The Christ of the Covenants - 13 May 2010 |
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This is the reading for session 25 of the Guided Reading Course. We’re looking at O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980), ch. 1-5. Plenty of advance notice this time…
This is a great book. It’s terse, easy to read, thoroughly biblical, and full of sane, nuanced judgments about issues that have become strangely controversial in more recent times. This is one of the benefits of reading older stuff – it enables us to look at contemporary issues from a perspective removed from the heat (and confusion) of controversy.
I have one or two quibbbles; for example, I’m not sure I accept Robertson’s objection to the idea of an eternal covenant between the Father and the Son. But you can make up your own mind about those. All in all, this is a very good book indeed.
1. What do you make of Robertson’s definition of a covenant as “a bond in blood sovereignly administered” (p. 4; cf. pp. 4-15)?
2. How does Robertson deploy his definition of a covenant is his discussion of the “pre-creation covenantal bond between the persons of the Trinity” (p. 53; cf. p. 54)?
3. Could our previous reading on the doctrines of God and creation provide any support for the idea of an eternal covenant between the persons of the Trinity?
4. Why might someone reject the idea that God established a covenant with Adam? How does Robertson reply? (ch. 2) What do you think? Why does this matter?
5. How, according to Robertson, are the creation, Adamic, Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic covenants related? In what sorts of ways does Robertson make his case here? (ch. 3) What do you think of this argument? Why is Robertson’s conclusion important?
6. What is significant about Ezekiel 37:24-26 (p. 42)? And Revelation 21:3 (p. 50)?
7. What is meant by “covenant of works” and “covenant of grace”? Why, in Robertson’s view, is this terminology problematic? (pp. 54-57)
8. How does Paul contrast what Robertson calls the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant” in the letter to the Galatians (pp. 58-61)?
9. What is the “covenant of creation”? What does Robertson mean by its “general” and “focal” aspects (cf. pp. 68-86)?
10. What could be the consequences of an exclusive emphasis on the “focal” aspects of the covenant of creation? (pp. 67-68, 81-83)
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog