The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology: A Comparison Between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism

by Pascal Denault

The paedobaptist model perceived the beginning of the covenant of grace immediately right after the fall and placed this covenant under two successive administrations called the old and new covenants. By distinguishing between the covenant (substance) and its administrations (circumstance), Presbyterians established a foundation which was essential to them: they could maintain natural heirs and spiritual heirs within the same covenant, the first having part in the administration only and the second having part in both the administration and the substance of the covenant of grace. Paedobaptist federalism and ecclesiology were based on this distinction.