COVENANT THEOLOGY

There is no doubt that there are Biblical covenants and that God made covenants - e.g. with Abraham, Noah, David. There certainly is ample material available for study of those Biblical covenants. The issues, however, arise when we attempt to determine the applicability of the Old Testament covenants to the New Testament era. Some say that the covenants pertain to Israel and have no applicability to us today. Others say that the church has replaced Israel so that the covenants apply exclusively to the church and NOT to Israel. If we stopped right there, there would be sufficient grounds for theological debate (as there indeed has been). The covenant theology folks are typically in the latter category - those who believe that the church has replaced Israel and that Old Testament covenants apply either literally or figuratively to the church. However, more than just the covenants end up getting brought over from the "old" to the "new". Although we can see in some churches the carrying over of ceremony and other aspects of Old Testament temple worship, we also see where the mindset is that Old Testament Jewish circumcision is now replaced with New Testament infant baptism. The basis by which infant baptism is justified is that the Covenant governs all, and baptism is simply the sealing of the covenant (rather than, as the Bible clearly demonstrates, being an outward voluntary action that demonstrates the repentance and faith that has been exercised by the individual). We at BibleTruthForToday  believe that this type of man-made connection between the Old and the New is not warranted from Scriptures and creates an improper foundation upon which other false doctrines and practices are then built.    

Additional Links:

www.christinyou.net/pages/dthcthchth.html

www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/covenant_theol.html