A Covenant Theology Micro-primer

In the Northeast Home Fellowship Group, we have been studying the concept of covenant – God’s covenant of grace, through which He redeems his children, and calls them unto Himself.

Covenant theology is one of the hallmarks of the Reformed and Presbyterian branches of Christianity. Though some of the core concepts of covenant theology stretch back to the early days of the church, the doctrine of the covenant truly came into its maturity in the 15^th and 16^th centuries through the work of such theologians as Coeccius, Bullinger, Bucer and Calvin, and later the Puritans in Scotland and England, such as Ames, Perkins and Sibbes.

The covenantal view of the history of redemption arises from the realization that, throughout the ages, God has dealt with man through a series of arrangements – a series of promises, to which God bound Himself, and of which man was made the chief beneficiary. Each of these arrangements may be viewed as having the characteristics of a covenant – a solemn arrangement, reflecting God’s sovereign appointment of promises, blessings and punishments to those with whom he covenanted. Each covenant, from the point of view of covenant theology, can be seen as an administration of a single, progressively unfolding, Covenant of Grace.

Traditionally, we speak of six covenants in the Bible. These are the covenants made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Christ. While we live today in the age of the covenant with Christ, it is important that we recognize that the covenant which we celebrate each Lord’s Supper is the same as that which was promised Abraham, which God presented to him in Genesis 12, 15 and 17. The gospel that the apostles preached to the early church is seen as the culmination of these covenant promises that God has been making since the days of Adam. J. I. Packer, in his introduction to Witsius’s The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man, goes so far as to say that “the Gospel of God is not properly understood till it is viewed within a covenantal frame.”

Each of God’s covenantal administrations has built upon previous covenants: until that with Christ, otherwise known as the New Covenant, was instituted on Earth with his life, death, and resurrection. Each of the previous covenants involved signs, seals and promises, all of which pointed forward to the sacrifice of Christ, the true Messiah, as the one true sacrifice that alone made atonement for sin.

Two very important characteristics of God’s covenantal dealings with mankind are core promise of “I shall be your God, and you shall be my people” and the eternality and continuity of those promises which God effects through family relationships. Something of these appear, implicitly or explicitly, in each administration of His Covenant of Grace.

God reiterates the promise of being God to His people in many places in both the Old and New Testaments. A quick perusal of such passages underscores the pervasiveness of this vital promise. (Gen. 17:6-8; Ex. 20:2, 29:45f; Lev. 11:45; Jer. 32:38; Ez. 11:20, 34:30f, 36:28; II Cor. 6:16-18; Rev. 21:2f, etc.) All of the grace, love and mercy that the Creator of the Universe gives to His people come in fulfillment of promises made throughout the Bible, in each of His covenants.

This promise is also passed on to the children of believers, for “a thousand generations”, as Moses records for us in Exodus 20:6. It has an eternal, unchangeable quality. We find repeatedly in the Scriptures the eternal nature of the covenant, and the extension of covenant benefits and responsibilities to not only those who come to believe, but their children as well (from day one!). See in the Old Testament, Gen. 9:8-9, 17:6-13; Ex. 20:6, Lev. 24:8, II Sam. 23:5; I Chron. 16:16-17, Psalm 100, 132; Jer. 32:40. Furthermore, in the earliest days of the church, Peter indicated that what was true in the dispensation of grace before Christ’s coming is the same since His coming, and throughout all generations: that “the promise is for you and your children” (Acts 2:39a).

The personal nature of the saving relationship between God and His people is evident also in many passages in Scripture. As an example, consider the words of God to Abraham in Genesis 17:7 – “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” As Packer points out, these words of God are simply dripping with personal commitment! The covenant established between God and Abraham, and by extension, with us in the age of the New Covenant, is bound up in an everlasting personal relationship between the Almighty God of all Creation and His children. Furthermore, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, (see, e.g., Hebrews 7:22, 8:6, 13:20) the very guarantor and mediator of that Covenant is Jesus Christ – God Himself – “Very God,” as we confess with the Nicene Council. God’s promises are secure, since He who is Himself the very embodiment of Truth, guarantees them.

What, in the end, should we take away from this? In my view, the most important thing which one may receive from understanding God’s Covenant of Grace is assurance. When one realizes that God Himself has deigned to covenant with man to assure the salvation of his children, and that his covenant, as is true of every attribute of God, is secure and eternal, we who love God should feel immense joy and peace. Edward Pearse, a little-known Puritan of 17^th century England, wrote in A Beam of Divine Glory, “Oh study this covenant of God, and the unchangeableness of it, and you will find it an unchangeable spring of comfort to you!” This is good advice.

The love that we express for each other and the love we have for Christ, are evidence of God’s work in us, and products of God’s work through His holy covenant. That joy, love and peace are some of the enduring gifts we can give to our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we encourage them in our corporate life – and a central part of the inheritance we pass on to our covenant children. My wish in closing is that we find the Covenant of Grace so absolutely wonderful and assuring that we cannot but share it with all those around us, both inside and outside the covenant community at New Life, and, especially, with our covenant children.

For those who would like to study God’s covenant in some depth, I recommend the following books:

The Christ of the Covenants, by O. Palmer Robertson; The Covenant of Grace, by John Murray; The Progress of Redemption, by Willem Van Gemeren; and for those who really like to chew on their reading, the previously mentioned The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man, by Herman Witsius.