9. 칼빈주의 신학- 언약 신학(Covenant Theology Calvinism)

[남인도_윤]

5. Covenant Theology of Calvinism(the Reformed)

Covenant theology is a theological system that interprets the Bible and focuses on the ‘covenant’ between God and people.

It was mainly systematized by Christian reformist theologians.

A covenant is a concept that appears in the Bible and can be said to be a treaty between two sides.

It consists of mandatory provisions that both parties must adhere to, and if either party fails to fulfill its obligations, the covenant is terminated.

What is unique is that, generally, a treaty is concluded with the agreement of both parties, but in the case of a covenant between God and humans, due to the nature of the relationship between the Creator and creation, it is concluded immediately with God's declaration, regardless of whether humans consent or not.

Covenant theologians believe that there are three major covenants in the Bible.

(Some scholars see it as two things; in this case, the ‘covenant of redemption’ and the ‘covenant of grace’ below are viewed as one)

⑴ Covenant of redemption: It is a covenant made between the Father and the Son of the Trinity.

The Son of God's duty: To taste the judgment corresponding to the sins of all mankind and to fulfill on behalf of God's people the conditions that must be met in order to be saved.

The Father's duty: to acknowledge the Son's merits, especially his suffering, death, and righteousness, and to save them by acknowledging them as the suffering, death, and righteousness of God's people.

To this end, a plan is also included to unite God's people with the Son and make the Son the head of the union.

The covenant of redemption was concluded before the creation of the universe and was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ.

⑵ Covenant of works: It is a covenant made between God and Adam.

Adam's Duty: Obey God's commands as a representative of mankind.

God's Duty: If Adam obeys God's commands, he grants him eternal life.

The eternal life spoken of here does not simply mean living forever, but a life of a higher quality than the original life that Adam had when he was created.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ shows us what it is specifically.

Adam broke this covenant, which brought death and judgment to mankind.

⑶ Covenant of grace: This is the covenant that God made with all mankind immediately after Adam failed.

Man's Obligation - to Accept that Jesus Christ has fulfilled all conditions necessary for salvation.

God's Duty - To unite those who believe in Jesus Christ with Jesus Christ, to consider Christ's merits as their own, to make to save them God's people.

In fact, when the above 'Covenant of Redemption' was concluded, 'who are God's people' was already decided.

This is consistent with the theory of predestination.

The difference between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works lies not only in their content, but also in the fact that there is no possibility of this covenant being broken between God's intended people and God.

The above is typical of Reformed systematic theological views.

⑷ Reformers’ thoughts on covenant

John Calvin compared the covenant to a seal used in government documents.

Ulrich Zwingli compared the covenant to a "military oath."

Ursinus and Beza understood it like a government document.

The Puritans who came to New England thought of the covenant as a sacrament.

Also, they thought that the content of the document itself was more important than the seal on the document.

⑸ Puritan covenant theology

For Puritans, covenant theology is central to their theology.

The person who wrote about this theology was Patrick Gillespie (1617-1675), who discussed in depth the similarities and differences between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.

The purpose of both covenants is the glory of God.

Adam is the head of the natural seed, and Christ is also the head of his spiritual seed.

This is called covenant theory or federalism.

Both covenants require perfect righteousness.

The search for the etymology of Puritanism, especially New England's covenant theology, originated from Perry Miller's 17th-century New England intellect.

Bierma argued that the interpretation of the political and social application of the covenant came not from Luther and Calvin, but from the Swiss Reformed school of Zwingli and Bullinger.

Systemizing covenant theology was complicated, but there was a social consensus that covenant thinking could be a tool for helping souls suffering from lack of assurance of salvation gain confidence in their salvation.