanding the Bible, developed in the wake of the magisterial Reformation, but with roots stretching back to the earliest days of catholic Christianity and historically appreciated in all the various branches of Protestantism under the influence of Reformed theology (Baptist, Congregationalist, Independent, Presbyterian, Reformed, and Anglican). They are far from informal or casual. So how do you assemble all this (and much more) into a coherent account of the biblical covenants (and their implications) in the Old and New Testaments? Covenant theology “puts the Bible together” by appreciating the importance of the divine covenants. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. (often instituted at a ceremony) that secures a promissory relationship that entails blessing and obligation. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Here are some good, quick, fairly succinct resources from covenant theologians answering those questions exegetically, with insights from biblical and systematic theology: For these reasons and more, covenant theologians find ample exegetical, biblical theological and systematic theological grounds for asserting “theological covenants”—the Covenants of Redemption, Works and Grace. All views expressed in this essay are those of the author. This study analyses the different divine covenants of the Old Testament and argues that they are closely related. If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian. The Scripture’s teaching on the covenants is central, not peripheral, to biblical doctrine and history. That is, covenant theology is an approach to understanding the meaning of the Scriptures (what theologians call a “hermeneutic”), that recognizes the central significance of the scriptural covenants in structuring redemptive history. Hence, covenant theology is not a response to dispensationalism. To reiterate: a testament is a way or means of conveying an inheritance (usually because of a pre-existing relationship) after the testator’s death (e.g., the reading of a will at a legal bequest). The shed blood of Jesus Christ. If you are interested in translating our content or are interested in joining our community of translators, please reach out to us. Acts 7:8); Exodus 12:11–13; 31:12-17; Matthew 28:19 (cf. “It is my food to do the will of him who sent me,” Jesus said, and so his disciples do too. 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