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Review of The Covenantal Gospel

By Brent Bradley

The Covenantal Gospel,by C. van der Waal (Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada:Inheritance Publications, 1990)

Contra Mundum, No. 6, Winter 1993

Copyright 1993 Brent Bradley

An unchurched youngster once attended services where a message was preached on God's

judgment of Dathan and Abiram. The following week his friend invited him to attendservices again, but he refused, stating his fear of an unreasonable and angry God whodestroyed His enemies with such violence and finality. In an effort to persuade him, hisfriend replied, Oh no, you have it all wrong. That was in the Old Testament. Now Godhas become a Christian! The story is apocryphal in its details, but serious because manyevangelicals embrace a similar discontinuity between the New and Old Testaments.

The preaching of the gospel is placed at risk by those who fail to interpret the whole Biblein terms of the unifying principle of God's covenant and pit the New Testament againstthe Old. In The Covenantal GospelDr. C. van der Waal argues for the unity of the Bible,

stating that, This book will prove that the structure of the old and new covenant is thesame.

The doctrine of the covenant is woven into the very fabric of Scripture and it is difficultto point to any one exhaustive and irrefutable proof text. Yet a careful reading of the

Bible reveals the underlying structure very clearly. If you were to view a detailed tapestryyou would not be aware of the backing through which the threads are woven by the artistto portray the image, but that backing provides the necessary framework for the whole

picture. If you remove the backing, all you have left is a tangle of colored threads thathave no apparent relationship to each other. Thus when Christians neglect or reject thebacking of the covenant, they are unable properly to understand and apply God's word.

To prove that the old and new covenants are the same, Dr. van der Waal surveys theBiblical record of the covenants made between men and identifies their commonelements. He then points out similar elements in extrabiblical covenants discovered

through archaeological research. Finally, he surveys the Old Testament record of God'scovenant with His people, noting the similarity of covenants within and without the

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Biblical record. Dr. van der Waal is careful to insist that the doctrine of the covenant bederived from Scripture, and not custom. Extra-biblical covenants may be helpful to ourunderstanding of the Bible, but do not dictate it. Archaeology, he insists, must remainthe handmaid of Biblical Interpretation, not its master. (p. 16)

Van der Waal's discussion of the basic elements of the covenant is excellent. Covenantsusually include a historical prologue, the conditions of the covenant, blessings promisedto covenant keepers, and threats to be executed upon the breach of those conditions.These basic elements are found in the New Testament as well as the Old.

The Covenantal Gospelargues that the New Testament must be understood in light of its

covenantal structure. The Gospels provide the historical prologue which presents thesaving work of Christ as the gracious ground of God's demands in the covenant. Theepistles demonstrate the covenantal structure when they set forth doctrine before

addressing the demands that flow from Christ's work. A good example of this is Romans12:1-2, where Paul summarizes the first 11 chapters of Romans as the mercies of God,and then appeals to believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices to God. Theconditions of the covenant are seen in the admonitions given to believers which are togovern the way they think and act. The blessings are held out in the promises of Christ forthis life and the one to come. The threats are published in the impending judgment onunbelieving Israel and those who imitate Israel in her unbelief. (Matthew 23:37-38,Romans 11:17-22)

The failure to believe the demands and threats of the covenant has produced the easybelievism that pervades the church today. The modern presentation of the Gospelportrays Christ as a helpless salesman rather than as the King of kings and Lord of lordsdemanding His crown rights from rebellious men and defining His salvation in terms ofobedience to the stipulations of the covenant. Noting that an easy going Christianityand antinomianism has hurt both established churches and missions, van der Waal says,To say that the new covenant knows no conditions, is to rob the gospel of its obligatorycharacter. (p. 103)

Of particular interest is van der Waal's treatment of the roots of modern dispensationalthought, which views the Bible in terms of discontinuity instead of unity. Marcion,viewed by his contemporaries as the most dangerous enemy of Christian doctrine,believed that, Jesus revealed a new God, who was totally different from the God of theOld Testament. The latter was 'earthly' and stern, a vengeful God. But the God of the realNew Testament sent Jesus in a phantom body to reveal his love. He made the distinctionof law and gospel absoluteand extended it to the relationship between the whole of the

Old and New Testament. Influenced by a revival of Gnostic thought, Ptolemy made thedichotomy between Jesus and Moses more palatable by introducing an evolutionarymodel of the development of Scripture. Later, the Anabaptists embraced a similarapproach to Scripture. Referring to theInstitutes, (II, 10, 1), van der Waal paraphrasesCalvin's reference to the Anabaptists who regard the people of Israel in the time of theOld Testament as nothing but a herd of swine, fattened by the Lord, without hope of

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heavenly immortality. (p. 67) To this Calvin responds: The covenant made with ourforefathers differs in no way from that with us, neither in substance, nor in contents; somuch so, that the two are wholly identical. Because of its doctrine of the relationshipbetween the Old and New Testaments, van der Waal charges that dispensationalism is arevival of old heresies. (p. 70)

There are also some weaknesses in The Covenantal Gospel. Van der Waal's style is shortand crisp, and sometimes leaves the reader dizzy with the speed at which he movesthrough material. At times the brevity with which he treats a subject leaves the readeranxious for a more lengthy explanation. One section of the book was not completedbefore the author's death. This adds to the sense of incompleteness, though it by no meansnegates the usefulness of the chapter or the book.

