The Everlasting Covenant - 1.7 Theological Terms

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1.7 Theological Terms
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.everlastingcovenant.com, September 2009
 
Topics:
1. Dispensations
2. Dispensational Theology
3. How Many Covenants are There?
4. Covenant Theology
5. New Covenant Theology

There is only one correct view of the Covenant and that is what the Bible says. Unfortunately, men have made it complicated, and there are three different major views, with many variations of each view. These three major views are termed “Dispensational theology,” “Covenant theology,” and “New Covenant Theology.” These are discussed in more detail in “Covenant Critique.”
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1. Dispensations

A dispensation refers to the order of society or of religion during a period of time. Sometimes referring to commands or promises regulating human affairs. The word dispensation is not a bad word if one realizes that “dispensation” does not refer to the “covenant.” For want of a better term, I propose to use it to refer to the method of worship in each era. Commonly, there were the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the Christian dispensations.
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2. Dispensational Theology

Dispensational theology is very common. It comes in part from the terms for the Bible itself, Old Testament and New Testament. We need to know that these terms were not applied to the Bible until after 200 AD. In this view, the Jews of the Old Testament were saved by obeying the law. This came to an end when Jesus was crucified, and Christians are now saved by grace.

There are serious problems with this view, and there is much Bible evidence against this view. The term “dispensation” is still useful to describe the worship pattern of ceremonies and sacrifices of the Old Testament; IF one is careful to recognize that in the Old Testament, men were saved by grace as they were in the New.

Dispensationalism is another term for Dispensational Theology. This is the concept that the ten commandment law was limited to an old covenant made at Sinai. This concept pictures a covenant restricted to the Jews and requiring obedience to the law for salvation. It was felt that this covenant was fulfilled by Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary and the law was nailed to the cross. This belief then calls for a new covenant of grace based on the law of love (not defined).

The problems with dispensationalism are that

1. God’s covenant is an everlasting covenant. He does not have two covenants.
2. God is impartial, He does not change. He does not have two methods of salvation.
3. There is evidence of grace and heart religion in the Old Testament
4. There is all too much evidence of old covenant legalism as a way of thinking among the Jews and among the Christians even in the New Testament.
Putting dispensationalism aside, we can still use the term “dispensation” to describe an old dispensation of sacrifices and ceremonies looking forward in faith to a coming Redeemer; and a new dispensation looking back in faith to Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary. In both dispensations a Christian will realize that it is only through faith in Jesus that sins are forgiven and the life is cleansed. A dispensation refers only to how the covenant operates. It is entirely outside the covenant.

Having a clear understanding of these terms will make it easier to discuss the law and the covenants in the New Testament, especially Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews.
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3. How many covenants are there?

A number of terms used in the covenant project are interchangeable in meaning. These will enter in discussion in the articles that follow. Be sure that you are clear on their meanings before we get too far. If you have a question, please click on “Contact Us” in the menu above. You are free to make comments and to ask questions.

These terms are interchangeable:
Everlasting Covenant
Plan of Salvation
Gospel, or Everlasting Gospel
Covenant of Grace
Covenant of Redemption
New Covenant

These terms are quite different:
Old Covenant
Covenants of Sinai, of Moses, of Works, etc.
Dispensation and Dispensationalism
Promises and Vows.

Before Creation, God determined that creation would not be destroyed by sin. Rebellion and iniquity would be overcome by the love and grace of God. Christ would become the new head of humanity and the Savior of the world. Through all this God would be glorified.

God did not tell this to mankind all at once. As the covenant was presented from time to time, God gave more details. His promises also varied according to what men needed at the time. Here is a short list of these covenant announcements:

* Edenic, God's promise of redemption (Gen. 3:15).
* Noachian, for the preservation of the race (Gen. 9:9).
* Abrahamic, granting blessings through Abram's family (Gen. 15:18).
* Sinaitic, designating Israel as God's chosen people (Exod. 19:5,6).
* Levitical, making reconciliation through priestly atonement (Num. 25:12,13).
* Davidic, Messianic salvation promised through David's dynasty (2Sam. 23:5).
* Jesus’ sacrifice, the covenant confirmed. (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 27:51).
There were also specific “covenants” and vows made by men. These indicated a return to the everlasting covenant of God. How about the “new covenant” and the “old covenant”?

Hebrews describes an “old” and a “new.” There is the symbolic, and there is the real. In the context of the time, the “law of Moses” referred to the ceremonial law and the system of sacrifices pointed forward to a coming Redeemer. The ceremonial law was an illustration of the covenant, but never a part of it (see section #3, Covenants Old and New). Where these became a works oriented method of salvation, it evidenced the spirit of the old covenant. Please note that the old covenant was never officially reinstituted.

The promise and the fulfillment of His coming is at the center of the Everlasting Covenant. Jesus came because the law could not be broken, and He, the lawgiver gave His life to stand in the place of sinners – for us. The tables of this law are called “the covenant.” These were kept inside the ark and were written on the hearts of God’s people. This covenant was also called “new” because it was ratified by the sacrificial death of Jesus on Calvary, after the ratification of the old covenant at Sinai.

The everlasting covenant is the promise of God to be with His people, to be their God. In this He takes the initiative to restore man to his rightful state. Man responds in faith, love, and gratitude. In obeying God, the terms of the covenant become real in His life.  Important in this is that the covenant is made up in the promises of God.

The sacrificial system is an object lesson of how the covenant works, but is outside the covenant and not an integral part of it. God is concerned with the heart response of man, and lacking this the sacrifices are meaningless. The sacrificial system points forward to the Messiah, who by His death, ratified the covenant, and made the provisions “legal”.
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4. Covenant Theology

Covenant Theology is a well thought out concept of a continuity of covenant throughout history. This teaches that the old covenant law is still binding, but we can keep it only in Christ Jesus. In Him alone we keep it perfectly. Jesus taught that what He came to do in His life, and the work that He accomplished, was the fulfillment and the substance of all the old covenant “shadows or types.” Those laws are all kept in Him.

Through history there has been a progressive revealing of the covenant. It is emphasized in Hebrews that no one was ever saved by the blood of a literal lamb being slaughtered. The old was merely a picture of the new (or true) that was coming.

There is controversy on the definition of the “old covenant.” This is discussed in other articles on this website. I believe that Covenant Theology comes closest to Bible Truth.
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5. New Covenant Theology

The primary premise of NCT is that the New Covenant as mediated by Christ is a brand NEW covenant, which totally replaces the Old Covenant. Believers in this view hold that Christ actually changed God’s laws.

There are problems with this view. Christ did nothing but support the ten commandment law all throughout His ministry.

Though it may appear Christ contradicts the law, careful consideration reveals He does not. When our Lord says that a man that is angry with his brother without a cause (Matthew 5:21-22) is guilty of murder; He is not contradicting the law of murder, rather He is explaining that in God's eyes, the sin of murder goes well beyond the literal taking of a human life. He in no wise is abrogating the old law but illuminating it to show that without Christ, we could never keep it's far reaching implications.

These concepts are discussed in more detail in the section Covenant Critique.
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