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God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology

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Dr. Horton has done the Reformed church another favor. Amidst the current assaults on the orthodox doctrines of justification by faith alone (because of Christ's imputed righteousness), the importance of the covenant of works, and the clear law/gospel distinction, this book will keep the Christian balanced and on the firm ground of classic, historical, Reformed orthodoxy.

Rather than over-emphasize one central dogma of the Reformed faith, Horton nicely describes the covenant as a sort of glue, or "web," that intimately connects the whole of theology. Describing the three covenants (Redemption, Works/creation, and Grace) from Scripture, Horton magnifies the person and work of Christ as the true King [David] and the true Servant [Israel].

If you've wondered about the relationship between the Adamic, Noahic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants, or if you've wondered about the relationship between the old and new covenants, this book is a must read. Horton neither wastes ink nor smears it on those he disagrees with; he is clearly a humble servant of Christ who seeks to make His riches known. And the way of covenant is an excellent and necessary way to do so.

I hope pastors read and study this book, I hope students devour it, and I hope lay-people take up the challenge to learn these doctrines. We need books like this to help guide us on our pilgrim way.

The Bible is replete with references to covenants, but how are we to understand them? What does it mean for created man to be in a covenant relationship with the Almighty God? How can understanding the biblical covenants impact our understanding of Scripture? Dr. Michael Horton seeks to answer these questions and more in his new book, God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology.

Dr. Horton begins in the first chapter by looking at the big picture of covenant thinking and why it matters. According to him, our understanding is important because "God's very existence is covenantal" and "we were not just created and then given a covenant; we were created as covenant creatures." (10) Chapter two looks more directly at Scripture by comparing Old Testament covenants with some secular covenants contemporary to them (known as suzerain treaties). From the Old Testament, Dr. Horton draws out two types of covenants and explores them in his third chapter: covenants of works and covenants of grace.

Following the examination of covenants in the Old Testament, Dr. Horton looks to the New Covenant noting that it is entirely distinct from the previous Sinai covenant. After the foundation work in the Bible is done, chapter five moves the discussion to systematic theology by considering the larger categories of the covenants of redemption, creation, and grace. In the sixth chapter, Dr. Horton explores themes of common grace from free will to how Christians are to view their place on Earth.

Finally in chapter seven, covenant theology is compared against its main theological competitor (dispensational theology) and looks at the relationship between Israel and the Church. The eighth chapter explores baptism and the Lord's Supper as signs and seals of the New Covenant. In the final chapter, Dr. Horton distinguishes between different understandings of biblical law in order to explain Christian obedience under the New Covenant.

As much as I agree with Dr. Horton on the major issues and mostly enjoyed the book, there were a number of issues that detracted from its quality. On at least point, Dr. Horton's position is unclear, and at worst inconsistent. On one hand he affirms that those in the New Covenant are true believers-"There are real partners in this covenant (God with believers and their children)" (105), but on the other he asserts, "not everyone in the covenant of grace is elect." (182) Another problem is that on a few occasions (pages 105, 131, 167, 182) he references children as members of the New Covenant, with the implication that they are eligible for the sacrament of baptism, but never supports this idea. Since infant baptism is a contentious issue among Reformed believers, he should have at least attempted to make a case for it.

A common criticism of theological discussion these days is that it's not practical. Following the principle that good practice is built upon sound theology, Dr. Horton had a great opportunity to make the book incredibly practical in the last chapter by explaining specifically what laws Christians ought to view as guidelines. Unfortunately, his (worthwhile) discussion remained abstract and readers will have to do their own work to figure out what use it has for Christian living.

Though the book is an introduction to covenant theology, it is more academic in nature, so readers would do well to have some theological experience. However, God of Promise fulfills a substantial need in our Reformed libraries. Very few books address the system of covenant theology directly, and Michael Horton is likely the best contemporary theologian to do so. God of Promise is a valuable resource for those seeking to understand the picture of biblical teaching and the resulting categories of Reformed theology.

With the resurgence of Reformed thought and the renovation of the support for covenantal ideas in the scholarship of the Ancient Near Eastern now is a perfect time to roll out to a new generation the classic covenant theology. In a book subtitled "An introduction to Covenant Theology" this is exactly what I was hoping Horton would do.

Unfortunately, in my opinion he misses an opportunity here a bit. This is not because I found any specific doctrinal disagreement with Horton, but because of where he chose to spend his energy.

The first part of the book is spent rolling out the widely discussed Suzerain-Vassal treaties. While this is nice corroboration for classic covenant ideals, it's kind of a "paste on" to the core of the theology. So I moved quickly through this section to get to chapter 5, which is where he really discusses the structure of covenant theology itself (perhaps a bit late).

