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

by Pascal Denault

were repeated, not to make a new offer of eternal life, but to remind Israelites of the terms of the original covenant of works. Yet some Particular Baptists helpfully clarified that what the old covenant itself did offer upon the condition of works was life and blessing in Canaan. Contrarily to the Presbyterians, the Baptists understood the New Testament law/grace contrast as a contrast between the old and new covenants which was used by Paul to demonstrate the contrast between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. For the paedobaptists, the expression “the curse of the law” referred directly to the covenant of works, while for the Baptists, it referred to the covenant of works, but as being reaffirmed in the old covenant. Therefore, in order to maintain unity and continuity between the old and new covenants, a fundamental concept undergirding paedobaptism, the paedobaptists had to reject the unity and continuity between the covenant of works and the old covenant. Regarding the covenant of works, the difference between the tenets of the Westminster and those of the 1689 were found in their respective visions of the relationship between the covenant of works and the old covenant and, implicitly, from the link between the latter and the new covenant. We will further develop this point when we specifically address the nature of the old covenant.