As is readily apparent, the majority of content on this blog to date has either been explicitly about covenant theology of all varieties, or touching on that theme in some respect. For those who know me best, or read this blog the most zealously (two categories whose Venn diagram I suspect resembles a circle), the question why that is the case is probably settled. In the interest of reaching out to those who may have only just happened across "Notes", or visit infrequently, I'd like to try to answer that question in my own words. Why covenant theology? In the whole wide world of theology and the Bible, let alone all other things, why devote time and energy to internet posts on God's covenants with man?
The answer to that why is threefold in nature. There is the hermeneutical significance of CT: how our reading the Bible influences our view of the covenants, and, in one of the feedback loops common to the Christian walk, how our view thereof influences our reading of the Bible. There is also the historical-theological significance: the role CT plays in being Reformed, or, for those non-Calvinists or non-CT adherents in the audience, the self-identity and place in history (that is to say, among and in relation to our fellow men) lent to you by your place outside the CT camp. Finally, we have what I will term the personal/practical significance (although if you ever walk away from this blog feeling that hermeneutics and history have no personal or practical meaning, I will close up shop now). How does our view of God's covenants with man influence our day-to-day walk with God in terms of growth in holiness, spiritual maturity, the sacraments, or prayer? How (if at all) does CT shape how we as individual Christians relate to God?
Hermeneutics shape the Christian life as much or more as nearly all other theoretically "abstract" disciplines. While there is much truth to the old saying Lex Orandi Lex Credendi (the rule of prayer is the rule of belief), in our literate age, it is just as true, if not more, that how one reads (specifically the Scriptures) shapes ones belief system. Specifically, CT answers the following questions: 1) What is the law? Does God has one law, or more than one? How do Christians relate to the law today, and what parts of it, if any, are applicable as a canon for Christians? 2) What is the nature of progressive Revelation? How does the Old Testament instruct the Christian today. and why? How and why does the Bible abrogate or republish itself working from left to right? 3) To what degree does typology play a role in the grammatical-historical reading of Scripture? What parts of the Bible have more than one application? 4) Perhaps most importantly, what story, or stories, is the Bible telling? The first application for the answers to this question, or at least the most readily apparent, is eschatological, but there are other ramifications. Simply put, without hermeneutics, the Christian walk is left as unshaped by Divine revelation as it would be if God remained silent.
Covenant theology has been the underpinning of Reformed systematics at least since Witsius, and arguably dates all the way back to Calvin's Institutes. The Reformed Confessions, particularly, but not exclusively the Westminster Standards, place CT at the heart not only of Reformed hermeneutics, but also, Reformed identity. How one relates to the nature and place of the New Covenant in the historia salutis forms ones place in the often complex and turbulent denominational landscape of American Christianity, provides a link to one's historical forebears in theology, and in doing so, lends weight to one's standing as a member in the church Catholic, both living and historical. At least in the Reformed camp, having, and being able to articulate, a position on CT is the most important part of being able to place oneself in history, feel truly connected to the history of the Church, avoid invention a personal hermeneutic at the price of lost consistency, and enables us to truly "stand on the shoulders of giants".
Last but not least, CT, even apart from strictly heremeutical considerations, shapes how one lives and thinks and acts as a Christian. It is worldview forming. CT alters how we view the law, and therefore our approach to sanctification and holiness, how we view the OT, and thereby what parts of it we apply to our lives (and in what ways), how we view and practice the sacraments and their roles in the church, and can even shape how we deal with important issues like church and the family, apostasy, how we approach God in prayer, the role of elders and form of church government, and many other issues. In other words, CT, as much as any discipline of systematic theology, touches the everyday walk and experience of the Christian and his local congregation in intimate, holistic ways. This is no mere dry collection of rote facts to memorize, but part of growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Few "abstract" theological fields will prove to touch as diverse elements of your life as you study them.
Hopefully this brief survey has shed light on the emphases of this blog to date. Hopefully posts will be coming with more regularity in the near future, many of them will be centered on, you guessed, studies and book reviews in comparative CT. On the imminent docket: the next entry in my series on Federal Visionism, part one of a book review regarding the topic, and the beginning of may be a series introducing the issue of Republication of the Covenant of Works, and the ongoing controversy at Westminster West and East regarding that subject. Prayer for diligence in writing would be appreciated, as I have much to do, and seemingly not enough time to accomplish it.
In Christ,
~JS
