In the February issue of en, we carried a letter regarding Donald John MacLean’s article on covenant published in the January issue. We asked Donald to respond:
Dear Editor,
It is always encouraging to receive engagement on articles. My aim in the article on covenant was to present the importance of the theme of covenant in Biblical revelation in a non-controversial way.
As such, I avoided the issue of precisely who the New Covenant is made with, as there are various strongly held positions within the evangelical world. For myself, in an ultimate sense it is made with ‘Christ as the second Adam, and in Him with all the elect as His seed’ (Westminster Larger Catechism 31). But as the New Covenant is worked out in time (administered) it embraces believers and their children. (Paul simply assumes the New Covenant church is made up of families e.g. Eph. 6:1-2, Col. 3:20-21.)
From this it will be clear that I see the New Covenant as made with spiritual Israel (c.f. Rom. 2:28-29), as the covenant of grace ultimately always has been. As for the specific relation of the New Covenant to Israel, again there are varying views. Believers should absolutely sympathise with suffering and injustice in every instance – Jew and Gentile. And that is where the emphasis of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfilment lies – there is neither Jew nor Gentile but all are one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). Granting this, I do believe, with John Murray, that Romans 9–11 teaches that at some point a large proportion of national Israel will turn to Christ. But that is a separate question from the parties to the New Covenant.
I hope this has explained my desire in writing – i.e. to highlight a key Biblical theme while avoiding controversy.
Yours sincerely,
Donald John MacLean
Westminster Seminary UK