The author is not timid about taking on the historic creeds of Christendom when he

considers them to be in error, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) andLarger (LC) and Shorter Catechisms (SC). WCF chapter VII, paragraph 2, states "Thefirst covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised toAdam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience".Having compared this statement with chapter XIX, 5 and 6, van der Waal states that theconfession teaches that obedience to the covenant with Adam would bring aboutrighteousness through works, and says that this notion must be rejected radically. (p.54) Yet if you reject the proposition that Adam's obedience would have resulted inrighteousness through works, must you not also reject the proposition that the obedienceof Christ, the second Adam, secured the righteousness imputed to His covenant people?Was Christ's work only passive in dying to atone for sin, or was it also active, inproviding a positive righteousness by fulfilling the covenant of works which Adam failedto do? In addition, the Westminster divines would have insisted that any gift of life uponcondition of Adam's obedience must still be seen as an act of God's sovereign grace. Hadperfect obedience been rendered, Adam would still have been an unprofitable servant,having only done what was expected of him.

In another place van der Waal rejects the concept of an innate knowledge of God's Law asbeing humanistic. Particularly in a time when humanity is assumed to be the decidingfactor, it is necessary to reject the strange philosophy that Adam was created with God'slaw instilled in his heart. Such an assertion promotes existentialist and mystic-revolutionary ways of thinking. For Adam too, faith came by hearing of the Word ofGod. (p. 58) In an effort to curb the blatant rebellion of humanism, van der Waal seemsto throw the baby out with the bath water. It is true that men are prone to developexistential and mystical ways of thinking. However the Bible teaches that men have an

innate knowledge of God and His will as a result of being created in God's image and theconstant message proclaimed by God's created world. Paul tells us that reprobate mensuppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evidentwithin them; for God made it evident to them. (Romans 1:18-19) Furthermore themessage of creation and the knowledge of God which men suppress make them to bewithout excuse. (v. 20) Elsewhere we read, For when the Gentiles who do not have the

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Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law tothemselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their consciencebearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on theday when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through JesusChrist. (Romans 2:14-16) It is true that the only infallible rule of faith and practice is the

word revealed in the Bible, but the Bible indicates that man cannot escape the demands ofGod upon Him even though he may never hear God's word preached.

On another note, van der Waal interprets the struggle in Revelation as a conflict betweenthe church and the synagogue, not the church and Rome. (p. 125) He then insists thatthere must be no link between the monsters of Revelation and modern politicaloppression. Rather the emphasis must be on a necessary separation of the true churchfrom the counterfeit. If he means by this that the Book of Revelation should beinterpreted in terms of the issues that were facing the Church at the time of the writing ofRevelation, we may agree. However, if he means that there can be no appeal to God'speople to stand against false religion of statism that is so prevalent today, then he hasrestricted the Church in her mission to disciple the nations.

Dr. van der Waal sees the effects of latent dispensationalism affecting the church inhymns replacing the singing of Psalms. This is a threat to the covenant gospel, whichincludes covenant vengeance along with covenant blessings. Anyone who discriminatesagainst the Psalms, in actual fact attacks God's kingship. He also attacks the gospel,because the gospel is the gospel of the kingship of God, who will not be mocked. Eventhose who do not hold to exclusive psalmody will agree that the church at large issqueamish about and often embarrassed by the Psalms in general and the imprecatoryPsalms in particular. It is not man's place to sit in judgment on God's word, but God'sword must judge man. We deceive ourselves if we believe that God's vengeance is nolonger to be visited upon covenant breakers. (cf. pp.130-131)

Those who desire to grow in their understanding of God's revelation will find this book tobe a helpful tool. While not exhaustive in its treatment, Dr. van der Waal brings togethera number of themes in the Bible and shows their mutual relationship under the unifyingtheme of the covenant. This book demonstrates the continuity of the covenant as it isrenewed and brought to its completion in Christ. There is to be no radical dichotomymade between Old and New Testaments. The whole Bible is God's covenant gospel andmust be interpreted as such. Passages of God's word which appear difficult or obscure areopened up, and the majesty of the gospel is seen with new clarity and understanding.

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