The system of thinking that is currently termed “covenant theology” began at the time of the Reformation with men like Calvin and Zwingli, although some would trace its roots all the way back to Augustine and others of the early church fathers. Later on it influenced the thinking of those known as the Puritans, as evidenced in the Westminster confession of 1647. The movement was particularly strong in Scotland and eventually in the New England area of the U.S.A. There have always been those who held these principles, but in the last fifty years there has been increasing interest in its tenets. This has provoked many controversies between covenant theologians and those who have been referred to as dispensationalists.
The Basics
What are the basics of covenant theology? This can best be summarized in a quotation from one of its strongest advocates:
“The backbone of the Bible . . . is the unfolding in space and time of God’s unchanging intention of having a people on earth to whom He would relate covenantally for His and their joy.”
“The gospel promises, offering Christ and His benefits to sinners, are therefore invitations to enter and enjoy a covenant relationship with God.”
Basically, they believe that there is and always has been only one people of God. They believe that Israel was the church in the Old Testament and that the church is the Israel of the New Testament. They believe that everything in Scripture centers around two covenants, the covenant of law and the covenant of grace. However, these are not viewed as being different, but rather as different aspects of the same covenant.
Emphasis on Works
Covenant theologians strongly emphasize works as being necessary for salvation, and they do not believe that the covenant of grace rendered the covenant of works obsolete. However, they see the works of believers as having been done by Christ on their behalf, because all under Adam had failed to keep the law. They believe in the work of Christ for salvation, but emphasize His obedience to God’s will as being the main basis for our “imputed righteousness.” Another modern-day advocate of this thinking puts it this way:
“We know that Christ atoned for Adam’s and our disobedience on the cross, but we often forget that Christ’s work was not merely negative or ‘passive’ (enduring the curse). Our Lord was also ‘actively’ obedient, fulfilling the law on our behalf. Those united to Christ stand not only neutral or guilt-free before the Father, but actually as those reckoned positively righteous, as if we ourselves have clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and kept the whole law. Like the criminal on the cross, we have done these things ‘in Christ.’ ”
Christian Reconstructionists
As a result of this thinking, covenant theology emphasizes the need for believers to become involved in the betterment of this world, for covenant theologians sometimes call themselves “Christian Reconstructionists.” Although there is some variation in their thinking, most do not believe that the Lord will come until after the millennium is over, and some do not even believe in a literal 1000-year millennium. Most covenant theologians believe that what Scripture calls “the great tribulation” actually took place about 69-70 A.D., when the Roman general Titus destroyed Jerusalem, and that we are already in the millennium, working toward the perfecting of God’s kingdom in this world. Another of their adherents has said, “The kingship of Christ is not a futuristic event but one that He has fulfilled and maintains even now.” Their strong emphasis is on the extension of God’s kingdom to encompass the whole world, through the preaching of the gospel. They do not expect the Lord to come back for some time — not until the whole world has been brought to the point where the character of His kingdom is displayed everywhere.
The Salt Lost Its Savor
The Christian testimony at large must take some responsibility for the errors of covenant theology and for the revival of interest in it. The church has not walked in the light that God has given it. All too often grace has been emphasized in a wrong way, resulting in what Jude calls “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [unrestrained lust]” (Jude 4). Believers have rested in the certainty of the finished work of Christ, while neglecting the importance of discipleship. They have gloried in the gospel of the grace of God and forgotten that Paul also preached the kingdom of God — a moral state consistent with those who own the Lord Jesus as the rightful King. Instead of being ambassadors for Christ in the right way, and thus being the “salt of the earth,” the salt has “lost his savor” (Matt. 5:1313Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)) and thus has often been cast out by the world. Moral uprightness has been replaced by carelessness in our Christian lives, while devotedness to Christ has been replaced by self-seeking and ease.
What does Scripture have to say to all this? At first glance, those who support covenant theology might seem to have some scriptures on their side. It is true that Scripture revolves around the history of two men, Adam and Christ, as heads, respectively, of a fallen and a new race. It is true that God will have His Son given His rightful place in this world and that there will be a visible kingdom that exhibits God’s character. It is true that God expects to see in the lives of believers the fruit of that new life He has given them and that God wants to “purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:1414Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)). However, covenant theology falls short of the whole truth of God in a number of important points, and if embraced, tends to drag the believer down spiritually, and lower him to the level of Old Testament revelation.
