1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Featured New Covenant Theology

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by RLBosley, Feb 26, 2013.

  1. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,436
    Likes Received:
    1,574
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You read Greek Tim..... They are working on overhauling the very thing your evaluating. Tim isnt the only one who has told me that (from a high office level of the Southern Campus.) much has to be considered though....so I choose to wait for it.....I seriously consider NCT as a beta test site & Im not really impressed. Waiting for REV 2. :smilewinkgrin:
     
  2. FollowTheWay

    FollowTheWay Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2013
    Messages:
    4,998
    Likes Received:
    210
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I don't understand this entire discussion. Is New Covenant Theology new? Not in my view. In Romans Paul contrasts being under the Law, which in my understanding is under the first covenant, versus being under Grace, the second covenant established by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The oulier perspective, in my view, is Dispensationalism which in its most extreme form says that portions of the New Testament do not appy to Christians today. Can someone explain what is new about New Covenant Theology?
     
  3. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,436
    Likes Received:
    1,574
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I asked that same question.....I got a complicated answer in return ....which leads me to believe its repackaged & not new. The pastor basically told me that if I joined the church that Id get a 3 month course on it & other church doctrine. Huh!:smilewinkgrin:
     
  4. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    1,752
    Likes Received:
    0
    (From my understanding - I'm still fairly new to NCT itself, though by my own study I came to the conclusions of NCT before I heard of it)
    Basically New Covenant Theology is an attempt to find a middle ground between Dispensational and Covenant Theology. It gets rid of the idea of the two people of God concept from DT recognizing the abolishment of the Old Covenant and the spiritual blessings given to the church, the people of God. It also discards the extra-biblical covenants that define CT (Grace, works and redemption) and has more of an emphasis on the change in covenants.

    Here is a simple parable to explain it. http://www.gracemessenger.com/index.php?id=448
     
  5. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2010
    Messages:
    21,242
    Likes Received:
    2,305
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    simple version:
    Paul does not contrast law/grace....as you are stating it. There is always grace and law.

    NCT are those who want to believe in the 5 pts, but do not want to obey the fourth commandment...see the earlier link s offered to understand the issue
     
  6. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    what is main difference from NCT and say Historical pre mil viewpoint as regarding the scriptures?
     
  7. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2010
    Messages:
    21,242
    Likes Received:
    2,305
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
  8. Greektim

    Greektim Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 22, 2010
    Messages:
    3,214
    Likes Received:
    138
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Not much except the latter is an eschatology whereas the former is an inclusive system (lack of a better term) of many categories including eschatology (broadly). One can be a premill or Amill in NCT. The system does not dictate a specific eschatological view.
     
  9. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Messages:
    9,796
    Likes Received:
    700
    Faith:
    Baptist
    www.tms.edu/tmsj/tmsj18j.pdf

     
  10. Herald

    Herald New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,600
    Likes Received:
    27
    NCT may be on the rise in Southern Baptist circles, but then again, most SBC Calvinists are Reformed only in their soteriology. The guards are at the gates among 1689 Reformed Baptists. The reason I say "1689 Reformed Baptists" is because most NCT's will not subscribe to the 1689 LBC. The 1689 articulates the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. NCT's have a problem with the Covenant of Works. You will find them subscribing to the 1644/46 LBC since it is not as detailed and is weak on CT.
     
  11. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    1,752
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm leaning NCT (at least as I understand it) and have a historic pre-mill eschatology. I don't think the two are exclusive, though from what i've seen alot of NCT are a-mill.
     
  12. Herald

    Herald New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,600
    Likes Received:
    27
    Tim,

    I think "Kingdom through Covenant" is a "wannabe". There are quite a few inquiring minds in the SBC who see the shortcomings of dispensationalism and progressive dispensationalism, but they are not Reformed in any sense of the word. Many are not even Calvinists. They are going through a "systematic theology identity crisis". It is another attempt to carve out a niche that will accommodate existing theological presuppositions. That is how NCT came into being.
     
