The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Covenant Theology

by Jeffrey D. Johnson, Thomas J. Nettles (Foreword)

Is There a Central Plot to the Bible?
And if so, why is the Bible divided into two different testaments? Moreover, how do these two testaments relate to each other?

No doubt, it can be overwhelming to traverse the various covenants of the Bible. And it can be difficult to understand the unity and diversity of the Old and New Testaments.

The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical & Covenant Theology explains why the maze of the Old and New Testaments cannot be properly navigated or understood without a knowledge of the dual (law and gospel) nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. For the law of the Old Covenant and the grace of the New Covenant flow out of the Abrahamic Covenant and are wonderfully reunited in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, out of the earlier dichotomy comes the later unity of the gospel message.

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Listen to what others have said about The Kingdom of God:
“Giving serious attention to Johnson’s tenacious engagement with the biblical theme of The Kingdom of God will expand one’s personal knowledge of Scripture, extend one’s confidence in the wisdom and certainty of divine providence, and exact transparent and pure praise to God for his invincible grace.” —Tom Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology, Southern Baptist theological Seminary “The deeper treatment that Johnson gives to the Abrahamic Covenant in this work is one of the clearest statements I have read. After you finish reading it, you will have a clearer view of the big picture of the kingdom of God.” —Pascal Denault, Author of The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology “I recommend the reading of The Kingdom of God as a welcomed addition to Baptist covenantal theology. I think you will be blessed to read his presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ as fulfilling the Covenant of Works for us that God’s Grace may justly fall upon sinners.” —Fred Malone, Author of The Baptism of Disciples Alone Available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle eBook!

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Genres: Theology, Nonfiction

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Jeff is the author of several Christian books, including the Amazon #1 Bestseller, The Church: Why Bother?

He is pastor/teacher of Grace Bible Church in Conway, Arkansas, a community where he also resides with his wife Letha and their two sons, Martyn and Christian.

Jeff graduated from Central Baptist College in Bible and earned his M. Rel. in Biblical Studies. He earned his Th.D in Systematics from Veritas Theological Seminary.

Along with his pastoral and publishing ministry, Jeff is a sought-after conference speaker and contributes regularly to the Reformed Baptist Blog.

Reviews

[Miguel Benitez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a very good introduction to a key issue for covenant theology, that is the Abrahamic covenant. Johnson does a nice job of making the case for a Baptist covenantal view over a Presbyterian covenantal view.

The second half of the book was underwhelming. It’s a broad overview is the kingdom. While helpful, it just seemed somewhat disconnected from what the first half of the text was doing.

[Tom Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

"1689 Federalism" is clearly explained in this book, which has enabled me to read the Bible through the lens of Baptist Covenant Theology. Much like the doctrines of grace, I now see this framework everywhere. It's as if God is telling a story throughout the Scriptures. The book also addresses the extreme views of Presbyterian Covenant Theology and, at the other end of the spectrum, the extremes of Dispensationalism in their definition of the covenant theology.

[Simon Wartanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great work by Pastor Jeffrey Johnson. The Fatal Flaw revealed the errors of Paedobaptist Covenant Theology and indirectly argued for 1689 Federalism. But this book, directly argues for that position.

The focus is again upon the Abrahamic Covenant which is the central covenant of Scripture. From the Abrahamic are the Mosaic and New Covenants born. The Mosaic comes as a result of the covenant of works republished in the Abrahamic Covenant for the physical seed. But the New Covenant comes as a result of the Seed of Abraham fulfilling the Law of Moses in both its demands and curses and thereby satisfying God's wrath on behalf of the elect and established the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Grace was not officially and publically established with anyone, though it was promised since the Fall.

The second part of the work was my first introduction of Biblical Theology. It retold the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, with the special stress upon the covenants and how each covenant revealed more about the Covenant of Grace and its Mediator.

It's a great work and very enjoyable to read.

[Preston Kelso · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Covenant and Biblical Theology is a book that I would enthusiastically recommend to anyone who is interested in studying covenant theology from a Baptist perspective.
There are a couple particular highlights:
1) The book essentially is divided into two parts; the first is a theological explanation of the continuity and discontinuity of the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of works. The second portion is devoted to explaining, in narrative form, the development of God's Covenant with His people. The book progresses well in this format, first laying the theological basis for the continuity of the Covenants and then explaining how that continuity is worked out through the story of the Scriptures.
2) The book adds to a growing number of works seeking to reestablish the covenantal heritage of Baptist theology. In contrast to the 20th century wave of dispensational theology that has swept across Baptist churches, this book provides a clear exposition of the doctrine of Covenant theology in a Baptist framework.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sets out the view of 1689 federalism and does a good job distinguishing between different covenant theology views. Johnson provides a good explanation, then, of the difference between a full covenant theology, like that of Presbyterians, and the covenant theology of Reformed Baptists. So this book provides a good basis of why I am neither Presbyterian nor Reformed Baptist, though this is not all that could be said on that. The issues are core fundamental hermeneutic issues. 1689 Federalism is distinct from covenant theology but still holds to a dichotomous view of the Abrahamic covenant and partially conflates the covenants, coming near the covenant theology view of monocovenant and polyadministration. Of course, this hermeneutic yields the typical conventions of amillennialism, i.e., supersessionism, already/not yet kingdom, already/not yet binding of Satan, etc.

