Dispensationalism 101: Part 2 - Covenental Thought
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From Dispensational Publishing House; used with permission.
Last time, we began this series by considering the difference between dispensational and covenantal theology. We thought about some basic things that we must understand in order to deal properly with that issue. We begin this article with a brief review.
Covenantalism in a Nutshell
The terms covenantal and Reformed are often used interchangeably. There are dispensationalists who speak of being Reformed, yet the way they use the term Reformed is in respect to salvation, referring to the doctrines of grace. Another might refer to himself as a Calvinist-dispensationalist, but this is a rather awkward phrase, since Calvinism is typically used in the discipline of soteriology, not eschatology. This designation would be used to refer to men like John MacArthur and faculty from his school, The Master’s University,1 and others who have embraced the doctrines of grace and who apply a consistently literal hermeneutic, especially in the prophets, while not reading Jesus into every Old Testament verse or giving the New Testament priority.2
When trying to define a system and associate certain teachers with it, there are nuances that make such a feat difficult. For example, James Montgomery Boice was pretribulational3 and premillennial4, yet he also practiced paedobaptism.5 Not all covenantalists are amillennial6 or postmillennial. And not all premillennialists are dispensationalists (e.g., Boice and George Eldon Ladd).
Covenants
In covenantal thought, covenants are the interpretive framework through which to read Scripture. They say the covenants are the theological structure by which the Bible organizes itself. The contention of this author is that though there are several covenants in Scripture (Noahic, Abrahamic, New Covenant, etc.), the covenants that covenantalists build this system around are not explicitly found in Scripture. The first extrabiblical covenant (no malice in saying this) that this system is based on is the covenant of law (or works7). They lodge support from such passages as Deuteronomy 30:15-20. This is the agreement between God and Adam where God promised life for perfect obedience.8
The other covenant (besides those agreed upon by dispensationalists) that they rely on is the covenant of grace (referring to the gospel).9 In this covenant there is agreement between the offended God and the offending sinner. According to Michael Horton in Pilgrim Theology, such a sinner has been “forgiven, justified, and renewed solely on the basis of Christ’s person and work.”10 Unfortunately, to his chagrin, Horton also says, “These covenants are not always explicitly visible.”11
Paedobaptism
A third element of covenantalism, alongside the two covenants, is the water baptism of infants, also called paedobaptism. The esteemed covenant theologian Louis Berkhof, says, “It is on the point of infant baptism that the most important difference is found between us and the Baptists.”12 He even admits at the outset that there is no explicit biblical command nor any single instance in the Bible in which we are told that children were baptized. Covenantalists see baptism as a sign and seal that replaces Old Testament circumcision. There are many fine presentations that refute paedobaptism, however.13
The Church, the New Israel
A fourth view that is espoused by covenant theology is that the church is the fulfillment of new covenant prophecy. This is woven into the covenant of redemption.14 For this they see one people of God—not the unique mystery of the church that is revealed by the Paul, the “apostle of Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13; cf. Eph. 3). In order to arrive at this conclusion, they see absolute continuity of believers before and after Pentecost rather than the dispensational view of more discontinuity between the two.
Again, this is a vastly simplified view of covenant theology, but it provides a starting point to show distinctions between it and dispensational thought.
Notes
1 John F. MacArthur, Faith Works (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), p. 225.
2 More of these particulars will be augmented later in the series.
3 Pretribulationism teaches that God will remove His church from the Earth (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:13-18) before pouring out His righteous wrath on the unbelieving world during seven years of tribulation (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 9:27; 12:1; 2 Thess. 2:7-12; Rev. 16).
4 Premillenialism teaches that Jesus Christ will return to earth and rule with His saints for a thousand years. This is a time where He lifts the curse He placed on the earth and fulfills the promises given to Israel (Isa. 65:17-25; Ezek. 37:21-28; Zech. 8:1-17), including a restoration to the land they forfeited through disobedience (Deut. 28:15-68).
5 Paedobaptism is the practice of baptizing infants or children who are deemed not old enough to verbalize faith in Christ.
6 Amillennialism is the belief that the thousand years referenced by John in Revelation 20 are not a literal, specific time.
7 A brief treatment of the covenant of works is found in R. C. Sproul’s What Is Reformed Theology? (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), pp. 111-13.
8 Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.2, in Trinity Hymnalf (Atlanta: Great Commission Publications, 1990), p. 852.
9 Sproul, What is Reformed Theology?, pp. 113-16.
10 Michael Horton, Pilgrim Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), p. 160.
11 Ibid., p. 60.
12 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), p. 632.
