Eachmonththe Cross-Examination

column presents asummary statement

of a Reformed and Reconstructionist

conviction in theology or ethics, and

then offers brief answers to common

questions,objectionsorconfusionswhich

people have about that belief. Send is-

sues or questions you would like ad

dressed by Dr.

Bahnsen to the editor.

We BeIieve

Let us begin by recapitulatingwhat

we mean by covenant theology. God

reveals Himself in the pages ofScripture

specificallyasthecovenant-keepingGod.

To understand His person and works

properly, we mustsee im n ight of he

covenant He has made and fulfills with

His people.

WehavealreadyseenthatGod'sreIa

tionship with

man

from

the very begin

ning

was

covenantal in nature. His cov

enant with

Adam

was gradous in char

acter, sovereignly imposed, mutually

binding, called for trust and submission

on Adam's pan, and carried sanctions

(blessings or curse). When Adam fe

into sin, God mercifullyre-established a

covenantal relationship withhim, one in

which the gracious and promissory

character of the covenant was accentu

ated even further - in the promise of a

coming Savior, a promise which is pro

gressivelyunfoldedandelaborated upon

throughout the Old Testament.

Thus aU of the post-fall covenants

(even the Mosaic adminJstration) were

gracious in

character, complementing

andexpandingupon previousones, and

centered on Christ and His redemptive

work-ratherihanupontheJewsorthe

land of

Palestine.

The Old

Covenant

looked aheadto Christ and Hiswork (by

foreshadow

and prophecy), while the

New

Covenant looks back to Christ

and

His work, proclainting the gospel that

God's saving ltingdom has now arrived.

These

are,

then, butoneunderlyingcov

enant under diffeting administrations.

Question:BoIhdispensationalistsand

covenant

theologians

see c6D.tinuity as

well as discontinuity between the Old

TestamentandtheNewTestamenr.Both

recognize

the need for the

grace ofGod

for anybody to be

saved

after the

full

Both believe that the Mosaic cultus

(temple, sacrifioes,

etc.)

has been laid

aside in the New Covenant. So

is

the

theological differencebetweenthese

two

'

THE

COUNSEL o

Chalcedon '

December

992

schools

of thought really so significant

when aU is said and done?

AJlSWtr he significance of the

dif

ferenceisaweighryoneindeed.ltreftects

upon the natUre and character of God. It

iinpactsthewayin

which

weseesalvation

and scripture. Itcarries fur-reachingim

plications for the wayin which we wor

ship God and live before

Him in the

world.

Dispensatianalists

may

arrive

at

certainconcIusionswhichagreewiththe

conclusions

of

covenant theology, but

the way in which

they

reach those con

clusions leads

to

a host of other errors.

For instance, dispensationalists

maintain that.everything in the Old

Covenant passes away

with the coming

of the New

Covenant

- everything ex

cept that which is reiterated in the New

Covenant. Covenant theologians take a

diamerrically

different approach

to Bib

lical interpretation. They hold that no

body has the prerogative to

alter or ab

rogate the word of the Lord except the

Lord Himself:

Therefore, with the com

ing of the New Covenant aU the prin

ciples of the Old Covenant continue to

be

valid

except where the Lord of the

Covenant declares things to be new. To

put it simply: God

alone

can define the

newness of thenew. Thus the operating

presumption of dispensationalists and

covenant theologians is exactly the op

posite of

each

other.

Dispensatianalistswillsaythat,inthe

end, salvation in the Old Covenant was

by the grace ofGod through faith. How

ever, they also say that, hypothetically,

salvationwas offered to

men on thebasis

of theirkeeping the law perfectly- that

God extended an invitation to legalism

in he Old

Covenant. Bycontrasi:, they

say, the NeW Covenant

knows no legal

ism, even hypothetically; salvation is

purely by gI?Ce without

any

consider

ation of works whatsoever.

his

view

point displaYs a

very

disturbing and

unbiblical understanding

of God's

char

acter

andsovereignty. According to Cov

e n a n t t h ~ o l o g y salvationhasnever been

 

by works, even hypothetically;

it has

always been proclaimed on the

basis of

God's

grace.

And this grace has always

called forthe response of faithful obedi

ence on the part of God's people - in

both

the

Old and New Testaments. Thus

dispensationalists have misconstrued

God's work of salvation and (again) the

newness of the New Covenant.

