Method of Bible Interpretation
Covenant Theology is a method of Bible interpretation that sees the Old Testament promises and prophecies concerning Israel as fulfilled today in the Church. Since these things cannot be shown to have happened literally, Covenant theologians have invented a false principle of interpretation known as "spiritualization." Thus, they take certain statements in those Old Testament promises and prophecies and claim that they are being fulfilled today, spiritually or allegorically, rather than literally.
This method of interpretation is called, "Covenant" theology, because it is supposedly based on the covenants that God made to Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, etc. Its origins can be traced back to the early centuries of the Church's history, when men (like Augustine) began to teach these things. They were later formulated into a system of doctrine and popularized by the reformers in the 1500s. Hence, it is sometimes called, "Reformed Theology," though its origins were long before the Reformation. This erroneous method of interpretation has led many dear Christians to believe a host of things that are contrary to Scripture. It is difficult to state exactly what all Covenant theologians hold doctrinally, because there is variation among them.
General Statement of What They Believe
The following is a general statement of what they believe:
The Old Testament saints, Christians, and millennial saints are all said to be one people of God who are equally blessed on the same footing without distinction, and they are all the bride and wife of Christ. Covenant theologians do not believe that there will be a heavenly company of blessed, glorified saints distinguished from those blessed of God on earth in the kingdom reign of Christ. Instead, all who have faith from all the ages are melded into one people, and they will inherit the earth and live on it together. All such are said to be the Church. In fact, they say that the Church is Israel in the Old Testament and that Israel is the Church in the New Testament.
Covenant Theologians do not believe that the Lord's coming is imminent, but rather, something that will only occur after Christ's kingdom concludes—and this will not happen until Christians have sufficiently evangelized and converted large portions of the world. Hence, they believe that the world will be set right by the influence of the gospel, rather than by judgment, as Scripture states (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)). Moreover, they believe that the Church has already gone through the Great Tribulation at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Romans (in 70 A.D.). Hence, it is not something future. They also say that we are in the kingdom reign of Christ now—i.e. the Millennium—but in a spiritual way. It will not be a literal kingdom with material blessings as the Jews expected. This is called "Amillennialism," which is a tenet of Covenant Theology.
They teach that when the Lord does come, both the Rapture and the Appearing will happen at the same time. The Lord will raise the dead—the righteous and the wicked together—catching away the righteous (with the living saints) into the clouds to meet Him in the air. He will then bring them directly back down to earth, and they will be with Him as He judges the wicked who have been raised. The righteous will then live with Christ on earth thereafter—they do not go to heaven.
As far as the present call of the gospel is concerned, Covenant Theology confuses the gospel of the grace of God with the gospel of the kingdom. Out of this comes the error of kingdomizing the Church. The Church and the kingdom are viewed as one and the same, and Christ is said to be the King of the Church, and that He reigns over it. Hence, Christians are children of the King. Since they think that Israel was the Church in the Old Testament and that the Church is Israel in the New Testament, they believe that Christians should keep the Law. They falsely transmute the Sabbath to the Lord's Day and insist that Christians are to "observe" and "keep" the Lord's Day as if it were the Sabbath. Consequently, they also think nothing of adopting the Judaic methods of worship that Israel used in Old Testament times.
Covenant Theology also teaches that "the promises" to Abraham have been fulfilled today in the Church. And also, that the "new covenant" the Lord promised to make with Israel (Jer. 31:31-3431Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31‑34)) has been made with the Church, because the Church (in their minds) is spiritual Israel.
This interpretation, however, is full of error and very problematic when worked out to its logical conclusion.
Chart the Churches of Christendom in Relation to Dispensational and Covenantal Teaching
This chart indicates that most of Christendom holds a
Covenantal interpretation of Scripture.
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