Jesus is making covenants with Israel. The Holy Spirit mercifully unites Gods chosen people to Christ in the covenant of grace, giving them blessings of life purchased by Christs life and death. [108]MacArthur, Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 4, Grace to You (May 20, 2007); available at: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-337/~/about. Chantry argues, when God makes a covenant it is here to stay! (p. 100) without ever wrestling with how the new covenant is the telos, terminus, and fulfillment of all of the biblical covenants. Regarding the specific view of Abrahams seed and its meaning, a search through the Spurgeon sermon archives (at Spurgeon Gems) brings forth several sermons where Spurgeon addressed this. Five distinctives are noted: the regulative principle of worship, Baptist Covenant theology, Calvinism, the Law of God, and Confessionalism. The ongoing debate between all dispensationalists and covenantalists centers around the preferred hermeneutics of those involved. Chapter 1, Covenant Theology Simplified, is written by Earl Blackburn, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. [56]Darby, The Character of Office in the Present Dispensation; Ibid., On the Apostasy: What Is Succession a Succession Of?; available at: BibleTruth; available at: https://bibletruthpublishers.com/collected-writings-of-j-n-darby-ecclesiastical-1/lbd15226. They do not enhance your position; they only detract from it. Nevertheless, they should not assume the words directly address them.[58]. This, however, does not mean that the kingdom itself awaits the fulfillment of the political promises in order for it to be inaugurated according to the PD position. God forgave Old Testament saints because Christ would pay the penalty of their sin.[120], With Jesus atoning work having been completed in the eternal decree of God, it could be applied retroactively, according to MacArthur, to those saints whowere saved by grace through faith.[121] Along with this, he even believes that they experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What is it that makes a Reformed Baptist distinct from other kinds of Baptists and Reformed folks? [71]Robert L. Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism: The Interface Between Dispensational & Non-Dispensational Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 9. [106]MacArthur, The Securities of Gods Promise, Grace to You (June 11, 1972); available at: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1615/the-securities-of-gods-promise. To arrive at his understanding of the new covenant, MacArthur simply held fast to his dispensationalistic hermeneutic that favors a more earthly (i.e., Israel-focused), linear, and literal interpretation of covenantal progression than that his Reformed Baptist counterparts. If one is looking for a quick read and resource that describes this particular variety of Reformed Baptist theology, this book is a good place to begin. Because the Bible does not command infant baptism, early Baptists believed that infant baptism is forbidden in public worship, and the baptism of believers alone is to be practiced in worship.
Darby: Expository 6, BibleTruth; available at: https://bibletruthpublishers.com/notes-on-the-epistle-to-the-ephesians/john-nelson-darby-jnd/collected-writings-of-j-n-darby-expository-6/la63014. JavaScript is disabled. It mitigates the wrath of God for those in Adam while this age winds down.[30] Explaining this in even more detail, Van Dorn adds, the recipients of this post-Flood covenant include the earth and the animals and other things besides mankind (Gen 8:22; 9:12, 15). First, as is often the case in this kind of book, the descriptions of contrary positions are mostly unhelpful. 28:3; Judg. Believers rest in Christ for their total salvation. But what about Charles Spurgeon, a well-known Baptist who affirmed and taught the 1689 London Baptist Confession at his church? The Lord styled Israel, even rebellious Israel The seed of Abraham My friend. You know how David sought out the seed of Jonathan, and did them good for Jonathans sake, even so does the Lord love believers who are the seed of believing Abraham, and He still seeks out the children of Abraham His friend to do them good. However, at least three weaknesses are evident. [59]1689 London Baptist Confession; available at: http://truegraceofgod.org/1689-london-baptist-confession/#:~:text=1689%20London%20Baptist%20Confession%201%20Scripture%201.%20The,4%20Creation%201.%20%205%20Providence%201.%20. Further complications arose due to inconsistencies in the articulation of this new eschatological framework. In his own words, the new covenant is with Israel. Now, our Lord Jesus has come to proclaim a period of jubilee to the true seed of Israel. After closing the age of the law with the blood of Christ, Darby asserts that [t]he law will be written in their hearts hereafter.[56] Scofield took Darbys position on this matter to the extent of denying that Christs teachings on the law in the Sermon on the Mount as having any legal hold over believers even while these teachings and the rest throughout the Gospels (given before Christs death) may have moral application to NT believers. The church is distinct because, as the body of Christ, it is composed of both Jews and gentiles. See James Leo Garrett, Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study (Macon, GA: Mercer, 2009), 560-570. The physical descendants were included in the old covenant, not because they are all children of the promise, but because God was preserving the line of promise, until Christ, the true seed, came. The power in the kingdom is not external but internal (parable of the leaven hidden in meal). While both parties affirm that God made promises to the Israelites and tend to agree on the conditionality of the Mosaic covenant, they disagree (at various points) on whether or not the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants can be considered as still being in force due to the failure of the Israelites as a nation to perform their role under the covenantal terms. Covenant Theology. This distinctive is put first because it is one of the main reasonsCalvinistic Baptists separated from theIndependentpaedobaptists. [119]MacArthur, The Doctrine of Election, Part 3, Grace to You (October 17, 2004); available at: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-275/~/about. [83]Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, 120. It is a serious matter.[79], This understanding of Gods promises, especially those associated with the covenants, leads to the disavowal. Such Baptists have abandoned the very principle that led to their initial emergence from paedobaptism. According to the New Testament, the Old Testament promise to you and your seed was ultimately made to Christ, the true seed (Gal 3:16).
