Jeremiah 31
and the New Covenant
Dr. Wellum
In the book Believer's
Baptism one finds the following on page 88:
Paul argues in Galatians
3:15-4:7 that with the coming of Christ the covenant with Abraham
has been fulfilled, and thus the covenant with Moses is no longer in
force.
On pages 130-31 of the
book we read:
But it is not only the
Mosaic covenant that is built on the backbone of the Abrahamic
covenant; it is
also the Davidic. . . . In this the
Davidic covenant is linked to the Abrahamic, which in turn is linked
to God’s earlier promises. Thus, under the Davidic king, the
Abrahamic promise of the great nation and great name come together.
In this sense, the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant
coincides with the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. The
Abrahamic blessings, linked back to Noah and creation, will only be
ultimately realized through the Davidic son. Indeed, the final
fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise of blessing in a promised land
will take place under the rulership of the Davidic king. In this
important sense, the Davidic king becomes the mediator of covenant
blessing, tied back to Abraham, ultimately tied back to Adam, as the
covenant head of the human race.
Covenant Theology's Response
The passage in Galatians
does not say anything about the Abrahamic covenant being fulfilled
or brought to an end. Galatians 3:15-18 contrasts the promise as
given in the Abrahamic covenant to the law as contained in the
Mosaic covenant. The rest of that passage (3:19-4:7) then contrasts
faith with the Mosaic Law. It is the Mosaic Law that has been
brought to an end by Christ's death on the cross, not the Abrahamic
covenant. This is a very important distinction. The entire
book of Galatians was aimed at the Judaizers, those who claimed it
was necessary to keep the Mosaic Law. Circumcision comes up
numerous times in the book of Galatians, not because it represents
the Abrahamic covenant but because it represents the Mosaic
Law. In the minds of many Jews at the time of Christ, they
were Jewish because they had been circumcised and because they had
the Law of Moses.
The Abrahamic covenant can
not be assumed to be linked inextricably to the Mosaic covenant. In
order to establish this as fact it would need to be proven from
Scripture.
This is an interesting
explanation. It fits well with the overall argument of their book.
But can it be established as true from Scripture? What is quoted
above is the statement of a theology of the covenants. Now it needs
to be proven.
It is true that the
Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled by Christ. However, that does not
mean that it ended abruptly at the cross. Christ is fulfilling the
Abrahamic covenant through the New Testament era. It is in the
process of being fulfilled. The Abrahamic covenant can and does
continue in existence while Christ fulfills it.
One of the first things
that comes to mind in considering their view that the covenants of
the Old Testament are all linked together is the covenant with
Noah. Specifically on this, we read above, “The Abrahamic
blessings, linked back to Noah and creation, will only be ultimately
realized through the Davidic son.” The covenant with Noah is here
tightly woven into the fabric of this view that all the covenants
are closely linked together. Noah is listed between the promise
given at creation (Genesis 3:15) and the blessings of Abraham. The
ultimate realization is stated to be in the Davidic son. So is this
to be understood to mean that all the covenants of the Old Testament
are connected closely together and are completed in Christ?
Completed to the extent that they are finished and no longer exist
after the cross? If that is the case then what they are advocating
is that the world could be vulnerable to being wiped out again in a
global flood. The promise of the Noahic covenant is that God would
not wipe the world out in a flood again. But if that covenant is
now finished and done, no longer exists, then the threat of massive
destruction through a flood is once again a possibility. That
conclusion is not true to the Scriptural account. In Genesis
9:11-13 we read, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again
shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never
again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12And God said,
"This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and
every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between me and the earth.” (ESV, underlining added.) Verse
15 once more uses the phrase “never again” and verse 16 speaks of
this covenant as “the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh . . .” These are the words of promise
of a covenant to last throughout all human history – a permanent
promise not to be altered.
In this we can see that a
precedent has been set: not all Old Testament covenants are to be
tied into a bundle such that the fate of one is the fate of all.
Therefore Galatians 3-4 in speaking of the Mosaic Law cannot be
assumed to include the demise of the Abrahamic covenant as well.
In this connection it will
be helpful to refer to a statement by Dr. Wellum on page 126:
If we are not careful,
however, the notion of the “covenant of grace” may be misleading,
because Scripture does not speak of only one covenant with different
administrations. Rather, Scripture speaks in terms of a plurality of
covenants (e.g. Gal. 4:24; Eph. 2:12; Heb. 8:7-13) . . .
Dr. Wellum has a good
point in this regard. It might be misleading for us to be talking
in terms of the singular covenant of grace. Perhaps we should refer
instead to God’s covenants of grace. At any rate, inversely, he
also should not be thinking of the covenants of the Old Testament as
singular in nature. Each covenant needs to be considered on its
own; specifically here, did God intend the Abrahamic covenant to end
at the cross, or span both the Old and New Testament eras?
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