13 See the baptism class at Biblical Expositor, which presents a Biblical, theological and historical case for believer’s baptism. “Baptism Class,” <http://www.biblicalexpositor.org/site/outlines.asp?sec_id=180007636&secu… Internet; accessed 2 June 2016. Furthermore, professors Henrick Stander and Johannes Louw, recognized authorities in Patristic studies, give irrefutable evidence that paedobaptism was not the practice of the early church. See their work Baptism in the Early Church (England: Reformation Today Trust, 2004).
14 Sproul, What is Reformed Theology?, pp. 114-15.
Parker Reardon Bio
Parker Reardon is a graduate of Word of Life Bible Institute, Pensacola Christian College and The Master’s Seminary, where he received a doctorate in expository preaching. He is currently serving as the main teaching elder/pastor at Applegate Community Church in Grants Pass, OR, and as adjunct professor of theology for Liberty University and adjunct professor of Bible and theology for Pacific Bible College.
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[Paul Henebury]Steve,
You did not answer the question you were asked. You were given a specific OT example. Would you care to actually address it?
Sorry Paul. I didn’t realize you were looking for a response to a particular question. I doubt I or anyone else could provide an answer that would satisfy those who interpret prophecy like prose narrative. I counted four questions and the first one seemed to reach for high ground in insinuating that your detractors somehow ascribe disingenuity or ambiguity to God. Wasn’t your best moment.
Now I see that you referred to Jeremiah 33:17-26. I leave for a two week teaching trip in Africa tomorrow so I have to allow someone else to stand in for me particularly for verses 17-18.
17 “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”
“Read literally, these verses promise the permanent restoration of the Davidic throne and (of the Levitical priesthood. As a matter of fact Zedekiah was the last king of David’s line, and the Levitical priest-hood has long passed away. Both these changes Jeremiah himself foretold Jeremiah 22:30; Jeremiah 3:16. In what way then is this apparent contradiction (compare Isaiah 66:20-23; Ezekiel 40-48) to be explained? The solution is probably as follows. It was necessary that the Bible should be intelligible to the people at the time when it was written, and in some degree to the writer. The Davidic kingship and the Levitical priest-hood were symbols, which represented to the Jew all that was most dear to his heart in the state of things under which he lived. Their restoration was the restoration of his national and spiritual life. Neither was so restored as to exist permanently. But that was given instead, of which both were types, the Church, whose Head is the true prophet, priest and King” (Barnes).
Now one can read them literally as prose narrative and believe that sacrifices will be offered not only in the millennium but also “forever” and that a resurrected David will actually reign (Ezek. 37:24). Or one can read them as prophetic genre with metaphor, hyperbole, etc. and believe that God spoke to Jeremiah with words and concepts intelligible to people of the day which point to the permanence of the kingly and priestly offices promised in covenants which are fulfilled in Christ. Both cannot be right but neither casts aspersion on God’s communicative capacity.
I also appreciate dgszweda’s comment. There is an interpretative divide.
Per Aaron - I think maybe “nondispensational” would be preferable to “antidispensationalists.” But you are right. I don’t think there will be much mind changing although I hope we are all open to having our minds changed even if it means a change of ministry. The benefit will mostly be for those who read and decide for themselves.
This will probably be my last response on this thread. Thanks to all for feedback and pushback.
Men from Charles Taze Russell through Hal Lindsay and Jack Van Impe have attempted to pass themselves off as eschatological experts and have raised hopes and skeptical eyebrows. I remember “The Beast” computer in Brussels, The European Common Market as the ten toes of the Beast, the Andromeda Effect, etc.
Jesus is coming back and I’m looking forward to the event and those who would declare that their interpretation of His Return and the events surrounding it is absolutely certain aren’t going to score 100% on their Eschatology final exam.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Steve (and perhaps others) have taken exception to my question (actually several questions in one as was pointed out), about interpreting the words of God if they are ambiguous - i.e. raise understandable expectations in those OT saints who heard them, only to mean something that those hearers could never have envisaged.
(To Steve). Brother, you take umbrage because you seem to think I charged you with believing God to be disingenuous. If you will re-read what I said, you will find no such accusation against you. This is not a personal issue. It is the nature of this sort of theological back and forth.
In one of your comments you wrote: “To imagine that every audience understood God’s intentions is naive”.
This charge was repeated by dgszweda who said regarding my comment: “Are we as naive to think that we fully understand the promises and covenants and can put together a structure that supports our models and then become so dogmatic about them?”
Were you calling me naive? Am I not only naive but also arrogant enough to think that I “fully understand” these matters so as to be “dogmatic about them?”
