{Book Review} Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives

Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives is published by Crossway, and edited by Guy Waters, J. Nicholas Reid, and John Muether. This is a book that is written by the faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary. 

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Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives is a 600+ page goldmine! Whether you are completely unfamiliar with Covenant Theology (CT) or you are a pastor/scholar in the Reformed tradition, this book is going to sweep you off your feet. There are few topics more important than that of CT, and this book will provide the truth that backs that statement up.

What is Covenant Theology?

In the foreword, Ligon Duncan says that “covenant theology is Reformed Theology’s way of gleaning from and putting together both systematic and biblical theology. Hence, Reformed theology is covenant theology.”

Oftentimes today the term Reformed theology is thrown around as if it is a synonym for Calvinism (as in TULIP, or the 5-points of Calvinism). But as Duncan’s statement expresses so wonderfully, Reformed theology is indeed 5-point Calvinism, but it is also so much more. It is CT!

Duncan goes on to say this: “No wonder B.B. Warfield called covenant theology ‘the architectonic principle’ of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), or James Walker asserted that covenant theology was ‘the old theology of Scotland.’ J.I. Packer claims that we cannot understand the gospel, the Bible, or the reality of God without a covenantal framework and that the Bible ‘forces’ covenant theology on us by the covenant story it tells, the place it gives to Jesus Christ in that covenant story, the Adam-Christ parallel in Paul, and the testimony of Jesus to the covenant of redemption in the Gospel of John.”

To provide just a few more quotes to show the importance of this topic, Duncan, again in the Foreword, says that CT “is also a hermeneutic, or an approach to understanding the Scripture, that attempts to biblically explain the unity of biblical revelation. The Bible’s teaching on the covenants is central, not peripheral, to the biblical story.”

I think you get the point. CT is incredibly important, so important that Herman Bavinck (as quoted in the introduction) says that covenant “is the essence of true religion”. This massive resource is able to help the Christian better understand what CT is all about and why it is so important to the Christian religion. 

Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives

There are tons of books written on the topic of covenant theology, but few are going to address this topic in such an exhaustive manner. This book is divided into three parts:

1. Biblical Covenants
2. Historical Theology
3. Collateral and Theological Studies

Part One: Biblical Covenants

Part one begins with chapters on the theological topics of the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. Though these theological words are not found in God’s Word, the concept of these terms most certainly is, and these first few chapters are proving this from Holy Scripture. The focus then moves to the covenants that were made throughout redemptive history, namely the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New covenants. All of these chapters are excellently handled, especially the chapters that focus on covenant within the gospels, Paul, Hebrews, and the Johannine epistles and Revelation (because it’s not as common for these areas to be addressed in works on CT).

I do want to highlight J. Nicholas Reid’s chapter on the Mosaic Covenant. I found his chapter to be very fair and charitable, especially since there is much disagreement, even within the Reformed camp, over the nature of the relationship between the Mosaic Covenant, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of works. I thought that he did a fine job working through the Republication debate. Although I’m highlighting only a few chapters here, I have to say that every chapter is worthy of reading and learning from.

Part Two: Historical Theology

Moving on to part two, the reader will be treated to a historical survey of CT, ranging from the early church all the way up to recent theology. What a wonderful section of the book! If you’re into church history or historical theology in general, this section will not disappoint at all!

Part Three: Collateral and Theological Studies

Lastly, part three discusses the Near Ancient Backgrounds to Covenants, covenant and second temple Judaism, Dispensationalism, New Covenant Theologies, and more. I was very happy to see chapters devoted to interacting with Dispensationalsim, and even more so, Progressive Covenantalism (especially due to the increased interest in this system due to Wellum and Gentry’s more recent work). I was saddened by the lack of interaction with those in the Reformed Baptist camp, especially those of the 1689 Federalism stripe. Perhaps nobody challenges the CT of the Reformed and Presbyterian more than the 1689 folks, so I would have liked to have seen more interaction on that front. 

Conclusion

This book is simply phenomenal! I am grateful for the excellent scholarship that the faculty of RTS has provided the church in this volume. I hope that many will take advantage of the hard work that went into this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Tolle lege, take up and read! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Crossway Publishers for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of the Blog Review Program. The opinions expressed are my own.