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RTS and the Current State of Theological Education

Some of you may have seen this important article over at The Gospel Coalition about the decline and relocation of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) by Collin Hansen, who is a graduate of the school. Reformed Theological Seminary has been friends with TEDS for many years. Over the years, a number of our faculty have done their studies there before coming to RTS, and a number of our graduates have gone on to do doctoral work there. We wish TEDS all the best in this new stage of their institutional life. The last twenty years have been tough for accredited graduate theological education…

Covenant in the Synoptics, Acts and Pauline Writings

We have already looked at definitions of covenant and we have, or definitions of diatheke and berith, and the arguments over that translational controversy. And we have looked at one passage in the New Testament in some detail, the passage in Hebrew 9, which is difficult to translate. Many Bible translations will start in 9:15, with the word covenant, and they will switch to testament and then back to covenant again by the time they get to verse 18. But we have really not done a New Testament survey of covenant language, and I think that one benefit of doing such a survey is you can see the bare bones outline of a very clear New Testament covenant theology. Many people, especially those people influenced by the Neo-Orthodox biblical theology movement, and those influenced, frankly,…

The Davidic Covenant

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to 2 Samuel 7. We are going to rapidly overview to the Davidic Covenant and especially the establishment of the house of David in II Samuel 7 The Davidic Covenant Robertson says that the climax of the Old Covenant is found in the coming of the kingdom in David’s day. When the king sits on his throne, the kingdom has come. That principle holds true for both the Old and the New Covenant eras. To understand this, we will first look at II Samuel 7 and then I would like to set the context for this Davidic Covenant. Let’s hear God’s Word in II Samuel 7: Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet,…

OT Prophecies of the New Covenant

I want to look at Jeremiah 31, because that is obviously the only passage in the prophetic literature which uses the terminology New Covenant. That terminology of New Covenant becomes very, very significant in the New Testament itself. It is picked up by the author of Hebrews, but it is also mentioned in the Last Supper narrative by the Lord Jesus Himself, as He explains the meaning of His death. And if that alone had occurred in the New Testament, that would indicate the extreme significance of the concept of New Covenant for explaining the meaning of the death of Christ. So we are going to look at that prophetic passage. But we are also going to mention the fact that even in passages where the terminology of New Covenant is not used in the Old Testament, the concept of New…

Dispensationalism

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 2. I want to point your attention to two verses. We are going to begin today by making some observations about dispensationalism and then we are going to give a rapid overview to the Davidic Covenant and especially the establishment of the house of David in II Samuel 7. But first I want you to concentrate on two verses here at the end of Romans 2, 2:28-29. Hear God’s Word. “For he is not a Jew who is one…

The Mosaic Covenant

The whole area of the law of Moses and the economy of God. The Mosaic Covenant and how it relates to the Covenant of Grace, and especially to the New Testament, is one of the fundamental issues that underlies the difference between dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. So bearing that in mind as we plow into this material today, I think it will help us understand the importance on getting ourselves straight on the scriptural teaching on this matter. If you would look at then at Exodus…

Abrahamic Covenant

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 17, Genesis chapter 17. In Genesis chapter 17, in verse 1, we read, Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And…

Covenant of Preservation

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 6. Genesis 6, beginning in verse 9. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then…

Covenant of Works and Covenant of Grace

If you have your Bibles, please open to Genesis 3:14 as we read God’s Word. And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman, He said, “I will…

Covenant of Works (Creation)

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to open with me to Genesis 1. We read the passage last week, and we will look at it again. In Genesis 1 we will focus on verse 24 and following. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after…