I didn’t take it that way. I understood you (and him) to be making a point forcefully. I take it neither of you were attacking me? So can we dial it down a bit? We disagree, but I have not insinuated anything. I asked questions of your opinion as a theologian. I do not believe you or dgszeda or brother Barkman believe God is disingenuous and I did not say so.
There are other matters which have been raised, not least the understanding of the disciples (which is a double-edged sword for CT’s), but I just wanted to say here that I thought I could raise a theological objection (which I’m afraid has still not been joined) and that would be understood as such by someone with a good theological background. No offense.
Dr. Paul Henebury
I am Founder of Telos Ministries, and Senior Pastor at Agape Bible Church in N. Ca.
Williamson’s book is one of the best I have read on the covenants. However, even he holds that there are two Abrahamic covenants! His objections to a pre-Noahic covenant were challenged by Gentry in Kingdom through Covenant. However, Gentry couldn’t pinpoint any oath before Noah - which is the major contribution of Williamson’s work on covenants in my view.
Dr. Paul Henebury
I am Founder of Telos Ministries, and Senior Pastor at Agape Bible Church in N. Ca.
Africa’s a big place, so I probably won’t see you, but I leave Wednesday for two weeks of teaching in Africa as well. I trust all goes well with your labors! I will miss the good discussion on SI, but after Tuesday, I’ll be out of the loop until April 26.
G. N. Barkman
[G. N. Barkman]Africa’s a big place, so I probably won’t see you, but I leave Wednesday for two weeks of teaching in Africa as well. I trust all goes well with your labors! I will miss the good discussion on SI, but after Tuesday, I’ll be out of the loop until April 26.
Yes, Africa is a big place. It’s Yaoundé, Cameroon from where one of our elders hails. I’m teaching on Dispensationalism. No really my brother and I are teaching through I Peter at a pastors’ conference for which we have a translated student syllabus to provide them with several months of preaching material then holding a retreat on the Last and Final Words of Jesus before and after his resurrection. So if you are there let me know. Apart from some translation work I haven’t taught or preached in French since 2008 so we’ll see how it goes :-) God bless in your travels and ministry.
But even as Christ was fulfilling the OT, not only did the nation of Israel not clearly see what was happening, but even his own disciples who were with him 24x7 did not fully grasp what was and was not being fulfilled.
And for this, Jesus condemned them for being foolish and slow of heart to believe all the that prophets had said. In other words, it seems that Jesus thought they should have seen it.
To me the question is this: If we can’t understand the OT based on its words, then how can we claim to understand the NT based on its words? On what basis can we have any security in the promises of God if we can’t actually know what they are without future revelation? And if we can trust the NT by reading it and understanding its meaning from its “literal-grammatical-historical” exegesis, why can we not do that from the OT by the same means? What changed?
1 Peter 1:10-12 seems to indicate that many were pretty clear on what the OT said. What they didn’t know was the person or time. So they weren’t confused about suffering or glory to follow, about the Messiah, the kingdom, etc. It seems that what they didn’t know was which baby born at which time was the one.
Steve, I will be in Zimbabwe teaching I John at a pastors’ conference. I’ve done this every year for six or seven years now. Love it! I have my 40 page syllabus ready, and yes, like you, the men will use this material to preach in their own churches for many months to come.
Larry, the difference is that the New Testament is God’s final revelation. There is no more. If we can’t accept the divinely inspired OT interpretation given to us in the NT we’re on our own. I’d rather be guided by infallible interpreters.
G. N. Barkman
Larry, the difference is that the New Testament is God’s final revelation. There is no more. If we can’t accept the divinely inspired OT interpretation given to us in the NT we’re on our own. I’d rather be guided by infallible interpreters.
I don’t agree with either proposition. I think the NT is God’s final revelation for the church age, but I think there will be more in the kingdom. Remember we now know it part but then in full. I don’t think we are on our own. We have the text. That, by definition, means we are not on our own.
But that returns me to two questions:
- Why are you confident you can exegete the NT but not the OT? When did the process of exegesis change? I am not trying to be snarky with that at all. I am genuinely curious becuase it seems you are confident in your NT interpretation, but not in your OT interpretation.
- What do you do with OT passages (the vast, vast majority) that the NT doesn’t interpret?
Brother Barkman states to Larry,
the difference is that the New Testament is God’s final revelation
And how can you be so dogmatic about it? The OT was God’s final [written] revelation until the NT. There was no heads-up that the NT would be written. What I think Larry is trying to point you towards is the question of how you know your interpretation of the NT won’t be “other than what the original audience [including you] understood.”? You and Steve want us to find our answers in the NT which you think gives you permission to “expand” the OT prophecies in a way that no OT saint could have understood from the words God employed. But Larry is calling your attention to the fact that your reinterpretation of the OT along the lines indicated by yourself and Steve undermines any static meaning of the words God used in the NT.
