Covenant theology terms

While the reformed doctrines of the Covenant of Grace and Covenant of Works explain good theology, they often cause confusion because they don't line up well with the Bible's own use of the term covenant. It's a tension between systematic and biblical theology.

The Covenant of Works is God's requirement of perfect obedience, broken by Adam and fulfilled by Christ. The Covenant of Grace is God's plan to save his people by grace, first promised to Adam after the fall, then renewed throughout redemptive history until it was fulfilled by Christ. This framework helps us understand salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.

The Bible says much about covenants, but it uses different terms. The covenants in the Old Testament include those made with or at the time of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and David. The prophets also speak of a coming New Covenant. There is obvious continuity between some covenants (from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob), but less obvious continuity for others (for instance Noah or David).

In the New Testament, the terminology is simple: Christ has instituted the New Covenant and we are living under that now. The New is contrasted with the Old Covenant. The New Covenant is the goal of redemption history, the culmination of all previous covenants, so understanding what this covenant is and how it differs from the old is important. In Galatians Paul explains how the New Covenant is both continuous with the Abrahamic covenant but radically different from the Mosaic covenant.

The Covenant of Grace doctrine correctly teaches the continuity between the Old and New Covenants, but in the desire to emphasize continuity, it often de-emphasizes the importance and priority and newness of the New Covenant. This is illustrated in Berkhof's Systematic Theology when he begins his one page treatment of the New Covenant: "Little need be said respecting the New Testament dispensation of the covenant." I guess the New Testament has a lot to say about it, even if Berkhof doesn't.

Also, it's a common mistake to confuse Covenant of Works for the Old Covenant. This could be corrected by better teaching, but I think the terminology is prone to the mistake. One reason is that there's extremely little Biblical support for the term "Covenant of Works" (Hosea 6:7 and what else?) I think some renaming of the doctrine, without the word covenant, would be helpful.

Of course, changes like this take time. There is tremendous value in the Westminster Confession of Faith and other reformed confessions that define the Covenant of Grace and Covenant of Works. These should not be changed quickly or lightly. But our systematic theology and confessions should always be open for revision and clarification because they are written in submission to the Bible.