Sam Renihan on Kingdom & Covenant

In a PuritanBoard thread, Sam Renihan kicks off a discussion of Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology. He specifically explores how the concept of God’s Kingdom is closely connected with God’s covenants. It is an excellent, concise piece that is well worth your time. In the conversation that follows, Renihan ably handles objections, misunderstandings, and misrepresentations of his views, marshaling quotes from historic Covenant Theologians of all stripes. Here are some highlights to whet your appetite:

Discussions of covenant theology swirl round and round because they tend to be somewhat abstract. The terminology used in such discussions has not always helped either. For example, the terms “administration” and “covenant community” are frequently nebulous in their meaning. The theme of kingdom and covenant helps to concretize and clarify these words. It also helps to get to the core of questions like “is the Abrahamic Covenant, in its substance and essence, in continuity with the Covenant of Grace,” “is the Mosaic Covenant a covenant of works,” and “what’s new about the New Covenant?” Relating Kingdom to Covenant is not simply a helpful method of organizing the data of the debate, or a “well it just works” solution, but rather it is a scriptural and theological reality which demands incorporation into considerations of covenant theology.

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Centuries passed before John the Baptist appeared on the scene and began preaching that all must repent because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. The Messianic King, Son of God and Son of David, was born in Bethlehem, and when he came onto the scene he began to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, to teach about the Kingdom in parables, and to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom in miracles. What becomes clear is that this Jesus was the seed of the woman, and that he was manifesting in history a clear picture of the Kingdom of God, an eschatological Kingdom of perfect righteousness (Matt 4:17).

The Jewish people, including Jesus’ family and disciples, thought that Jesus’ message was about the Kingdom of Israel even into the testimony of the Acts of the Apostles. However, this was their fundamental error, and it was not until the Apostles came to understand the true nature of the kingdom that they began to go forward and preach the gospel to all mankind without regard to the boundaries of the Kingdom of Israel.

Jesus Christ inaugurated the eschatological Kingdom of God and the New Covenant in his own blood through his sacrificial propitiatory death on the cross. This Kingdom is everything that the Kingdom of Israel was not. It is a Kingdom of people circumcised in heart, a Kingdom with an eternal inheritance, a Kingdom with a perfect King, a kingdom with a perfect Priest, a Kingdom with a perfect Prophet. In comparison to the Kingdom of Israel, it is entirely new and thoroughly eschatological.

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No one can enter the Kingdom of God and later leave it. The Kingdom of God is circumscribed by regeneration. The New Covenant is unbreakable. Either Christ made you a part of his Kingdom through his death or he did not. At no time was an apostate ever united to Christ or made a partaker of any of his benefits. They may have been enlightened, they may have been affected by the common operations of the Spirit, they may have sprouted with counterfeit faith, and they may have been considered to be a child of God, but ultimately all was a lie. Nevertheless, apostates are held accountable for their lies and false claims. If a spy is discovered in a kingdom, he is not released because he belongs to another kingdom. He is answerable to the King and is punished accordingly. The warning passages of scripture serve the purpose of causing the sheep to persevere and declaring retributive judgment on the goats. In a Kingdom where no one can betray the King, warnings against betrayal are ultimately directed towards those spies and impostors who clothe themselves in sheepskins. Just as it is incumbent upon ministers to preach the gospel indiscriminately, so it is incumbent upon them to warn all indiscriminately. All men must be made to know the price of rejecting the gospel of the Kingdom and thus its King.

In the course of the thread, Renihan also links to a paper he wrote on the relationship between Kingdom, Covenant, and Visible Church. Although it contains some overlapping material, it too is excellent and I highly recommend giving it a read.

 

Spurgeon on the First and Second Adam

We were under the old covenant, and our first father and federal head, Adam, had broken that covenant, and we were ruined by his fatal breach. The substance of the old covenant was on this wise,—”If thou wilt keep my command thou shalt live, and thy posterity shall live; but if thou shalt eat of the tree which I have forbidden thee, dying, thou shalt die, and all thy posterity in thee.”

This is where we were found, broken in pieces, sore wounded, and even slain by the tremendous fall which destroyed both our Paradise and ourselves. We died in Adam as to spiritual life, and our death revealed itself in an inward tendency to evil which reigned in our members. We were like Ezekiel’s deserted infant unswaddled and unwashed, left in our pollution to die; but the Son of God passed by and saw us in the greatness of our ruin.

In his wondrous love our Lord Jesus put us under a new covenant, a covenant of which he became the second Adam, a covenant which ran on this wise,—”If thou shalt render perfect obedience and vindicate my justice, then those who are in thee shall not perish, but they shall live because thou livest.” Now, our Lord Jesus, our Surety and Covenant Head, has fulfilled his portion of the covenant engagement, and the compact stands as a bond of pure promise without condition or risk.

Those who are participants in that covenant cannot invalidate it, for it never did depend upon them, but only upon him who was and is their federal head and representative before God. Of Jesus the demand was made and he met it. By him man’s side of the covenant was undertaken and fulfilled, and now no condition remains; it is solely made up of promises which are unconditional and sure to all the seed.

