As some of you know, I am Founder of Veritas School of Theology, an online seminary dedicated to educating God’s people in solid dispensational and presuppositional theology at a low cost. This ministry also provides me with an outlet for my ongoing development of what I call “Biblical Covenantalism” (see here, and here): a more far-reaching and theologically balanced type of Dispensationalism. One of the things we do at VST is to place a lot of emphasis on understanding the …
Category: Covenants
I have lately had the pleasure of doing some theological fencing with a good Christian man named Andrew Suttles. Andrew has raised a number of pertinent questions about Dispensational interpretations of Israel and the Church which I would like to address in this (and another post). Once again I want to state that I think “Dispensationalist” is a lousy and inaccurate name for this type of theology. Firstly because dispensations are largely theologically mute. Secondly, because the real crux of …
In this final article in this series on the importance of the Biblical Covenants I want to outline what I believe are the important issues which ought to affect anyone who believes that the Bible should be interpreted in the same “naive” way we read personal letters, sermons, novels and other books. We must always keep in mind that the Bible is written to the “common man” not the specialist scholar. 1. Although there are recognizable dispensations within the Bible …
Introduction In this installment of our series on what I have called “Biblical Covenantalism” I want to concentrate on the matter of interpretation as it relates to the Covenants of Scripture. I have alluded to this in an earlier article, but I want to say more because I believe this matter to be so vital for a proper understanding of the Bible. As is recognized by most Dispensationalists, many of those brethren who denigrate Dispensational theology for its “literalistic” …
So far in our present studies in “Biblical Covenantalism” we have seen that what is known as Dispensationalism is not very well named. Not that dispensations are foreign to Scripture, but the name does not describe the distinctive approach to the Bible and Theology that is quintessential to the system. On the contrary, it brings to prominence things which are of far less importance than the matters we have been discussing with regard to the Covenants of Scripture. It is …
Part One Here Why Did Covenant Theology Take Hold? We have already indicated that political expediency may have encouraged the covenant mindset, at least early on. But theologically speaking, there is one overwhelming reason for its attraction. The covenant concept, especially the Covenant Of Grace, brings the Old and New Testaments together into one unity (which Dispensationalists like myself would say is a artificial, forced unity). The Covenant Of Grace provides the continuity that is essential if the Church is …
Apologies for not posting for the a while. Among other things I was doing a conference in MI. Anyway, here are some more responses to the Nicene Council. I again wish to stress that we ought to be able to discuss our disagreements without branding each other as heretics or any such pejorative term. I certainly don’t have all the answers! Albeit, I think I have something to say in answer to these “Theses.” We are on Thesis 37: …
As an outsider to Covenant Theology (CT), but one who has attended a Seminary that taught it and who appreciates the great men associated with it, I thought I would write a short history of Covenant Theology for those non-CT’s who might like to know a tad more about it. My purpose in here is not to define what is known as Covenant Theology. What I wish to do is to provide some of the salient historical backdrop to it …
A Biblical Covenant is a thing of tremendous importance for the student of Scripture. For one thing, these covenants (made e.g., with Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David) were made by God Almighty Himself. When God deigns to make a covenant with men one can be sure that He has some great strategic purpose in mind. In which case it is crucial to pay close attention to what is stated, otherwise the intention of God forecasted in the covenant …
In previous assorted posts I have now and then called attention to the fact that as “plain-sense” readers of Scripture, we are concerned more with the covenants in the Bible than with the dispensations. Hence I coined the term “Biblical Covenantalist” in preference to “dispensationalist” to describe myself. But it is a fact that Christians do not always have the same thing in view when speaking about the covenants of Scripture. For one thing, those calling themselves “Covenant Theologians” (CT’s) …