On the good side, in this chapter Horton makes some very strong but subtle points which affect our reading of the Scripture and draws out a few quotes from classics like Geehardus Vos, Perkins, and a few other Puritans. On the bad side, he spends a lot of correcting O. Palmer Robertson's view, and then striking against the New Perspective on Paul with out naming it by name. It might be good content for a scholarly article, but it was not good content of an introduction to covenant theology. I left more clear on how he differed from Robertson than the actual import of covenant theology. It is only this chapter which deals directly with covenant theology itself and it's implication on our view of the Bible... the preceding chapters are preamble, and the following chapters are outworkings of the implications of covenant theology in various spheres.

Horton may have laid good groundwork for a renovation of the theology, but if it is going to impact a broader reading audience, someone is going to have to release a book which deals more completely with the historic theology and it's implications on our hermeneutics in a way that is more friendly to an average reader.

I'd never read a book written by Michael Horton before this one, although I'd read a few shorter articles and was impressed with them. In addition, this book labels itself as an introduction to Covenant Theology, and understanding Covenant Theology is something I'm particularly interested in, so I was excited to receive this book for reviewing.

My opinion of the book after reading it is mixed. I loved the chapter examining the historical background of the biblical idea of covenant--the treaties and covenants as they existed already in the ancient Near East. I had many "Aha!" moments in this chapter as I recognized the different features of the ancient treaties in the Biblical covenants. Horton does an excellent job of explaining things clearly and simply in this chapter.

I also found the last chapter of the book, the one titled New Covenant Obedience, which considers the proper use of the law under the New Covenant, to be very thought provoking. Horton tackles the question of the usefulness of the law in the life of the believer. Does the law sanctify? Is it a guide for obedience? This chapter, too, was laid out in an understandable way that I found quite helpful.

And that brings me to the main problem I had with God of Promise: although it advertises itself as "introducing Covenant Theology", I would not call this an entry level book, but rather one that's more academically focused. There were large portions of it I had difficulty understanding, and I wouldn't consider myself a novice in my understanding of Covenant Theology. I did a lot of rereading, underlining and outlining as I read--these things were necessary for me to make it through this book--and yet there were places where I simply felt out of my league trying to follow Horton's argument. Perhaps that's because my version of Covenant Theology is more baptistic than Horton's, but I don't think that's the whole of it. Mostly, I think I needed to read a more basic book first (although I'm not sure there is one, either).

So if you're up to doing some real study, then I can recommend this book to you. As far as I know, it may be unique as a contemporary book that goes into depth on the system of Covenant Theology. I just wish it were more of a primer on the subject than it is.

Horton is not a great writer. By that, I mean that the flow is quite arduous to follow and you find your mind wandering a lot as you read. A lot of sentences seem randomly placed. And sometimes, the EXACT SAME sentence will appear in two different places. Case in point:

in page 22 it reads - "It was chiefly the concept of covenant (with its corollary, election) that guarded against a civil religion and made Yahweh's will rather than national aspirations the basis for life."

then, in page 30 (in an altogether different chapter), it reads - "It was chiefly the concept of covenant (with its corollary, election) that guarded against a civil religion and made Yahweh's will rather than national aspirations the basis for life."

IT'S THE EXACT SAME SENTENCE! In two totally different pages! I'm not kidding. The context of each sentence was completely different, and yet, the same sentence appears. (Interestingly, both sentences have a different footnote....go figure!) Basically, it's as if Horton randomly threw in sentences, without caring about logical flow, and once in awhile, he'll throw in the same sentence in two completely different contexts.

Writing aside, Horton does have a lot of valuable things to say in this book. Chapter 3 on the difference between the Mosaic and Abrahamic covenants was illuminating. But again, difficult prose made it hard to track.

For instance, in page 43, Horton argues that there is hope embedded in the Mosaic Covenant and he quotes Deut. 4:30-31. Fair enough. But then, the very next paragraph (pg. 44), Horton writes, "Remarkably, the rise of the monarchy is anticipated here." What is Horton talking about? Deut. 4:30-31 says nothing about kings. Ah, but you later find out, by reading further along, that he was talking about Deut. 17:14-20. But the logical flow doesn't make any sense. Horton basically makes you struggle and juggle all sorts of random sentences before somehow, he pulls it all together after several paragraphs. It's like reading the thoughts of an ADHD kid.

To sum it up, valuable information, but poor, convoluted prose.

A few months ago, I found out that a favorite author of mine, Michael Horton, had finished a new book on a topic of great interest to me. I touched on the reasons for this in yesterday's post, but didn't go into any great detail.

This book presents covenant theology just as I had expected from this author. There is a fair amount of terms that are new to me, but wherever these occur, Horton does a fantastic job of unpacking them for us. This is why I was so excited about this book. The author does not hold back on the concepts that may be difficult for modern people to comprehend, nor does he assume that we are unable to understand them with a little explanation.

