– 3min Read
Typically when people hear Covenant Theology they immediately think of the Presbyterian form of Covenant Theology. In fact, most people don’t even know of a Baptist version at all but do know Dispensationalism and New Covenant Theology (or Progressive Covenantalism). Baptists seem to be all over the map these days as to what system, or grid, they use to help sort the Bible and put it together. By and large, Dispensationalism has wreaked havoc on the Baptist denomination and leaves many wanting and looking for something better.
New Covenant Theology can be viewed as a knee-jerk reaction to the rise of Dispensationalism, but also a new method of reading the Bible that seeks to differentiate as much as possible from Presbyterian Covenant Theology. Covenants are the clear backbone of the Bible but the Presbyterian model of “One Covenant of Grace under two administrations-the Old and New Covenant” frustrates all Baptists. But is New Covenant Theology the only option left for Reformed Baptists?
Pascal Denault, in his book The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology, goes back to our Baptist roots in an attempt to recover the Baptist Covenant Theology of the framers of the 1689, (The Second London Baptist Confession). This Covenant Theology acknowledged a Covenant of Grace that was declared back in Genesis 3:15 but was being revealed and continually offered as a promise throughout the Old Covenant until it was confirmed and established in the New Covenant. In other words, the Baptist view is that the Covenant of Grace is the New Covenant.
This covenant is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament; and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect; and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality, man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocency.
– 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith: Chapter 7, Paragraph 3.
Baptist Covenant Theology, (or 1689 Federalism), acknowledges the Scriptural witness that no one can come to God apart from Christ and His atoning, meditating, and saving work (John 10:9; 14:6; Ephesians 2:13,18-19). As we look back to the work of the Messiah, the Old Testament saints were looking forward to the work of the Messiah. The New Covenant is the only Covenant that can save; that is why it is better (Hebrews 8:6-7) because it has Jesus as its mediator, and since it is only through Him that men may be reconciled to God, all believing saints in the Old Testament are a part of the New Covenant.
Denault explains this Baptist understanding in great detail and shows how even though saints of the Old Testament were under the Old Covenant they were not saved by the Old Covenant, for it cannot save (2 Cor. 3:1-11). The divide between Presbyterians and Baptists on this issue of Covenant Theology is important to understand. Denault walks through the confessions, through the writings, and then unpacks the exegetical arguments of both sides. This book is not hard to read; it is very concise and to the point. I think it will serve Baptists well to grow in familiarity with their heritage and this book will be a great start.