Six Views on New Covenant Fulfillment

How (or for some, if) the New Covenant is being fulfilled is a major debate. Michael Vlach has a succinct summary here.

Interview with Elliott Johnson

A few weeks ago I posted a notice of a new book entitled Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant (see here). Today I am pleased to interview Dr. Elliott Johnson, one of the contributors to that book. Dr. Johnson joined the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1972 and currently serves as senior professor of Bible Exposition. He is also the founder of the Asian Theological Seminary and has taught extensively overseas, including the Philippines, Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Russia. He also has ministered in Austria, Brazil, England, Germany, Israel, and Scotland.

1. What was your contribution to Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant?

Dispensationalism provides a model of biblical theology based on an exposition of texts. The most commonly recognized passage referring to the New Covenant is Jeremiah 31:31–34. While Jeremiah affirms that this covenant will be ratified with the house of Israel and Judah, yet the church today also seems to benefit from the covenant (Luke 22:20). How can that be? Three answers are offered in the book which attempt to be faithful to both the Old and New Testament contexts so that the reader can evaluate the answers and reach their own conclusions. My contribution relates to one of the proposed answers.

2. What is your view of the New Covenant?

My view sees the New Covenant as inaugurated with Israel in the Millennial Kingdom, when “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:27). Nonetheless, when Christ died on the cross the New Covenant was ratified (Heb. 9:15) as Christ is the mediator of the covenant. So through Christ, believers are beneficiaries of the New Covenant blessings today (Heb. 9:15–17) since Israel as the anticipated recipient rejected the covenant mediator.

3. Who do you think should read this book?

I believe that this book would be most helpful for leaders and teachers in churches which desire to teach the whole counsel of God. Also students desiring a grasp on a biblical theology and worldview that consistently applies Israel’s covenant to the church might also find this work helpful.

4. What one book or person has been most influential in shaping your understanding of the New Covenant?

I have found two works to be particularly influential. Charles Ryrie’s Dispensationalism is a classic treatment of issues related to dispensationalism, including the role of the New Covenant. Another work which I have found particularly helpful is Moshe Weinfeld’s article on berith “covenant” in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, 2:253-79.

5. How does a proper understanding of the New Covenant affect the ministry of the church?

The gospel ministry includes New Covenant blessings (2 Cor 3:1–18). So to understand the church’s ministry today from a biblical point of view, one needs to understand both the gospel and the relationship of the church to these New Covenant blessings.

6. What one or two things have you learned while interacting with other Dispensational scholars on the New Covenant?

Working with other dispensational scholars has helped sharpen my thinking in two ways. First, it has helped me in better answering the question, “What is the relationship between Israel and the church?” This question is important because the answer helps to establish the identity and ministry of the church. Second, interactions with others have provided opportunities to focus on the argument of the Book of Hebrews, namely, “How are promises and covenants addressed to Israel applied to the church?” 
 
I am thankful to Dr. Johnson for his willingness to participate in this interview. I would encourage anyone interested in dispensationalism or the New Covenant to check out Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant.
  

Four Major Questions Concerning the New Covenant

  
John Master in the forward of Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant,a book I introduced here. Notes that there are four major questions concerning the New Covenant. The questions (slightly modified) as identified by Master are:

1. How was Jeremiah 31:31-34 understood by the original audience?

2.To what does the term new covenant refer?

3.How does one use the term fulfillment?

4. How does one identify the markers of a new covenant member?

Are their other major questions?
   

The New Covenant

  

I had recently been working through Jeremiah and thinking about the New Covenant when I came across this statement from H. L. Ellison. Unfortunately, Ellison does not further unpack the statement, but that being said, there is a lot here that resonates with me.

It is one thing to say that Jeremiah was not given to see what the new covenant would mean for the world, it is entirely another to say that by Israel and Judah he really meant the Church. So to understand Jer. 31:23–40; 33:14–26 is to make all sane Bible interpretation impossible. On the other hand, we must not fall into the opposite error of supposing that the new covenant will mean something else for ‘all Israel’ than it does for the Church, that saved Israel will be saved in some other way than is the Church. God does not abolish physical Israel, but in saving it transcends it, just as He does not scrap this earth but renews it.”

H. L. Ellison, Men Spake from God: Studies in the Hebrew Prophets (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1968), 92.

  

The Eternal Covenant in Hebrews

Steven Coxhead has a good post on the eternal covenant referenced in Hebrews 13:20. Read it here.

Decker on The Law, the New Covenant, and the Christian: Hebrews 7-10

Rodney Decker has posted has recently delivered paper entitled "The Law, the New Covenant, and the Christian: Hebrews 7-10." You can download it here.

Dispensationalism and the New Covenant

Rodney Decker has posted a recently delivered paper entitled, "Why Do Dispensationalists Have Such a Hard Time Agreeing on the New Covenant." You can access it here.

Ten Key Theological Aspects of the New Covenant

Paul Lamey has a nice post on the New Covenant, including the following ten key theological aspects of the New Covenant.

1. The NC is in fact “new” (Heb. 8:13)

2. The NC was promised by the prophets (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:22–36)

3. The NC was instituted by Christ (Luke 22:20)

4. The NC was inaugurated at Pentecost (Acts 2:14–41)

5. The NC is participated in by the church in the present age (1 Cor. 11:23–34; 2 Cor. 3:1–18; Eph. 2:11–13)

6. The NC will be fulfilled in Israel in the Millennial Kingdom (Rom. 11:25–27)

7. The NC will be consummated in the eternal state (Rev. 21:1–4)

8. The NC is applied only to those who consciously know the Lord by faith (Jer. 31:34; cf. Heb. 8:11–12)

9. The NC ensures that every recipient of its promises possesses forgiveness of sins (Jer. 31:34)

10. The NC’s members cannot abandoned the faith in any respect (John 6:38–40, 10:27–30; 1 John 2:19)