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1. I’m a Baptist, but I’m also a Covenant Theologian. Covenant Theology isn’t reserved just for Presbyterians, don’t let anyone tell you it is. W/ that said, I don’t think you can understand the Bible or the gospel comprehensively if you don’t look at both thru a Covenantal lens.
2. This is, however, why White Evangelicalism has such a truncated conception of the gospel & of God’s grand redemptive plan. The covenantal framework of the Bible reveals to us that the Covenantal structures God relates to humans thru are communal not hyper-individualistic.
3. In other words, God covenants to communities & not just people. Even when God makes a Covental with individuals, they are communal promises (Through you Abraham, all the nations will be blessed). Christ, The Son of Gid Incarnate comes & works to fulfill a communal covenant.
4. Jesus is “Savior of world” b/c he serves as the Last Adam & thru his life, work, & resurrection ALL of cursed creation finds redemption. The western world loves philosophy & so it looks to Paul not realizing Paul was a Jew who filtered God’s relating thru Covental structures.
5. For ex, Paul in Romans 4 looks to Abrahamic Coventant, a covenant of Faith, to answer the question of how one is Justified. But the Abrahamic Coventant was about God blessing the Nations (communities of people). Even Paul’s theology of Church is communal not individualistic.
6. White Evangelicalism will look to Paul & somehow interpret Paul, look at his content concerning Justifcation & sanctification & somehow strip it of its communal context & reinterpret Paul as being like them; hyper-individualistic. That wasn’t Paul’s theology at all!
7. The Bible’s Gospel, Jesus’ Gospel, and Paul’s Gospel; were all the same. The Gospel is the good news of cosmic redemption, reconciliation, & reunification of all things within the created order that have been devastated by the curse. The church is a COMMUNITY advancing Light.
8. Only a theological structure that strips “Covenant” as the meta narrative spine of the Biblical story can divorce salvation from issues of Justice. Within Biblical story, Christians are saved & kept ion Earth for a specific purpose; to advance the Abrahamic promise of Shalom.
9. The New Covenant is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant that promises that thru Faith, all the Nations of the Earth will be blessed (Shalom) as they become Children of Abraham whether thru lineage or adoption. The Church (every nation & tribe) are the people of Abraham.
10. As Christians sojourn thru Kingdom of darkness we do so as citizens of the Kingdom of light & we bring that light with us everywhere we go; impacting the Kingdoms of Darkness with our light & thru that we advance God’s Kingdom & the nations are blessed. Blessed thru Covenant.
11. for those who are still tracking with me, salvation is absolutely personal. Justification is absolutely personal. But the Bible doesn’t separate individual salvation from communal realities of Christ’s work. They all work together in the fulfillment of His covenantal promises
12. The Christian is to be someone who cannot help, by nature of who they are, to engage the Kingdom of darkness with light and to push back on darkness such as injustice and oppression. A Christian standing against oppression & injustice is like an sapped tree bearing apples.