To-day believers are not under the covenant of “If thou doest this thou shalt live,” but under that new covenant which says, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” It is not now “Do and live,” but “Live and do;” we think not of merit and reward, but of free grace producing holy practice as the result of gratitude. What law could not do, grace has accomplished.

-”Sermon for New Year’s Day,” 1/1/1885, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

 

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 3.5: Interlude

Before we continue, I want to reiterate that it is very important that we keep the distinction between Abraham’s natural seed and his spiritual seed at the forefront of our minds when examining these Old Testament passages. The Covenant of Circumcision, given to Abraham’s physical seed, cannot give them a right to eternal spiritual blessings any more than it can give Gentile believers today a right to blessings in the land of Canaan. The Covenant of Grace was certainly revealed to Abraham, but the Covenant of Circumcision was a typical covenant given to a typical people which functioned as a servant to the spiritual covenant of eternal salvation.

I won’t pretend that if someone sits down and reads Genesis 12-17, he will easily be able to draw out all the points we have covered, and are going to cover. Interpreting Scripture is not always easy; it’s not always clear. If it was, there wouldn’t be a need to title this series Unlocking Abraham. I want to be very clear that I believe that the only way to understand what’s going on with Abraham is to look at the New Testament. We must be sure to practice good interpretive procedures, which includes allowing the clearer parts of Scripture to interpret the less clear.

Even so, there are Christians who attempt to do what we are presently doing, and arrive at different conclusions about how to interpret God’s covenant dealings with Abraham. Although I may disagree with many of these sincere believers, I freely admit that I do not have all the answers. I do not present these theses as dogmatic assertions, but as statements of my current understanding, which continues to be sharpened. I welcome questions, even challenges, from those with differing viewpoints.

I would also like to say a word here about baptism. Although this examination of Abraham will eventually take us to a defense of credobaptism (Believer’s Baptism), I want to make very clear that a certain practice of baptism is not my motivation for these posts. My goal is not to win converts to my side of the historic baptism divide. Rather, it is to understand Abraham’s part in the history of redemption. I have always tried to keep my credobaptist upbringing from dominating the way I view God’s covenants with man. Therefore, I don’t start with credobaptism, then formulate a view of the covenants, or of the church, that fits my view of baptism. Rather, it was only after my understanding of the covenants began to deepen that I landed firmly in my credobaptist convictions.

In my ongoing studies of Covenant Theology, I have realized that the classification of “Paedobaptist Covenant Theology” and “Baptist Covenant Theology” is really misleading. It gives the impression that the two groups are each unified in their respective understanding of the covenants, and that this understanding is dominated by their baptismal practice. This is far from the truth. Paedobaptists have widely differing understandings of the covenants among themselves, particularly regarding the Sinaitic or Mosaic Covenant, and the Covenant of Works with Adam. There are also many Baptist Covenant Theologians with whom I would greatly disagree on certain subjects. It might surprise some of my readers that with the exception of Nehemiah Coxe, the one Covenant Theologian with whom I agree the most is John Owen, a paedobaptist! Owen’s disagreement with the Westminster divines about the nature of the Mosaic Covenant led to the production of a confession of faith known as the Savoy Declaration. Yet there are many Baptist Covenant Theologians today who side with Westminster over Owen on this issue, and in my opinion, weaken their case for credobaptism.

So when I look at the Covenant Theologians of the past, and wonder exactly where I fit, I don’t judge my allies by their baptismal practices. For example, I don’t consider myself to be”on the same side” as Sam Waldron, A.W. Pink or W. Gary Crampton versus John Owen, just because Waldron, Pink and Crampton are Credobaptists. Rather, I take each of these men’s (and others’) insights and attempt to judge them by Scripture. Yes, I may end up on the same side of the baptismal fence of A.W. Pink, but I may not get there the same way as he did. On the other hand, one need only read Crampton’s book, From Paedobaptism to Credobaptism, to see that Paedobaptists have based their practice of baptizing infants on several different reasons throughout history. Thus I merely see myself as a student of the Word of God, walking in the steps of my forebears, which include Calvin, Witsius, Pink, Owen, Coxe, Clark, Robbins, and many others, as well as walking alongside my contemporaries (who are much more learned than I) such as Renihan, Barcellos, Waldron, Nichols, etc. Interacting with Brandon Adams and Sean Gerety has been absolutely invaluable, though they do not always approve of my position!

Thanks to my readers for their encouragement and discussion. Lord willing, I’ll be posting more soon.

 

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 3: The Covenant of Circumcision Introduced

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 1: The Covenant of Redemption

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 2: The Covenant of Circumcision: Promises

In the first part of the Unlocking Abraham series, we saw that the glorious Gospel Covenant of Redemption was revealed to Abraham. Through belief in the promises of this covenant, Abraham was justified in the sight of God and became the spiritual father of all believers. Among his descendants there would come a Seed, Jesus Christ, through whom all nations would be blessed.