I was surprised, but delighted, that Johnson pointed out errors with the covenantal nomism of New Perspective and Federal Vision. There is a lot of good in this book and it is a good treatment of the biblical theology of covenants and kingdom. I appreciated the author's tone and approach. I didn't detect the condescension and dismissive that can often accompany these discussions. Johnson was fair in presenting his views and this is the type of writing that can be helpful, even where you disagree.

[Michaël St-Amour · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'oeuvre en général n'est pas si mal mais porte un peu à confusion. Il est donc quelques fois difficile de savoir sur quel pied l'auteur danse. Les versets proposés comme preuve de l'argumentation ne sont pas suffisamment encadrés pour être prit au sérieux. On voit bien la forêt, mais les arbres manquent de détails.
En général, la position est exprimée, de façon suffisamment concise mais le manque de détail en font une oeuvre d'avantage utile comme lecture personnelle que comme référence.

[Mario Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

A good book that takes very good care in showing the dichotomous nature of the Abrahamic covenant.
The book ends with a wonderful summary of redemption from Adam to Christ to consummation. It would be a good read for family devotions which tells the story of redemption in a very good way.

[Sean Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book which distinguishes Reformed Baptist covenantal theology from Presbyterianism. Also, it includes a helpful biblical theology focusing in on the theme of kingdom.

[Steven Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

In theory, I should have loved this book. I really wanted to. I am a strong baptist who has done some thinking about the kingdom of God. There are many things in this book that I like and agree with, but I could not get past the many overstatements. The author seems to ignore that ALL the covenants are a mix of conditional and unconditional. He also seems to refuse to acknowledge the covenant of grace of God working in the OT. For instance, he attributes the saving of Noah to the covenant of works saying:
"A seed, not a boat, is what ultimately saved Noah and the rest of humanity. The same covenant of works that condemned the seed of the Serpent also delivered the seed of the woman."

His chapter on the book of Romans is perhaps his best portion in the book. However, even there after belaboring that God cut off the physical seed because they did not live up to the covenant of works, he skips over the threat of Gentiles also being cut off in the same manner in Romans 11.

Its hard to distinguish, at times, whether these are full theological errors or overstatements due to seeking poetic language at the expense of exact wording. For instance this statement about Christ's work on the cross: "There, suspended between heaven and earth, the Son of Man traveled behind the veil and entered into the presence of an angry God." Well... no he didn't, and I'm not sure what is being helpfully communicated by this phrase.

There is probably much that I would agree with this brother about. But I just cannot recommend this work.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kingdom of God is an excellent book that brilliantly explains baptist covenant theology with great clarity, brevity, and theological precision.

There are two parts. Part one is a little longer and more theologically polemic (yet generous) than part two. In part one, Johnson reveals baptist covenant theology primarily through the lens of the dichotomous nature of the Abrahamic covenant. This was extremely well written, and successfully accounts for the contrast between the physical/spiritual seed that thematically runs throughout scripture.

Part two is a beautiful expression of biblical theology. Johnson commits roughly 100 pages to a simple narration of the whole storyline of scripture from a reformed baptist covenant presupposition. This was an enjoyable read. This part, in particular, is something I would recommend to those who are new to covenant & biblical theology.

Unfortunately there were several silly grammatical errors throughout. Perhaps a future new edition will use an editor that cleans up those careless mistakes.

[John Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I approached this book with little understanding of Baptist Covenant Theology. I found it a very compelling and exciting read, marred only by the (sadly) too frequent typos. However, the content is excellent and clear; in particular the second half of the book is devoted to a dramatic presentation of the grand story of redemption through the lens of the entirety of Scripture and it is a thrilling read. This was a very readable book from start to finish, saturated with exposition and exegesis of key passages of Scripture. I found his treatment of the Abrahamic Covenant, advocating a view that it contains dichotomy, to be very clear and challenging and this has certainly called me to re-examine my view of the covenant.

[Leandro Dutra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is actually three works in one. The first is a very good exposition of Baptist fœderalism, focusing on the dichotomous nature of the Abrahamic covenant, a feature missed by Presbyterian & Congregationalists that is the Achiles’ heel of their systems, with the application of it to issues of law & grace.

The second is a retelling of the Biblical storyline. I guess it might be deemed quite good, but I guess I am not wired to its format & style. It was a chore, to be blunt.

The third is a few pages of application of Baptist fœderalism to the New perspective on Paul. It was quite refreshing how it solves not only the perplexities of baby sprinkling, but also of new approaches to Paul.

[Sean Brenon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is an excellent introduction to a complex topic, although I think Johnson could stand to clean up his language a bit, especially in the last chapters where he says, for example, that the Covenant of Works and Covenant of grace is one covenant, when he has spent the entirety of the book talking about why that’s not true.