But keep in mind that does not invalidate Gods promises to the nation Israel.[92], This effort to retain a more ethnic-based interpretation of spiritual Israel is in part due to MacArthurs understanding of the OT covenants. In essence, dispensationalism favors a more literal approach to any texts that deal specifically with Israel. On-topic only or at least close! Countering them, the dispensationalists believe that Gods promises to Israel still remain despite their unfaithfulness.
Titus 2:14 says that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works.. And His commandments are not burdensome.. United under the new covenant, both Israel (those who have been saved among them) and the Church, Saucy clarifies, share a similar identity as the people of God enjoying equally the blessings of eschatological salvation.[86] These blessings are received through faith in Christ in this current dispensation, but previously they were obtained by OT saints (who lived under Mosaic law) through the promises within the Abrahamic covenant. Since His resurrection and ascension, Jesus has reigned from His heavenly throne over the kingdom of God which awaits its ultimate consummation when Christ return and begins His millennial reign. Griffiths goes one step further by claiming that the new covenant [is] a reality before Christs completed work.[52], Diverging from Griffiths at least in emphasis and to some degree semantics related to discussions the new covenant, Van Dorn addresses the historical progression in covenantal history more directly.
[61]Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 106-107. God made the covenant of grace with His elect people (Gen 3:15; Heb 9:15-16) in which He applies all the blessings of life merited by Christ in the covenant of redemption. In both the Old and New Testaments, the new covenant is revealed to be a covenant of believers only, who are forgiven of their sins, and have Gods law written on their hearts (Heb 8:10-12). Blackburn mentions each biblical covenant, but Chantry simply conflates them into the covenant of grace, especially when he discusses the OT covenants (pp. The comments after the article by Tom Chantry and Rich Barcellos are quite to the point here. Blaising, Bock, and Saucy fail to develop this aspect of their thinking, but they do submit that the millennial kingdom will be a place where harmony exists between humans and animals. In the third appendix, How is the New Covenant not like that which has come before? Kenneth Puls, the editorial director of Founders Press, gives a helpful chart that contrasts the covenants in the OT with the new covenant. This book is one such example written from a Reformed Baptist viewpoint. One wonders whether a church can depart from a doctrine necessary to the emergence of Baptists in their English context and still rightlyidentify as a Baptist church. Following another disturbing trend among critics of dispensationalism within the Reformed Baptist community, Griffiths begins his argument for CT by comparing it to CD as taught by John Nelson Darby and made famous in the Scofield Reference Bible. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Inc.All rights reserved, About the Alliance Pdf. Now that Christ has come, there is no longer any reason to preserve a physical line. [74]Bock, Hermeneutics of Progressive Dispensationalism, in Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional and Progressive Views, ed.
[35]Darby, On Days Signifying Years in Prophetic Language, (1830); available at: https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/PROPHET/02002E.html. Tolkien), Historic (Classic) Premillennial Online Resources, Let the Bible Speak Dr. Alan Cairns Sermons, Rediscovering the Bible (Many Resources Including Historic Premillennialism). Recognizing Scofields lack of clarity on this matter, Van Dorn affirms that contemporary dispensationalists have rejected this obvious error, but then notes that this earlier theological upheaval could have been avoided if a few things were present at the beginning. Nothing here requires an either/or approach that removes and precludes a national future for Israel, as demonstrated in the both/and approach taken by Spurgeon (and other covenantal premillennialists). $18.00. Third, what is lacking in the book is not a description of the biblical covenants, but a sense of how the covenants progressively unfold and how each covenant contributes to the overall plan of God fulfilled in Christ. [101] First, adhering to the literal interpretation is the only means whereby one can access the truth being revealed. Yet one point (under the second heading of Covenant Theology) provides an example of modern-day overreaction against one error (traditional dispensationalism), to the point that would negate the actual beliefs of at least some (pre-20th century) 1689 Baptists. Furthermore, its primary function has now been abolished due to the disobedience of the Israelites so much as that Saucy suggest[s] that the new covenant replaced the Mosaic one and rendered it obsolete in salvation history.[83] With the arrival of the new covenant, the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants continue to have a role because the new covenant is the means through which these covenants attain final fulfillment.[84].
(12), 10. Reformed Baptists agree with Reformedpaedobaptists that God made a covenant of works with Adam, which he broke and so brought condemnation on the whole human race (Rom 5:18). [67]John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom: A Basic Text in Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), viii.