Even further, because dispensa

tionalistsdonothonortheunityofGod's

covenant, theyalso misconstrue

the people ofGod today,

seeing

the

church as something of a

supplement to

God's first decla

rations onthesubject, andcling

ing to the

idea of a continuing

privilege for the ethnic

Jews as

God's

ancient

people. Accord

inglydispen-sationalistsinsiston

distinguishing the expectations

and

futures for the heavenly

people (the church) and the

earthlypeople (theJews).Noth

ingcould be further from Paul's

own outlook, however. He not

only

saw

the mixed

Gentile

church as the Israel of God

(Gal. 6:16) which is now made up of

fellow-dtizens of the commonwealth

of Israel through ChrIst's blood

(Eph.2:11-13, 19), but he insisted that

Israel's future blessing would be pre

cisely

to share in

the

gospel blessings of

the

church (Rom .1 1:11-26)-bybeing

graftedbackirUo thesingleolive

treeinto

which the Gentiles have

been

grafted.

So then, we are forced

to recognize

that the differences between dispen

sationalists and covenanttheologians are

tremendousones, fortheyaffectwhatwe

think of

the

character ofGod,

the nature

ofsalvation,

the

identityofGod's

people,

and how we use the Bible.

Question

Covenant theology has a

distinctive way of looking upon the

Christianmessage and the Christian life.

Eventhoughdispensationalistsmayreach

some of thesame conclusions (througha

faulty theological method), what would

you say are

some of he

practical

implica

tions of covenant theology?

AlISWer First of all, Christianity as

understoodby

covenant theology stands

for

the central

and unchanging message

of

salvationbygrace alone

.God saves us

byway of covenant by

His free prom

ise and merciful relationship initiated by

Him without cousideration of any merit

within us.

The

Christian life is therefore above

all a matterof living by

faith , trusting the

promise of God when the outcome or

fulfillment is as

yet unseen. And because

God Himself initiated the

covenant

and

set its tenns by

His own authority, cov

enant theology means bowing to the

sovereignty of

GoeL

Since He issovereign, we acknowledge

that He owns

the whole world and He own

us as well as

everythingabout us ---includ

ing our children. They are graciously

marked

out as His own.

Thus

covenant

theo

logy shuns religious individualism in

favor of an emphasis upon the family and

upon the corporate people of od (the

church).

t sees the church, God's

people

by faith, as the focusofHissaving purposes

throughout redemptive history. Because

of this unity between God's people in beth

the Old and New Covenants, there is no

special

place for ethnic Israel (apan

from

the same blessings wWch come to all men

through the

church).

Covenant theology

fosters

thinking

which is Christ-centered because He

is

the Mediator of God's promises, and

covenant theology puts emphasis upon

all tbree of

he

Messiah's offices: prophet,

priest, and king.

All three are currently

exercised by the Savior. Our only hope

for salvation is His priestly intercession

to God

basedupon

His

finished work of

redemption. As our prophetHe must e

the

Lord overourreasoningaswellasour

educational

efforts,

in all areas

of lite. Honoring Him as the

reigning King,

we seek to ap

ply is word to every area of

lite

(vocations, recreations,arts,

sciences, society, politics, eco

nomics, etc.). Covenanttheol.

ogy declares

the need for sanc

tified and persevering living

under God ( keeping cov

enant with Him).

Finally,

because our rela

tionship with God is covenan

tal in nature, there is a desper

ate need for God'sword as the

covenant's definingdocument.

We mustbe people who study

and cherishwhat God hasthere revealed

- from cover

to cover, since covenant

theology

maintains the unity and conti

nuity ofthat word. In all these ways we

see just how important and how practi

cal covenant

theology really is.

Further Investigation

For further studies regarding od or

covenant theology on tape - especially

The Distinctivesof

the

Reformed Faith

-

write for

a

catalog

from Covenant

TapeMinistty,24198AshCourt, Auburn,

CA95603.

ToreceiveDr.Bahnsen'

sD:eemonthly

newsletter,

Penpoint, write

to

Southern

California for

P. O. Box 18021, Irvine, CA92713. The

study center also features

a new

catalog

of its ministry and tapes which you can

request.

December, 1992 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon

t

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