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Baptists and Covenant Theology? Two new books show a strong connection

One of the theological questions I have been asked often during my first 24 months as pastor has gone something like this “Why do you talk about Covenant Theology as if Baptists believe it? Isn’t that a Presbyterian thing?” My answer (which is consistently “Yes, Baptists have historically believed Covenant Theology that obviously differs at key points from our Presbyterian brethren.”) has puzzled some and made others curious enough to launch their own study of my conclusion. But my dear friend Mike Gaydosh at Solid Ground Books (www.solidgroundbooks.com) in Birmingham, Alabama, the city where I am blessed to serve as pastor, has recently published two books that provide substantive historical and biblical answers to the question of Baptists and their relationship to Covenant Theology.

The first work is titled The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology: A Comparison Between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism by Pascal Denault. The pivot point separating the Baptist and non-Baptist versions of Covenant Theology is, of course, the subjects (The “who?”) of baptism. In the concise span of 140 pages, Denault’s work provides a brilliant historical, biblical and theological defense of believer’s baptism and offers an excellent overview of the consistent, biblical Covenant Theology which the Calvinistic (Particular) Baptists of 17th century England held dear. Denault surveys British Particular Baptists who held to Covenant Theology such as Nehemiah Coxe and Benjamin Keach and also shows biblically how paedobaptists misinterpret the continuity between the promises given to Abraham in the OT and baptism in the NT to arrive at the conclusion that baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of membership in the covenant people of God. The author traces the points at which historic Baptists and their fellow Puritans parted ways on issues of the continuity and discontinuity between the old and new testaments and argues forcibly that Baptists more consistently held to a biblical version of Covenant Theology. I would love to see more Reform-minded Baptist pastors engage this compelling little volume.

The second work, Covenant Theology: A Baptist Distinctive, is a multi-author book and includes

chapters from contributors such as Justin Taylor, Fred Malone and Walter Chantry. Like the Denault book, this work is brief in compass (161 pages, including three appendices) and each of the five well-written chapters examines a separate issue related to the covenants of Scripture, ranging from baptism to the question of the existence of a covenant of works. Earl M. Blackburn, editor of the work, opens with an excellent overview of Covenant Theology and Malone follows with a discussion of biblical hermeneutics and Covenant Theology. This work, like Denault’s book, offers an accessible survey of the Baptist version of Covenant Theology and I heartily recommend them both for your spring or summer reading.

Jeff Robinson

Jeff is a senior editor for The Gospel Coalition. A native of Blairsville, Ga., Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Georgia, a Master of Divinity in biblical and theological studies and a Ph.D. in historical theology with an emphasis on Baptist history from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He is pastor of New City Church in Louisville, KY. Jeff and his wife Lisa have been married for 19 years and have four children.
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