While there are several good resources that introduce the doctrines of grace TULIP , there are very few that introduce another essential part of Reformed theology, namely the doctrine of the covenants. This book is definitely a great introduction: First, there is an introduction to covenant theology in general and its importance in Scripture as well as the Christian faith and life.
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Then, the following covenants are discussed in eight brief chapters: Each chapter is around 20 pages long and includes a few study questions. To give a little more detail still, each chapter has the following structure: At the end of the book there is a glossary of important terms, a Scripture index, and a short index of names. Chapter 20 consists of the ten words Chapters consist of the laws One cannot have the ten words without the laws that go with them. Chapter 20 belongs with chapters One also must take the Sabbath commandment into account.
The other nine commandments do not pose a problem, for the NT repeats them. However, the NT does not reinforce the Sabbath command. After the coming of Christ, observing days is akin to returning to paganism Gal. Again, exegesis must inform our theology. The fifth distinctive of NCT regards its relation to law. If we are not under the law, does that mean we are lawless?
We are no longer under the law of Moses, rather we are under the law of Christ. This phrase only occurs once in Scripture: To those under the law I became like one under the law though I myself am not under the law , so as to win those under the law. The law of Christ can be defined as those prescriptive principles drawn from the example and teaching of Jesus and his apostles the central demand being love , which are meant to be worked out in specific situations by the guiding influence and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
The sixth distinctive belief is the nature of the new covenant community. In the New Covenant, unlike the Old, every member is fully forgiven and every member has the Spirit. This is another way of saying they are all believers. The prophets looked forward to a day when God would pour out his Spirit from on high Ezek.
- A Brief History of Covenant Theology.
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- Lecture 2 - The Sacraments.
This is one of the major differences between Israel and the church. Not all within Israel had the Spirit. All within the new covenant community do. Neither do we make a radical distinction between Israel and the Church as DT does. Again, Jesus is the hermeneutical key! NCT is consistently Christocentric. Believers are considered the offspring of Abraham i.
All of the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus 2 Cor. He overlooks their sins and treats them as if they had fulfilled the terms of the covenant, i. It was against this very teaching that Martin rebelled in the Protestant Reformation. Though Martin Luther came to hate the covenant theology of the Franciscans, he did not abandon every part of it. According to Luther, we are not justified because we are sanctified. He, with Calvin and all the Protestants, did not reject the idea of merit, but he learned that it is not our merits produced by grace which satisfies God, it is Christ who merited our justice and his merits are imputed to sinners.
A Short Primer on New Covenant Theology Essentials
Luther expressed these truths in his distinction, in justification, between Law and Gospel. The latter is the good news about what Christ has done for sinners. The former is bad news for sinners. Though some Reformed theologians have suggested that we disagree with Luther on this principle, B. One reason why Luther did not speak much about covenant in his later writings was that the idea had come to be associated with the Franciscan theologians whom he had publicly repudiated. Another possible reason is that Huldrych Zwingi spoke more about the covenant.
Zwingli, however, also taught a covenant of works before the fall and a covenant of grace after the fall. He especially described the sacraments in terms of the covenant, and our response to grace. His emphasis on our responsibility in the covenant made it sounds to Luther as if he agreed with Ockham.
For the time, Oecolampadius taught a remarkably mature covenant theology including the doctrine of the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Indeed, the great Reformed theologian Amandus Polanus considered Oecolampadius the first Reformed covenant theologian. As it came to be expressed in 17th century Reformed theology, the covenant of redemption pactum salutis or consilium pacis , the counsel of peace taught that the Father required that the Son should obey in the place of the elect, that he should be their surety, i.
The Son, as the second party to this covenant, graciously, freely, willingly accepted the terms of this covenant. Should the Son meet the terms of this covenant, he would merit the justification of his people and be vindicated by his resurrection. His most important work on covenant theology were his lectures on Isaiah delivered in In those lectures he described the covenant of grace as one-sided in origin and two-sided in administration.
Lecture 2 - The Covenantal Context for Discussing the Sacraments
We simply believe the Gospel promise. The covenant of grace can be said to be conditional when we consider the administration of the covenant in the life of the church. Christians are obligated, as a response to grace to attend to the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. These are the basic lines of all Reformed covenant theology through the 19th century. Like Luther, John Calvin taught the substance of the more highly developed federal theology. Like Bullinger, most of his discussion of the covenant concerned the history of redemption from Adam to Christ and the continuity of the covenant of grace.
Nevertheless, he taught the substance of what became classic Reformed federal theology: Some scholars deny that Calvin taught the same covenant theology as the later Reformed theologians since he did not use the same vocabulary as they did. For Calvin the Law covenant of works kills sinners and the Gospel covenant of grace justifies and sanctifies them through faith alone, in Christ alone.
He used the covenant to express those fundamental truths. Beginning with the basic distinction between Law guilt and Gospel grace he also used the covenant to include a more prominent place for sanctification or gratitude. We know these as the three parts of our catechism. Heinrich Bullinger published perhaps the first treatise devoted to explaining the covenant in Like Calvin and the early fathers, he used the covenant to teach the unity of God and his salvation.
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He contributed to the Reformed tradition of using the covenant of grace as a summary of biblical theology. Caspar Olevian would later do this same thing in three works, chiefly in his book, On the Substance of the Covenant of Grace Between God and the Elect and Johannes Cocceius and Herman Witsius write entire systematic theologies structured by the covenants of redemption, works and grace. The two most important Reformed covenant theologians of the late 16th century were the chief authors of our catechism, Caspar Olevian and Zacharias Ursinus Ursinus lectured on the covenant theology of the catechism in Heidelberg for about fifteen years and later, until his death, at his school in Neustadt.
His covenant theology is clear from his lectures and Larger Catechism which he used in his seminary and university classes. Ursinus defined covenants in general in terms of the covenant of works, since the Gospel can only be understood against the background of the Law. In the covenant of works, God placed conditions upon Adam, the head of all humanity, which he accepted, to obey his covenant God. The sign of the covenant was the tree of life.
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If Adam had kept the covenant, he would have entered a state of eternal blessedness. For the same reason, transgression of the Law covenant meant eternal punishment. According to Ursinus and all the classic Reformed theologians Christ, the representative of all the elect, fulfilled this covenant in his active and passive suffering obedience.