Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 26:1 (Spring 2022)
Article: Reflections On Covenant Theology From A Progressive Covenantal View
Author: Stephen J. Wellum

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Reflections On Covenant Theology1 From A Progressive Covenantal View

Stephen J. Wellum

Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He received his PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he is the author of numerous essays and articles and the co-author with Peter Gentry of Kingdom through Covenant, 2nd edition (Crossway, 2012, 2018) and God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Crossway, 2015); the co-editor of Progressive Covenantalism (B&H, 2016); the author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of the Person of Christ (Crossway, 2016) and Christ Alone—The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior (Zondervan, 2017); and the co-author of Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ (Zondervan, 2018); and the author of The Person of Christ: An Introduction (Crossway, 2021).

Since the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christians have wrestled with “putting together” the Bible’s metanarrative. Within evangelical theology, two biblical-theological systems have dominated the discussion regarding how the Bible fits together: Reformed paedobaptist covenant theology and varieties of dispensational theology. Alongside these two perspectives, there are mediating views that differ on specific points of each system that arise predominately out of Baptist theology such as progressive covenantalism and 1689 Federalism.2 In this article, I will represent the progressive covenantal viewpoint.3 Although specific differences exist between all these viewpoints, it is important to note that we agree on more than we disagree, especially regarding the central message of the Gospel and the main doctrinal truths

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of Christian theology. However, our overall agreement does not minimize the truth that some of our disagreements are significant. Ultimately, our disagreements over specific points lead to different conclusions regarding such important issues as: the newness of the new covenant, how Old Testament (OT) promises and typological patterns are fulfilled in Christ, how inaugurated eschatology works now that Christ has come, the nature of the church, the meaning of the ordinances/sacraments, the role of national Israel in God’s plan, whether various civil laws for Israel apply to our current nations, and the Decalogue’s application to the church, especially regarding whether the Sabbath comm...