Dear Editor,
There is no doubting the importance of the theme of covenant in Biblical revelation. However, the precise relationship of the Old and New Covenant is debated among evangelicals.
Donald John MacLean is to be commended for aiming to talk about the Bible’s view on covenant in a “non-controversial way” (see his response posted 2 March 2025). He then proceeds to present two controversial statements.
First, when he says that the New Covenant “embraces believers and their children” (my italics) he is making a highly controversial claim. I, for one, believe that the New Covenant embraces only believers (e.g. Gal. 3v26 – “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”). Until the children of Christian parents personally put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (which faith is a supernatural gift of grace not a natural birthright – see John 1v12,13) they are not yet members of the New Covenant even if they have a unique privilege of daily access to the gospel, lived and taught, through living with their Christian parent(s). This, in my view, is the meaning of “holy/sanctified” (= special, distinct, set apart) regarding the child of a Christian parent in 1 Corinthians 7v14. It no more makes them Christians in and of itself than does being married to a Christian make a non-Christian into a Christian. Otherwise, the best evangelistic strategy for our young singles in church would be, “go marry an unbeliever”, for that will make them holy/sanctified, assuming, wrongly, that this means it would make them a Christian!
Secondly, Donald slips in the phrase “the covenant of grace” as if this was also non-controversial. This is part of the systematic theological framework sometimes called “covenant theology” which lays, in my view, excessive stress on continuity between the Old and New Covenants. God has always dealt with humanity in grace, from the first page of our Bible to the last. That is beyond doubt. But there is sharp contrast as well as profound continuity between the Old and New Covenants. Indeed there are multiple covenants of grace. But nowhere does the Bible speak of a single “covenant of grace”. The idea of a single covenant of grace is part of a theological system which is far from universally accepted among us.
So let’s not pretend that distinctive teachings on the spiritual position of children in Christian families (e.g. claiming they are included in the New Covenant by virtue of physical birth to believing parents), or whether there is a single covenant of grace, are somehow non-controversial and accepted by all evangelical Christians.
Yours sincerely,
John Samuel
Southampton