He begins with some very clear reasons why covenant theology produces churches comprised of Christians who long to embrace the blessings that come with being a part of something, rather than just having a personal, segmented faith. No, he does not say that dispensationalism produces a dualistic worldview on its own and I am not doing this either. But an understanding of what comprises the covenants and an understanding of how one is covered in a covenant relationship has enhanced my own faith and increased my longing for more teaching toward this end.

He also does a wonderful job of explaining the customary roles of a suzerain and vassal in ancient covenants, using the biblical accounts as well as secular accounts from the Hittites and others. He shows that the covenants that Israel entered into with God had the same components as those of their neighbors, so the people would understand the meaning of such things as the elders of Israel eating with God on Mt. Ararat, the matter of the people in Israel who had promised to obey the law and just what the stipulations in the covenants did and did not say. The roles that baptism and the Lord's table play today are descended from this understanding, but Horton does not make his book into an opponent of creedobaptism.

There's much more to this book than I have time to write about, but please allow me to recommend it to you, whether you are already a covenant believer who wants a greater grasp of covenant theology, a dispensational believer who just wants to understand what covenant theology is and is not, or a believer who is curious about what covenant theology is all about. Even if the book does not convince you that the Bible is best understood in terms of covenants, you will come away from it with a new appreciation for who God is and what He does through His covenant.

The return of Covenant of Works ( real works ) and Covenant of Grace

In recent years it seems the bi-covenantal teaching(i.e. Covenant of Works and Covenant of Grace) was loosing steam as the mono-covenantal teaching(i.e. Covenant of Grace ) was gaining adherents. However, this could be the watershed book that reverses the tide. Dr Horton is a well respected scholar on issues revolving around Covenant Theology and this book demonstrates his erudition in the area. He builds a very strong case that Covenant Theology is the warp and woof of Scripture. Many Covenant Theology proponents might agree with this. However, he goes further to show that all Covenants in biblical history( basically falls under the grouping of Covenant of Works or Covenant of Grace). The Covenant of Works is really a covenant of works. By doing certain things you merit certain things. There is no grace in this specific arrangement. Yes, it is gracious for a superior(e.g. God) to enter into a covenant with an inferior(i.e. sinful human), but the stipulations, blessings, and curses are based strictly on works. If you do this you will receive the blessings. If you do not do this you will receive the curses! On the other hand the Covenant of Grace is not fulfilled by your doing, but instead the superior's doing (e.g. God ). There maybe "conditions" in this covenant, but they are all fulfilled by the superior. I will forgive your sins! I will be your God! I will give you a new heart! These two covenants are drastically different in that regard. Dr Horton walks you through the Ancient Near East, the Law, the Prophets, the New Testament, Common Grace, the Sacraments and others his shows how Covenant Theology should be the architectonic structure of Scripture.

If you want to learn and understand more about covenant theology you should definitely get this book. I only wish the book had footnotes instead of endnotes and an index.

Review of "God of Promise" by Michael Horton

Most of this book is just a retelling of what others have written on the subject in recent years - including Horton's own book 'A Better Way', which has an excellent section on Covenant. Chapter six of this book ('Providence and Covenant') was interesting, but this book didn't really get interesting for me until Chapter eight ('Signs and Seals of the Covenant'); BTW, there are only nine chapters. In this last chapter he cuts down other views of covenant and the Lord's Supper and attempts to be a Calvin apologist and creates a wide gap between Zwingli and Calvin, but ignores Calvin's later, more Zwinglian/Memorial view (e.g., 'The Clear Exposition of Sound Doctrine Concerning the Holy Supper'). He is also fuzzy in places about the presence of Christ in the sacraments and does some painful theological back-flips to defend God/Christ being restricted to heaven, while stopping short of proclaiming a "Doctrine of the Real Absence." Additionally, like Calvin, he emphasizes the "communication" between Christ and the believer. Some other interesting points:
* Gives a false analogy of Christ's connection to the `rock in the desert' and the presence or relationship of Christ in the Lord's Supper.
* On p. 157 misrepresents Lutheran doctrine of what is "worthy reception" of the Lord's Supper (see Luther's Small Catechism).
* On page 153 the following quote is part of a good discussion: "The question therefore is not what the sacraments do to us, but what God does for us with them."
* Interesting discussion of the mystical relationship of the signs and the thing signified.
* Great discussion on the flawed approach of pietists to the Lord's Supper
* He states that in order to "receive" Christ in the Lord's Supper, one must `mystically ascend' to Christ - this is not supported anywhere by Scripture.
* He is confusing on the presence of Christ in the sacraments and slightly misrepresents Zwingli and Luther on the subject. He adds further confusion when on p. 168, after denying the presence of Christ in even a spiritual form in the Lord's Supper, writes, "The Reformed did not, therefore, deny the reality of the presence of Christ in the sacraments..."
To sum up, Horton's discussion of Covenant is well done and the later parts of the book have some very interesting sections worth reading (if you can get through the dull parts). Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic and others can all learn something from this book. However, he doesn't seem convinced himself that Calvin had it all right, so he tweaks Calvin a bit in a positive way and tweaks the other views in a negative way, thereby, in appearance, strengthening his arguments. Good book, but you have to carefully separate the wheat from the chaff.

