CCF Episode Thirteen: How We Came to Covenant Theology

/ William F. Leonhart III

CredoCovPodcastMaster

In this episode, JD and Billy sit down with Pastor Jason Delgado, Mike King, and Jack DiMarco to discuss how they came to affirm Covenant Theology. Featuring music from Michael Padgett and Indelible Grace.

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The book we’re currently reading…coxeowen2

Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ by Nehemiah Coxe and John Owen

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6 thoughts on “CCF Episode Thirteen: How We Came to Covenant Theology”

  2. Pingback: May 2014 Week 1 Dunker Bunker “Star Wars Day” Edition [Weekly Audio Headlines] | The Confessing Baptist

  4. Maybe you should qualify your statements about Presbyterians. The Westminster standards do not teach that children of believers are in the Covenant of Grace. The Divines where very emphatic that it is the only elect who benefit from the redemption purchase by Christ (and thereby in the Covenant of Grace). Some Presbyterians have read into the word “elect” to mean the children of believer, but the standards do not teach this. If that is what the Divines meant, they had a perfect opportunity to say so in Q&A in WCF 10.3. I am a credo-covenant (of grace) Presbyterian. Not all of us are Mosaic Covenant Presbyterians like Horton.

    Reply

    • Thank you, Nate. We are not above correction. Just let us know which specific statements we made so we can review them and retract them if necessary. If we incorrectly used the term paedobaptist when oikobaptist would’ve been more correct, that’s certainly our bad. On a side note, what is a “credo-covenant” Presbyterian? Are you saying you are a non-congregational, high-church credobaptist? If so, it would be interesting to see how you reconcile your understanding of the covenants (and covenant signs) with your ecclesiology. Thanks for commenting. We appreciate your participation.

      Reply

    • Hi Nate,

      I think the guys can be forgiven for not qualifying every statement they make. Saying that Presbyterians believe their children are covenant members is not outlandish. It is a standard statement. If you think they need to qualify their statement, then paedobaptists should qualify their own statements, such as Heidelberg 74

      74. Are infants also to be baptized?

      Yes, since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God,1 and both redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith, are through the blood of Christ promised to them no less than to their parents.2 Therefore, by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, they must be grafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers,3 as was done in the Old Covenant by circumcision,4 in place of which in the New Covenant baptism was instituted.5

      Of course the explanation for this is the inward/outward distinction. Children and all professors (even false) are outward members of the covenant of grace. But it is not as though all Presbyterians, particularly those writing on covenant theology, interpret WLC31 the way you do. The Directory of Public Worship, which was published along with the WCF in Scotland, states

      4. In public worship, God’s people draw near to their God unitedly as his covenant people, the body of Christ.

      a. For this reason, the covenant children should be present so far as possible, as well as adults. Because God makes his covenant with believers and their children, families should be taught and encouraged to sit together as families.

      (4) The Ground of Baptizing Infants

      The minister shall then give instruction as to the ground of the baptism of infants. He may use these or like words:

      Although our young children do not yet understand these things, they are nevertheless to be baptized. For God commands that all who are under his covenant of grace be given the sign of the covenant….

      And so, in the New Testament no less than in the Old, the children of believers have an interest in the covenant and a right to the covenant sign and to the outward privileges of the covenant people, the church. In the New Testament, baptism has replaced circumcision as the covenant sign. Therefore, by the covenant sign of baptism the children of believers are to be distinguished from the world and solemnly admitted into the visible church.

      What’s missing from WCF is any mention of the Covenant of Redemption. Many paedos believe only the elect are in the CoR, but the reprobate may be in the CoG.
      http://www.upper-register.com/papers/aahodge_onecov.html

      So it’s hardly these guys’ fault that paedobaptist covenant theology makes conflicting statements whenever it talks about the issue.

      I’m curious, Nate, do you believe the Covenant of Grace is breakable? Do you believe that apostasy is covenant breaking? If so, how to do you reconcile that with your belief that only the elect are covenant members?

      By virtue of being children of believing parents they are, because of God’s covenant ordinance, made members of the Church, but this is not sufficient to make them continue members of the Church. When they have reached the age of discretion, they become subject to obligations of the covenant: faith, repentance and obedience. They then make public confession of their faith in Christ, or become covenant breakers, and subject to the discipline of the Church.

      PCA Book of Order 56-4.j

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