What he means, I think, is that Jesus fulfills the function of both in one person, and so, to Jesus, the one act of crucifixion fulfilled the requirements of both covenants. On the one hand, he upholds the perfect righteousness of the law through His life. On the other, he prevents us from being captivated by sin through a sacrifice that atones for any infractions of the law on behalf of the New Covenant.

So, in a sense, the New Covenant IS a covenant of works, but an unconditional one, since we are perfected in Christ and turned into a new humanity. That is, while our flesh exists, it is condemned under the law. If our flesh was not condemned, we would not die. But death in the flesh leads us to life in the spirit.

So, under the Covenant of Works, man’s spirit was condemned by acts in the flesh. But under the Covenant of Grace, man’s spirit is regenerated and re-created by an act of the Spirit. I think Johnson— an ardent amillennial— would actually like that clarification, but it’s not what he says, so it’s a bit more of my interpretation of his theology.

Either way, this is still a lovely intro to Baptist covenantalism, even if I think Denault has the superior book.

[Brandon Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, let’s get the little negative out of the way. I’m sure that Mr. Johnson and I would have our disagreements on eschatology. That being said, I cannot say enough good things about this book. Covenant theology used to be one of the bedrocks of the Baptist faith and message, but this subject has almost completely been lost by the way side. I don’t know that I ever heard a sermon or a series on the Covenants when I was growing up. Johnson not only wrote a very readable and engaging work on the subject, but he also wrote from a Baptist perspective which is a big deal considering that Presbyterian authors have pretty much had a monopoly on the subject. This is such an enriching study, and Johnson explains it well. A great read
(As a side note, I also appreciate the fact that he used an appendix to debunk The new perspective on Paul)

[Chris Whisonant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book which walks through the Particular Baptist's expression of Covenant Theology as opposed to that of our Presbyterian & Reformed brethren. Johnson is highly readable and carefully precise in this positive book about what many Baptists today believe regarding God's Covenants with man. The second part of this book is a walk-through from Genesis to Revelation of how God's Covenant of Grace was revealed in the Fall of man and has been further revealed throughout Biblical history.

[Matt Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows the tradition of great baptist covenant theologies. It is explanatory and not a history of the Baptist debate. He draws attention to the baptism debate but only as a corollary of the truths already discussed. This is not a new covenant theology or a discussion of dispensations. The argument is centered on the promises to Abraham and how every promise in succession points back to the original promise. It is the fulfillment of that promise that Baptist covenant theology is based.

[Andrew Mcneill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful introduction to Baptist covenant theology. The style is clear and straightforward and I imagine that many people will learn a lot from it; I certainly found it helpful. The first section of the book lays the foundation and I found it most helpful whereas the second section, a kind of brief history of redemption, felt a bit terse. Overall, it's a great book if you want to understand how to put the Bible together from a Baptist covenantal perspective.

[Steven and Summer Ely · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great explanation of Baptist Covenant Theology!

The author did a wonderful job explaining Baptist Covenant Theology by expositing the Abrahamic Covenant and tracing its thread throughout scripture. This was an easy read, and the writing style was captivating. It’s hard to really say that the author wrote much because he quoted and referenced to so much scripture, and the way he tied all of the scriptures together in one well woven book was beautiful.

[Ned · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful instruction

There is so much good theology here and a perspective with which I am sadly unfamiliar, not having been discipled accordingly. This book really requires multiple readings to sink in. Its words will be ruminating in my mind for some time to come.

[Adam Kareus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at covenantal theology from the reformed Baptist perspective. It is an interesting read and a good outline of the Bible. It also serves as a great resource for what makes the reformed baptist position different than standard reformed theology.

[Cale Fauver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnson does a great job helping understand the covenant of works and grace in the Abrahamic Covenant. I’m thankful for his work. As someone who leans more 1689 and less towards the Progressive Covenantalism view, I found this book very helpful.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciate Pastor Jeff as he breaks complicated subjects into layman level understanding. This book takes two of the most popular views in America (dispensationalism and Presbyterian covenant theology) and then gives the view of Baptist covenant theology as well.

[Cody Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT AND OFFERS both A POLEMIC AND A POSITIVE approach TO COVENANT THEOLOGY YOU WILL BE BLESSED

[Will Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a seminal book in my Covenantal journey. Clear, simple, and biblical. Very well written and a profound presentation of biblical, Baptist covenant theology. Highly recommended.

[Matthew Rawlings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly insightful work. Highly recommended.

[Ronnie Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find yourself stuck between the inconsistencies of Dispensationalism and Paedo Baptist Covenant Theology and wish to find the biblically grounded righting of the ship you should definitely check into Baptist Covenant Theology. In this work Jeffrey Johnson does an outstanding job of giving us a proper biblical view of covenant theology from a Credo Baptist perspective, and with clearly written and easy to understand exposition exposes the flaws of other views. Great read. I would recommend anything that he has written!

[Mark Goeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding Biblical exegesis of the progressive revelation of redemption through the covenants God has made with mankind and the dichotomous nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. Dr. Johnson's theological narrative on the Kingdom of God in Part 2 is a must read for a deeper understanding of the main and true theme of all of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ!

[Philip Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of covenant theology. There is more than one way to skin a cat but this is compelling to me.