He is asking you to examine a possible problem with your reasoning.
”
Dr. Paul Henebury
I am Founder of Telos Ministries, and Senior Pastor at Agape Bible Church in N. Ca.
[Larry]…
To me the question is this: If we can’t understand the OT based on its words, then how can we claim to understand the NT based on its words? On what basis can we have any security in the promises of God if we can’t actually know what they are without future revelation? And if we can trust the NT by reading it and understanding its meaning from its “literal-grammatical-historical” exegesis, why can we not do that from the OT by the same means? What changed?
1 Peter 1:10-12 seems to indicate that many were pretty clear on what the OT said. What they didn’t know was the person or time. So they weren’t confused about suffering or glory to follow, about the Messiah, the kingdom, etc. It seems that what they didn’t know was which baby born at which time was the one.
In furtherance of the application of a plain, literal hermeneutic and the grammatical-historical method to the Old Testament, let me ask if you agree with the following statements:
- God spoke directly to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
- Genesis is not an exhaustive account of all that God revealed to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
- Genesis was not written to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
- Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph had been dead hundreds of years before Genesis was written.
JSB
The only slight reservation I would have, really a mere technicality, is that I don’t recall explicit statements that God spoke directly to Enoch or Joseph. I presume he did, but I don’t recall the statement of it.
[Larry]The only slight reservation I would have, really a mere technicality, is that I don’t recall explicit statements that God spoke directly to Enoch or Joseph. I presume he did, but I don’t recall the statement of it.
I respect the reservation. Although I too believe that it is a reasonable presumption, let me ask if you agree with this modified statement, “God revealed Himself directly and supernaturally to Enoch and Joseph (particularly in light of Enoch prophesying as well as walking so closely with God that he was not, and Joseph dreaming dreams and being given the infallible interpretation of dreams).
Also, do you agree with the following statements (and I promise this will not go on forever (however you want to define “forever”)):
5. God spoke directly to Moses.
6. Moses wrote all of the Pentateuch (except for perhaps the very last part of Deuteronomy).
7. The Pentateuch is not an exhaustive account of all that God revealed to Moses.
8. Moses wrote the Pentateuch hundreds of years after Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph had died.
9. Moses was not personally acquainted with Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
10. Moses was not an eyewitness to the lives of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
JSB
Not to lawyer this out too much, but I believe Moses likely used sources in the Pentateuch for some things but he is the author of it. 7 I have no way of knowing, but again I would presume not. The rest of it, yes.
(The reason I offer the caveats is because I am not sure where you are going with this.)
“Is not the purpose of prophecy and promises, not that we fully understand them today, but that when they are fulfilled, we can validate them against the Word of God? There is practically no evidence in the Bible that anyone truly understood the promises at the moment they were given and truly understood how they would be fulfilled or carried out?”
This actually argues the other way. The expectations of the disciples reveal how they understood the OT promises. And they were really only wrong about the timing. Likewise, in Acts 1, Jesus does not tell them, “Hey the kingdom is not going to be anything like you’ve thinking.” Rather, He says
Ac 1:7 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
The expectations of the disciples are evidence of how God intended His promises to be understood. (And though, yes, there were misunderstandings about the nature of the kingdom in some as well, an actual reign over actual land by a Davidic heir, etc. was not among them.)
I don’t know where this idea that prophecy should only be clear after the fact comes from… where are we told this? To be sure, there are fulfillment specifics that are not expected in some cases. But not in others.
So which part of, say God’s promises to Abraham/prophecies, do you think he didn’t understand?
- He would father a great nation?
- All the world would be blessed through him?
- Your descendants will possess “this land”?
Which part of God’s promises through Moses do you think the people didn’t understand?
- Obey and you’ll be greatly blessed?
- Disobey and you’ll be cursed?
I could go on with Noah, David, etc.
The point here is that God always speaks with the intent that the audience will understand something, and usually they are expected to understand most of what He has said. (And Israel having no future ethnic identity and possessing the lad is not exactly a minor detail). Many of the cases where they didn’t understand, it was obvious they were not expected to: for example, the tabernacle/worship symbolism is explained nowhere in the Mosaic Covenant. It is just there, and obviously very intentional. What that screamed to everyone paying attention was: There is much here you don’t know yet and will be revealed in the future.
But there is none of that in the “promises.”
As for Jesus speaking in parables, this again is an argument for non-CT.
Lk 8:10–11 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
The believing are supposed to understand. The hardened are not. This is the order of things in OT and NT. What is not understood is simply the parts that are not yet revealed. But what is revealed is supposed to be understood by the believing faithful.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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