  13. FollowTheWay

    FollowTheWay Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2013
    Messages:
    4,998
    Likes Received:
    210
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Can you simply reply to the clear (to me) theology that Paul expressed in Romans and is spread throughout the New Testament? Dispinsationalism is the outlier, unproven belief not the new covenant expressed in the Bible.
     
  14. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    1,752
    Likes Received:
    0
    Honestly I'm not 100% sure of what you mean but I'll take a stab at it.

    Basically my view (and from my understanding this is the teaching of NCT) is that with the New Covenant inaugurated by Christ is a better, superior and totally New Covenant compared to the Old Covenant(s) given in the Old Testament. The Old has been abolished and now in the New we have a new law, the Law of Christ which is a higher standard but we are enabled to accomplish that through the Spirit (Though we still of course will fail many times). The believing remnant of the Jews that followed Christ made a transition to the New Covenant and created the "church." Now gentiles have been grafted into that remnant and the unbelieving Jews have been broken off/cast out. So now the Kingdom of God is given to a "new nation", the church. If national Israel (physical Jews) has any future it is solely as a part of the church.
     
  15. FollowTheWay

    FollowTheWay Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2013
    Messages:
    4,998
    Likes Received:
    210
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Absolutely. This wae beautifully expresses by Jesus when He said:

    Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

    I call this New Covenant theology. It is very simple. Jesus is the only way.
     
  16. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    1,752
    Likes Received:
    0
    Well Dispensationalists and Covenantalists (is that a term?) would both agree with that verse also. Christ being the only way of salvation isn't the issue, the relation of the covenants to each other and God's relation to man are the primary differences between these views IMO.

    Covenant Theology - One group (Israel/the church), one over-arching covenant with two "administrations" *(called the old/new covenants). The Decalogue is still in effect but the rest of the Law was done away with.

    Dispensational - Two groups, Israel as the "Earthly people" and the Church as the "Heavenly People". God still has a final plan specifically for physical Jews and the church was just Plan B that was made when the Jews rejected Christ in 30AD. The Law is only for Jews but still in effect for them and will be the basis for salvation in the tribulation (debatable between some versions but that's the Classic Dispy view)

    NCT - One group (believing remnant of Israel transitioned into the "church") that made a transition from Old Covenant to New at Pentecost. All the law, Decalogue included, was abolished. The church is now the Holy Nation of God, and people of His Kingdom.

    Again, this is from my limited understanding, pretty new to NCT so I may be not quite accurate on that.
     
    #36 RLBosley, Feb 28, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 28, 2013
  17. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,436
    Likes Received:
    1,574
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Then why not throw the theology nonsence away altogether and then worship the new testiment Christ?
     
  18. Herald

    Herald New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,600
    Likes Received:
    27
    You are describing Presbyterian, or paedobaptist, Covenant Theology. There is also a Baptist Covenant Theology that is not NCT. This theology has existed since the 17th Century. Pascal Denault writes:

    He then goes on to say:

    At first I read this with a bit of suspicion. Is not the New Covenant a completely new covenant? Hence, discontinuity of the covenants. But Denault employed a unique definition of Baptist discontinuity.

    This is what Denault means when he says, "One covenant revealed progressively and concluded formerly under the New Covenant." The New Covenant is, indeed, a completely new covenant that was promised in the Old. He takes care to measure terms, and separate promise from realization. So, Baptist Covenant Theology disagrees with the one covenant, two administrations view of paedobaptists. You may want to revisit Baptist Covenant Theology.
     
  19. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    1,752
    Likes Received:
    0
    You're probably right. All I know of CT is what I've read because I was never a part of a church that believed that view. I've only been in a dispensational church and under dispensational teaching until about 5 months ago. I'll check that out. Thank you!

    But what, if any, difference is there between that view (Baptist Covenant Theology) and what is now called New Covenant Theology?
     
  20. Herald

    Herald New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,600
    Likes Received:
    27
    Christ is the substance of both Testaments. While the New Covenant is not enacted until Christ's resurrection, it was promised back in Genesis 3:15. The Old Testament, and theology in general, is of great value since it reveals Christ.
     
Loading...