In the second part of the series, we saw that Abraham was also given promises concerning his natural descendants, who would become as numerous as the stars. To them eventually would be given the land of Canaan. We also saw that God, in solemn covenant with Abraham, assured him that these things would certainly come to pass, no matter what (Gen 15). All of these promises given to Abraham are rooted in the sovereign grace of God, and ultimately serve His grand purposes.

Now, in Part 3, we will begin to take a look at the next step of God’s progressive dealings with Abraham, made in what Stephen called the “covenant of circumcision.”

15.) God made a Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham, containing the promises of seed and land.

Acts 7:2-8

²And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

³And said unto him, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.”

⁴Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

⁵And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

⁶And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

⁷“And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge,” said God: “and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.”

 ⁸And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

 

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 2: The Covenant of Circumcision: Promises

See here for Part 1: Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 1: The Covenant of Redemption

In the last (first) post in this series, I posted 11 theses (along with Scripture proofs and brief comments) concerning the Gospel of the Covenant of Redemption revealed to Abraham. These theses were as follows:

1.) God’s promises to Abraham are based in mercy, not merit.

2.) The Covenant of Redemption, made in Christ’s blood and the only way of salvation, was revealed to Abraham.

3.) In Genesis 12, the Gospel Covenant, the Covenant of Redemption, is revealed to Abraham.

4.) These Redemption-Covenant promises are later confirmed.

5.) Any and all redemptive, justifying blessings that believers receive ultimately find their source in Christ, who has secured them in the Covenant of Redemption.

6.) Gentile believers are rightly called Abraham’s children because they are counted in Christ, the promised Seed of blessing to the nations.

7.) The way of salvation – inclusion in the Covenant of Redemption confirmed in Christ and revealed to Abraham – is by faith alone, and not by physical descent.

8.) The promises discussed above – the Gospel Covenant of Redemption – were given to Abraham 25 years before the institution of circumcision. There was no external sign, nor seal, attached to the Covenant of Redemption.

9.) The blessings of the Covenant of Redemption in Christ are spiritual in nature, and the recipients of them are those who are included in Christ & Abraham by faith alone.

10.) Since the promises discussed above comprise the gospel in an early, general form, the heirs of blessing are guaranteed to receive all the promises of the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. There is no partial or temporary interest in the Gospel Covenant of Grace – the Covenant of Redemption in Christ. It is all of grace, and all of faith.

11.) The promise of a blessed seed was given uniquely to Abraham. It is not said that all believers will be made fathers of a nation, or given a seed through which all nations will be blessed. Thus, our blessings are derived from Abraham. Just as a man leaves his inheritance to his children, so we receive Abraham’s inheritance, and he is our father. The promises discussed above are to Abraham and his seed. We have seen that this seed is Christ, and all believers in Him by faith.

I would now like to continue in the same style, transitioning into the Covenant of Circumcision made with Abraham. For it is my belief that while the Covenant of Redemption was certainly revealed to Abraham, it was shrouded within and intermixed with the promises of a wholly different, yet subservient covenant – the Covenant of Circumcision. Only by using the shining light of the New Testament as our guide can we fully understand God’s covenant dealings with Abraham.

 

Charles Hodge and the Two Covenants with Abraham

“It is to be remembered that there were two covenants made with Abraham. By the one, his natural descendants through Isaac were constituted a commonwealth, an external, visible community. By the other, his spiritual descendants were constituted a church. The parties to the former covenant were God and the nation; to the other, God and His true people. The promises of the national covenant were national blessings; the promises of the spiritual covenant (i.e., the covenant of grace), were spiritual blessings, reconciliation, holiness, and eternal life. The conditions of the [national] covenant were circumcision and obedience to the law [...]. There cannot be a greater mistake than to confound the national covenant with the covenant of grace, and the commonwealth founded on the one with the church founded on the other.”

-Charles Hodge, Church Polity (New York: Scribner, 1878), 66-67

 

Unlocking Abraham, Pt. 1: The Covenant of Redemption

This is the first of a series of posts in which I hope to offer an explanation of my view of God’s covenant dealings with Abraham. This view is virtually the same as that held by Nehemiah Coxe, and presented in the book Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ, by Nehemiah Coxe & John Owen. Some dear paedobaptist brothers and sisters of mine are often confused when I assert that while the Covenant of Grace (I prefer the name Covenant of Redemption) was most certainly revealed to Abraham, the Covenant of Circumcision cannot be equated with this Gospel Covenant. In this, and, Lord willing, future posts, I’ve tried to present my view in the form of succinct statements, followed by Scriptural support. It is my hope that this will serve to edify and clarify my convictions concerning Abraham, circumcision, grace, baptism, and God’s eternal plan of redemption in Christ.

1.) God’s promises to Abraham are based in mercy, not merit.

Micah 7:20

²⁰Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Luke 1:72-73

⁷²To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

⁷³The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

Galatians 3:18

¹⁸For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.