1. The Big Idea?We are made to be in relationship, the vertical relationship with God and the horizontal relationship with one another. The key factor in that relationship is that of made and kept promises that make covenant theology and Reformed theology synonymous because it is the covenant that Reformed theology attributes the architectural structure of scripture. God’s purposes through the covenant are to be known by his people and to know his people by binding himself to them in the form of promises and blessings. This is what binds the community of Israel together in the Old Testament and what binds Christians together today.
2. God and Foreign Relations
The basic form of the covenant established by God with Israel, as witnessed and attested to in scripture was made within the context of a culture that highly valued the suzerain-vassal treaties of second millennium BC. The elements of a treaty are the preamble which identifies the great king or the one who is making the treaty, in this case God himself. Next is the historical prologue which not only justifies what the great king will do, but shows what he has done. Following that are the stipulations which signify the terms of the treaty and the sanctions which signify the consequences for not upholding the terms. Finally the treaty tablets are deposited in the sacred temples as a witness to all what has been done and to ensure that there would be no modifications. God used the present culture in which to establish his covenant with his people, as the Great King who initiates, keeps and binds himself to his covenant promises taking the punishment of the sanctions on himself.
3. A Tale of Two Mothers
Here Horton begins to distinguish between the Abrahamic covenant as a covenant of grace (or unilateral and eternal) and the Sinaitic covenant as a covenant of law (or conditional and temporal). The basis for this argument is the Galatian heresy and Paul’s distinction between the two mothers in Galatians 3. When God made his bond with Abraham it was out of grace and because of Abraham’s faithfulness his heirs would receive the benefits of the promise; however, in Horton’s estimation the covenant made with Moses was fragile because the people’s faith was fragile and therefore not eternal like the covenant with Abraham.
4. A New Covenant
Horton continues to develop this distinction between law and gospel as he points to the covenantal attorneys, the Prophets, specifically Jeremiah who draws the distinction between external command and internal willingness, conditions and promises, the letter and the Spirit as law and gospel. He then admits that the Sinaitic covenant is offered in terms of the gracious history leading up to it, but then states that the coming messiah displaces the types and shadows of the covenant rather than fulfilling the law by obedience that Israel and we could not. Then Horton does state that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the unilateral promise of the Abrahamic covenant and the typological fulfillment of the bilateral conditions of the Sinaitic covenant, but in my estimation this ignores the requirement for Abraham to respond in faith to God’s promises (bilaterally) and the fact that God is the one who keeps the law perfectly (unilaterally). There are unilateral and bilateral elements found in both covenants; therefore, since God justifies by faith alone and not on the basis of works they are both a part of the covenant of grace.
5. From Scripture to System: The Heart of Covenant Theology
There are three overarching covenants presented in scripture, the Covenant of Redemption, the Covenant of Creation and the Covenant of Grace. These covenants all exist within the framework of federal theology or solidarity of the representative head. The first of these the Covenant of Redemption or the pactum salutis is the covenant established in eternity by the three persons of the trinity to bring about the redemption of God’s people through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Covenant of Creation or Works (foederus naturae) was established in the garden with Adam which required his obedience to maintain life and integrity, and according to Horton the Sinaitic covenant is a re-establishment of this Covenant of Works. Finally the Covenant of Grace (foederus gratiae) is established with Adam immediately following the fall as a fulfillment of the promise made by the Godhead in the pactum salutis to bring about redemption through Jesus Christ who fulfills the foederus naturae as a federal head for those elect who were trapped in sin by Adam and provided everlasting life by the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
6. Providence and Covenant: Common Grace
There is a real partnership that exists in covenant theology despite the fact that the two parties involved, God and his people are not equals. God’s grace is not limited to the special grace that he provides his covenantal people, but also extends to all of creation and those outside his covenant through common grace. Here we see sin restrained from wreaking more havoc upon the world and we see God’s benevolence to the entire world through sustaining not only the earth but the people who enjoy lives and families just like his covenantal people. The City of God and the City of Man intersect, but they are not infused together. Finally, we must remember that as covenant people of God, the Bible is our constitution and not of the secular state. As we engage society we must not seek to enforce a theocracy, nor can we stand by and watch injustice prevail, but we must engage society recognizing the coming Kingdom and the restraining and sustaining power of common grace.
7. The Covenant People
Horton here makes the distinction between the national covenant of laws made at Sinai and the gracious covenant made with all believers as children of God to show a difference between Israel and the Church before God. As the former has been replaced by the later Horton makes the point that national judgment has been visited upon Israel for their disobedience, but individual salvation remains possible for those in Christ. Finally while the covenants of been formed and the canons have been completed there is still an as of yet unfulfilled fruition of each, so in a sense even though they are final they are left open until that great fulfillment.
8. Signs and Seals of the Covenant
In both the Old and New Testament there are signs and seals that are used to ratify the treaty of peace between God and man proclaiming the truth of the Word of God and pointing towards the fulfillment of a promise. The reality of the sacraments is not found in what these signs and seals physically do to us, but it is found in the spiritual fulfillment of what God does for us as signified by the sacrament itself. Both circumcision and baptism act as an initiation into the covenant of grace, but neither confirms election, regeneration or justification. Both the Passover and the Lord’s Supper are covenantal meals signifying communion and union with the mediator. While there is fulfillment of this initiation and union in the Old Testament there is great fulfillment in the New Testament sacraments which seal upon our hearts as a sign to us and those around us the truths of the Gospel and the God who forever bound himself to us.
9. New Covenant Obedience
Law and love are both necessary as an expression of God’s holiness or transcendence and his deep care and concern for his people or his immanence. The law convicts us of our inability to be and remain holy forcing us to turn towards Jesus Christ who will make us a holy priesthood despite our inabilities and limitations. Apart from Christ the law either lead to despair or self-righteousness, but in Christ we can rest in what he has done for us and in us by reconciling us to God and united us to himself through his covenant promises to his covenant people.
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