Over the past two centuries, a theological controversy has sprung up which has had an enduring impact on the church… but also in politics, global international relations, ecumenical efforts, military doctrines, social programs, and even in cultural dynamics. While some of the threads of this thought extend even earlier in church history, American church culture and indeed, society as a whole, is greatly influenced by a theological strain of thought that was formalized and systematized in the mid-1800s: Dispensationalism.
What do we make of the Old Testament? How do we understand the promises, judgments and stories told therein? Does God intend this material to speak to us today? Making up over three-quarters of the Bible, Christians are often wondering how to relate all that God reveals in those pages… and to try to connect those stories with the material in the latter part of the Bible.
Dispensationalism is a framework that attempts to explain the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament by arguing that there is a crucial separation between the two. Dispensationalism argues that God designed a method of salvation which He revealed to the Israelite people and that method is still applicable to the Jewish people today. What is salvation? Well, if you are Jewish today, then the dispensationalist would direct you to God’s law in the Old Testament. However, if you are a Gentile (everyone not Jewish), then God devised an alternative plan, revealed in the New Testament—whereby salvation is attained through faith in the cross of Jesus. The two different testaments, then, relate two different ways of experiencing the salvation of God—one for the Jews, the other for the rest of us.
In contrast, Covenant Theology argues that there is a unity in the Bible, a unity of salvation and purpose. God’s intent through Jesus Christ is not “Plan-B,” some secondary route to salvation after the first proved too difficult, but the eternal determination by which the Lord deemed it best to save the world. The framework of Covenant Theology insists that the entire Bible is headed toward Jesus, that salvation in the Old Testament, as well as the New, is found in the cross of Christ. Yes, obviously, throughout the Old Testament, Jesus had not yet been born, but the means, the plan, the goal of salvation remains constant from Genesis through Malachi (and from the Gospels to Revelation). That plan is faith in the Lord Himself to do that which is necessary to forgive sin, to reconcile lost humanity, to defeat Satan and for mankind to dwell in harmony with God.
While the stories are different, the timeframe is different and the “feel of the Bible” is different, that which holds the Testaments together is stronger than simply a book-binding. The Gospel, God’s plan of salvation for all who believe, runs as deep in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. An awareness of our sin and need for salvation; a dependence upon God Himself to solve our sin-problem; God’s desire and commitment to do so; the cost of that salvation falling upon Him and not us; the intent to draw people from every nation, language and tribe to true worship; taking those who reject the Lord and transforming them into children of God, joint-heirs with Christ, filled with His Spirit. This is not simply the vision and purpose of the New Testament, this is the core of the OT message as well.
This summer we will be looking at “The Gospel According to Isaiah,” and through the sermons we will see that full message shining through to us, deepening our understanding, our love and our commitment to that Gospel story which is crowned at the cross and the empty tomb. Join us!
To prepare for worship on Sunday, read Hebrews 11:1-16.
- Look at the definition of faith in verse 1. What is distinctive about that definition? What characteristics are present? How does this differ from the common use of the term?
- In verse 2, who are the “people of old?” And, what is the “commendation” they receive? As you keep reading, how do the first two verses shape the entire passage?
- List out the people and what is mentioned about them that the author identifies. How is “faith” as described in verse 1 reflected there? What would their “commendation” look like?
- In verse 13, what does “died in faith” mean? How does the author know they “died in faith?”
- If verses 13-16 speak of the salvation of the Old Testament people, what is different for us today? What is the same?
by Henry Knapp