Covenant Theology, a collaboration of Reformed Theological Seminary, is the most complete work to date on the theme of covenant that is found throughout Scripture. If you have heard the basics of covenant theology but want a deeper study how covenant is woven throughout Scripture, this book is for you. The theology throughout the book is reformed and thoroughly Biblical. The authors convincingly argue that Reformed theology has at its core covenant theology, and covenant theology rightly combines systematic and biblical theology.
“After the fall of our first parents, God promises that the seed of the woman will destroy the seed of the serpent. That promise is reinforced with the pledge to Noah that common grace will extend throughout redemptive history, guaranteeing the success of the seed. God promises that Abraham will be the father of a great family that will spread God’s blessings to the nations. The family is constituted a nation at Sinai, pointing to a new Moses who will lead a new exodus and a true Israel who will obey the Father. When the nation formally comes under the rule of David and his descendants, the promise takes the form of a triumphant Son and an anointed King.”
Guy Prentiss Waters, et al. have produced a valuable resource for tracing the theme of covenant throughout Scripture and understanding its impact in the Christian’s life. I particularly found the discussion about an intra-Trinitarian covenant and pre-fall Adamic covenant interesting. This book gave more attention to the subject than a Systematic Theology book who simply mention them in passing. The categories of a covenant of works and a covenant of grace confused me at first. Once I understood what the authors meant, it made me see the pre-fallen condition of Adam and Christ’s work as the second Adam in a completely different light. Covenant theology is not a new concept but has existed throughout church history, especially after the Reformation. I was surprised to see how much covenant theology there was within the Westminster Confession. At times, I felt like the authors wandered from the chapter subject and struggled to understand the connection to the current theme. Overall though, it was a readable work even though there was a lot of highly technical points.
“In the covenant of works, the conditions must be met to receive the blessings of the covenant. In the covenant of grace, the blessings are received, and then the conditions are to flow out of gratefulness for the received blessing. In traditional Reformed theology, the covenant of works never ended but remains a covenant unfulfilled by any who inherit the fallen nature from original sin, owing to their inherited unrighteousness through Adam and their own sinfulness. Christ, the second Adam (Rom. 5), took on flesh, fulfilled the covenant of works for his people, and paid the penalty for their sins. Thus, through his active and passive obedience, Christ justified a people for God in the covenant of grace. The Mosaic covenant belongs in essence to the covenant of grace, so the conditions in the covenant are to be kept out of gratitude rather than as a means to merit the fuller blessings of the covenant (see, e.g., Deut. 6: 10–15).”
The introduction sets the stage for the intent and desire of the book. The authors make the argument that covenant theology is found throughout Scripture and it is key to understanding its unifying message about atonement, assurance, the sacraments, and continuity of redemptive history. Part one of the book firmly establishes the Scriptural basis with a chapter devoted to each covenant. Following this there is a chapter on covenant within the Prophets, Gospels, Pauline Epistles, Hebrews, and Johannine writings. Part two of the book seeks to show how covenant has been an important theme throughout church history, even before the reformation. Part three is a grouping of collateral and theological studies, kind of a miscellaneous bucket of additional thoughts and competing theologies. Part one really should be read in order, at one time; while parts two and three may be used for further study and reference.
“In Christ, God has brought us into a second covenant with himself. This covenant, often called the covenant of grace, is characterized by the superabundance of God’s free grace in Christ to sinners. In this covenant, believing sinners’ justification is based wholly on Christ’s merits in his obedience and death. The life that they enjoy is not one that they have secured through their obedience but one that they have received through faith in the obedient last Adam.”
This book is a little more than most Christians are ready to take on, at over 600 pages. The main audience for this book is seminary students. While I think all Christians would benefit from reading this book, it will mostly benefit seminary students and pastors. Covenant theology can be a complex subject with debates wading into deep waters of highly technical matters of difference with competing interpretive theories. This book does a great job of explaining covenant theology without getting tangled up in the weeds of academic thought.
“What is striking is that those who are justified in Christ are those who formerly stood condemned in Adam. But how can sinners be counted righteous or the condemned be justified, that is, declared righteous? Paul is clear— his multiple references to God’s ‘free gift’ and ‘grace’ in this passage help us see that it is the work of another, the second Adam, that exhaustively and exclusively grounds the verdict ‘justified.'”
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Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives By Edited by Guy P. Waters, J. Nicholas Reid & John R. Muether |
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review. The opinions I express are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.