The Heavenly and Earthly Kingdoms
First of all, such a system ignores the truth of Ephesians: “According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fullness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth” (ch. 1:9-10 JND). God is not only going to have a kingdom on earth, but He has in His purposes the blessing of the church in heaven. The church is not an earthly company, and for this reason she is not in covenant relation with God. It is true that she comes into the good of the new covenant, in that her blessings are based on the work of Christ on the cross, but she is not in a covenant relationship with God. A covenant is always to do with the earth and an earthly people, and the church is a heavenly company. “Our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens” (Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20) JND). Covenant theology denies the heavenly calling of the church.
The Hope of the Lord’s Coming
Second, and connected with this, covenant theology practically destroys the Lord’s coming as a present, living hope for the believer. They do not expect the Lord to come at any moment, but rather look for God’s kingdom in power to be established before the Lord will come. Their hope is not the Lord’s coming for us, but rather to be used in furthering God’s kingdom in this world. Scripture teaches us that those who are saved today are saved “to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thess. 1:9-10).
Righteousness Through Christ’s Obedience
Third, covenant theology wrongly says that Christ’s righteousness in keeping the law is imputed to us and that our righteousness is because He was perfectly obedient to God the Father. It is true that as the perfect, sinless Man, Christ kept the law, but nowhere in Scripture does it say that Christ’s righteousness in keeping the law is imputed to us. Rather, righteousness is imputed because Christ has fully satisfied the righteous claims of a holy God on the cross and because “He [God] hath made Him [the Lord Jesus] to be sin for us,” we are made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Israel and the Church
Fourth, covenant theology denies the fundamental difference between Israel and the church. It is true that God will bring Israel back into earthly blessing in the millennium, but, as we have seen, the church is destined for heavenly blessing. Covenant theology practically disregards the unique position of the church as the body and bride of Christ. The church was a mystery or secret hidden in God, a secret that was not revealed until Paul was given the special revelations concerning it. In seeking to merge the church with Israel, these special privileges of the church are ignored. Unless we see that the church is not the subject of prophecy, properly speaking, we will never be able to understand prophecy, nor see how everything in the Word of God fits into His purposes.
World Improvement
Fifth, covenant theology expects the world gradually to become better, as the Spirit of God (supposedly) works to bring souls into His kingdom. A leading covenant theologian makes this statement: “Modern Christians . . . prefer to minimize their responsibility, calling men out of the world, rather than calling them to rule over the world under the authority of Jesus Christ.” On the contrary, Paul and others such as Peter and Jude predicted that this present age would end with failure on the part of the church as a public testimony and unprecedented wickedness as to the world. Paul also chided the Corinthians, telling them, “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us” (1 Cor. 4:8). Today is a time for the believer to follow a rejected Saviour, not take a place in reigning, for he is, in fact, called out of this world. As to coming blessing for this world, covenant theology postulates that a hypothetical “grace covenant” will bring in a transformed social order by the preaching of the gospel. God’s Word says, “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:99With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9)). Only by judgment will this world be cleansed and the kingdom established.
The Gospel of Grace and of the Kingdom
Sixth, covenant theology confuses the gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of the kingdom. In making them the same, great confusion is brought in. Men (such as John the Baptist and the disciples) preached the gospel of the kingdom when they did not expect Christ to suffer and die. The gospel of the grace of God is based on Christ’s death, blood and resurrection. It is true that all blessing, whether under the gospel of the kingdom or the gospel of the grace of God, must be founded on Christ’s finished work, but to equate the two messages is to introduce great confusion into Scripture. The gospel of the kingdom is for the earth and preaches earthly blessing, while the gospel of the grace of God preaches heavenly blessings and calls men out of this world.
Law and Grace
Finally, covenant theology, carried to its logical conclusion, puts the believer back under law. Instead of viewing the Mosaic law as “our tutor up to Christ” (Gal. 3:2424Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24) JND), covenant theology insists that we must continue to keep it. Romans 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4) tells us that we have “become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The righteousness of the law ought to be fulfilled in us, but it is not by being under law. Rather, it is by walking in the Spirit and allowing that new life that Christ has given us to display itself in our lives.
More could be said, but perhaps this gives enough of a picture to show us the fallacy of the covenant system of belief. To be under it is to glorify man and ultimately to be in bondage. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:11Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)).
W. J. Prost