Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, understood that a grasp of the biblical covenants stood as a pillar of orthodoxy. This series has attempted to trace out what covenant theology is and how it played a crucial role in the foundations of Baptist theology. The pillar of covenant theology not only made up the house of the Baptists in Britain in the 17th century but also among 19th century Southern Baptists. In Part 1 of this series, I set forth the premise that early Baptists expounded a robust covenant theology that was distinctively Baptistic. The truthfulness of this premise shines in their confessions, catechisms, and other writings. In Part 2, I laid out the foundations of covenant theology by defining some of the key theological terms and biblical concepts. In Part 3, I considered some of the early Southern Baptist theologians’ writings, which expounded a historic Baptist covenant theology. In this final article, I would like to provide some brief practical benefits in seeing the whole system of divine grace.
First, a proper understanding of the covenants will affect our biblical hermeneutics and interpretation. When you are reading the Bible, how do you read it? Do you seek to hear the voice of Christ as much in Joshua as you do in the Sermon on the Mount? Covenant theology allows us to see how the Bible fits together. “Covenant theology covers, by necessity, the entirety of the Scriptures, beginning with Adam and creation and ending with Christ and the consummation. Covenant theology discusses, by definition, the forest and the trees, the macro and micro perspectives of the Scriptures.”1 Look at your Bible and see how it is divided between the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant). By the very composition of the Scriptures, the Bible is a covenantal book.
Covenant theology and covenantal hermeneutics help us see how Christ is found in every corner of the Bible. No, we do not make a text talk about Christ in a forced way, but we do see how Christ and the work of redemption are the point of the entire Bible. One of the early Southern Baptists, John A. Broadus, understood how the Old Testament must be read in the light of Christ and His redemptive work.
The holy Scriptures of the OT are never half understood except as they are seen in the light of Christ Jesus. They all pointed forward to Christ Jesus; they all found their fulfillment, the key of their interpretation in Christ Jesus. The OT history is not merely a history of some wandering patriarchs and of a strange wayward people of wonderful powers and wonderful propensities to evil. It is not merely a history of Israel. The OT is a history of redemption, of God’s mightiness and mercies, and of a chosen nation, all along the promised, long-looked-for time when God’s Son should come to be the Saviour of mankind. We cannot understand the OT, except we read it in its bearing upon Christ, as fulfilled in him.2
Second, covenant theology helps us see the distinction and harmony between law and gospel. For far too long, many evangelical theologians have dismissed the historic Reformed understanding of law and gospel as a relic of a bygone era. Sam Renihan helpfully notes that law and gospel are distinctions both substantially and historically. How does covenant theology show the substantial distinction between law and gospel? At the heart of the Reformation itself was the distinction by way of substance between the law and the gospel. Rome championed a salvation that included works and obedience to merit the favor of God. This blending of law and gospel produces a dangerous poison, whether in the 16th century or the 21st century.
The Old Testament is called the law in a broad sense due to the prominence and dominance of the law of Moses before the coming of Christ. And the New Testament is called the gospel in a broad sense due to the clarity afforded by the incarnation, Christ’s earthly ministry, and the subsequent writings of the New Testament.3
Covenant theology provides us with the proper pattern for understanding the law and the gospel, which is essential to getting doctrines like justification and sanctification correct.
Finally, covenant theology deepens our commitment to the doctrine of the church or ecclesiology. As I stated at the outset of these articles, the very identity of Baptists is linked to a distinct view of the church and that ecclesiological view comes forth from covenant theology. One of the tragedies of the 20th century was a shifting away from historic Baptist distinctives when it came to ecclesiology. One of those distinctives is the regulative principle of worship. Baptist ecclesiology finds its roots in the regulative principle, which states that the Bible governs what we do in worship and how we do it. Why is that important? The new covenant church is not old covenant Israel. By definition, covenant theology sets the parameters for how we understand who the church is and what the church is. As covenant theology faded in Baptist life, is it any mystery as to why meaningful membership, the regulative principle of worship, and other Baptist distinctives have all but disappeared? By seeing the beauty of covenant theology in the Bible, we will have a greater appreciation and awareness of why the church of Jesus Christ does matter.
To summarize all of these articles and my attempts at exploring this noble subject, I wish to have C.H. Spurgeon give the final word.
The doctrine of the divine covenant lies at the root of all true theology. It has been said that he who well understands the distinction between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace is a master of divinity. I am persuaded that most of the mistakes which men make concerning the doctrines of Scripture are based upon fundamental errors with regard to the covenants of law and of grace.4
May we then be good students of the Word and give ourselves to the study of the covenants!
Bibliography
Denault, Pascal. The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology. Birmingham, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2017.
Prince, David. Church with Jesus as the Hero. Lexington, KY: Ashland Publishing, 2015.
Renihan, Samuel. The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant and His Kingdom. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2019.
Jake Stone pastors New Testament Baptist Church in Biloxi, MS. He has served there since August 2011. He is a graduate of William Carey University in Hattiesburg, MS.
