Covenant Theology

by Peter Golding

“The doctrine of the covenants is the key of theology.” C.H. Spurgeon   The world has difficulty understanding where the church is coming from. There seems to be an inconsistency of message and a lack of confidence in the message she proclaims. So the Church is irrelevant to vast crowds of people – all of who need to hear its message. How do we give out that message? God has given us his word, the Bible, as guidance and we can unlock it for our generation with the help of this book. The lack of a consistent approach to the study of the Bible has reduced the level of understanding of God’s revelation as a whole. The ‘lazyology’ that has resulted is a key ingredient in the development of disunity in the church. This lack of clarity has made the church ‘off–message’ to our society. ‘But Covenant Theology sounds so difficult’ you say! Fortunately help is at hand (literally if you are reading this in a bookshop!). Peter Golding gently takes us on a trip through time and unfolds the Big Picture that is Covenantal Theology. The Big Picture that gives you a vision of a Bigger God. If your God is too small, or if your grasp of theology is shaky, then an understanding of Covenantal Theology will make your understanding clearer, your message deeper and the impact of the church’s mission greater.

Genres: Theology

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1969

Reviews

[Eric]

This is primarily a *historical* survey of Covenant Theology—tracing it's development over the centuries. It is impressively researched for a book less than 200pgs long. However, if someone is just trying to grasp CT and understand the Biblical evidence for it, this book is not for them. Still, as a historical piece, it is quite helpful to see how CT developed and what notable Christian thinkers have said in the past.

[Fred Fiterz]

This book is really enlightening. Golding wrote it originally for a doctoral dissertation so it's extremely complex in it's language and depth (as far as 200 pages go). He goes through the historical predecessors of Covenant Theology and explains it's ins and outs. Wouldn't recommend this for anyone new to CT because of it's complexity.

[Steven H]

A VERY HELPFUL OVERVIEW OF THIS BIBLICAL "HERMENEUTIC"

Peter Golding pastored a church in England for over 30 years, and has served on the Board of Governors of London Theological Seminary since 1984. He wrote in the Preface to this 2004 book, "This study... is a modest attempt at survey, analysis and critique of the main streams of Reformed thinking on the Covenant-concept in Scripture."

He states in the Introduction that "Reformed orthodoxy has been generally looked upon as espousing Covenant theology, and its hermeneutic has endeavored to do justice to the covenantal structure of the whole of revelation in such a way as to exhibit the underlying unity of the plan of salvation..." (Pg. 10) He quotes J.I. Packer, who defined Covenant Theology as "a hermeneutic... a way of reading the whole Bible that is itself part of the overall interpretation of the Bible that it undergirds." (Pg. 11)

He argues that when the New Testament writers speak of the "new covenant," they are "simply taking over a concept familiar to ... Old Testament Scriptures," and filling it with a new significance in Christ. (Pg. 81) He notes the disagreement among Reformed theologians about whether the original covenant should be called the Covenant of Nature; the Covenant of Life; the Edenic Covenant; or the Covenant of Works (which Golding, following Berkhof, adopts in this book).

He notes that in biblical theology, special revelation "had a history... God did not reveal himself to man in one great and all-embracive disclosure." (Pg. 143) The "New Covenant" of Jeremiah 31:31-34 is contrasted with the Mosaic, not the Abrahamic covenant, as the Messianic age "does not involve the establishment of a new covenant in relation to the Abrahamic covenant, but only to the Mosaic." (Pg. 161)

This is an excellent, fairly brief overview of Covenant theology.

[James Tetley]

An excellent summary of covenant theology. The early historical parts examining the historical development of the covenant concept and the relationship with Calvin was an excellent overview. Also helpful in explaining the development of covenant concepts from the covenant of grace to the covenant of works and how the covenant of redemption came into being. Helpfully lays out the areas of disagreement i.e is the covenant conditional or unconditional, and is the Mosaic covenant a covenant of works or grace. The one area I would have wanted to see more of is the role of the Spirit in the covenant and also some of the blessings of the covenant of grace more clearly stated.

[Robert Palmer]

A really good historical section. A worthwhile intro to Covenant Theology.