After years of telling parishioners that there is no succinct, readable survey of classic Reformed covenant theology (not having the heart to tell them to buy and read Herman Witsius, On the Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man!), I finally have a book I can whole-heartedly endorse and be confident that any layperson can read with profit.

In God of Promise, Horton confidently asserts the convoction of so many of us "modern reformational" pastors that Reformed theology is covenant theology, that is, a way of reading the Bible and expressing our faith, and not a reductionistic "5-points" (11). Horton says this in chapter 1, "The Big Idea?" In fact, he illustrates this by saying covenant theology is not even the central doctrine of the Reformed faith, but is like the structure of a house, within which our doctrine lives and moves (13).

In chapter 2, "God and Foreign Relations" (a double entendre--the covenant idea comes from foreign treaty documents and God uses this treaty structure to relate to a people that were foreigners to him because of sin), Dr. Horton surveys the ancient Near Eastern (ANE) treaty structure, which illumines for us biblical covenantal relationships. ANE treaties had 1) a preamble, in which the Great King identified himself ("I am the LORD your God...") 2) an historical prologue, in which the King chronicled what he had doned for his servant ("...who brought you up out of the land of Egypt...), 3) stipulations, explaining what the servant was to do (...you shall not...), 4) sanctions, in which blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience were made clear (cf. Deut. 28; Lev. 26), as well as the deposit of the treaty document, one copy went in the temple of the King and another in the temple of the servant (think, the copy in the ark of the covenant) These treaties were called Suzerainty treaties, which were covenants of law (Eden with Adam, Sinai with Israel).

Yet, there was another type of covenant pattern, the royal grant (Noah, Abraham, David, New Covenant), which were covenants of grace.

Chapter 3, "A Tale of Two Mothers," is an exposition of these two types of covenants in Scripture--covenants ot law and covenants of grace. Horton here gives an amazing description, for example, of the covenant dmade with Abraham in Genesis 15, in which the LORD himself passes through the pieces of animals, personally swearing to uphold everything he has promised! Here is covenant grace that foreshadows the work of our Lord, who is cut off for us, as the animals were cut in two, that we might live.

Chapter 4, " A New Covenant," does deal with some important academic details, yet Horton's point is that while Israel languished because of their sins in an increasingly thorn-filled land and eventually into exile, "East of Eden," the LORD, through his prophets, send word of a covenant to come, in which he would renew his oath sworn to Abraham to save a people for himself. Here Horton begins to explain that the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, while being a continuation of his one covenant of grace to save his elect by grace, it was also a national covenant that promised the blessing of the land and threatened the curse of exile based on the corporate obedience of the people. Thus, in typical Horton brilliance, he says the Sinai covenant was the parentesis, not the Church! (contra Dispensationalism)

In chapter 5, "From Scripture to System," all the details of biblical research are brought together to form the classic presentation of covenant theology: the covenant of redemption between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit from eternity to save a people; the covenant of works with Adam; and the covenant of grace with Christ as Head to save the elect. Through a vast use of the Reformed fathers and a critique of contemporary Reformed authors that divert from this system, Horton shows the biblical as well as historical character of this 3-covenant system.

At this point, I must offer at least one criticism. Chapters 6-7, "Providence and Covenant: Common Grace" and "The Covenant People," were very disappointing. In his presentation of common grace, which I agree with, Horton fails to interact with even one Reformed author that takes issue with this big issue in Reformed circles (e.g., Herman Hoeksema). And, in the chapter on the covenant people, Horton only gives us 7 pages when the issue of Dispensationalism is so rampant in modern American Protestantism.

Nevertheless, the final two chapters, "Signs and Seals of the Covenant" and "New Covenant Obedience," finishes off this work in fine fashion. Of special note is Horton's distillation of Meredith Kline's work on baptism and circumcision (BY OATH CONSIGNED cf. my work, JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN [Reformed Fellowship, 2006], in which I summarize my former Old Testament professor's insights as they relate to issues of infant baptism.).

Overall, then, Horton's book is now the book to read to enter the world of Reformed covenant theology--which I am sure he would agree, is nothing less than the Bible's own way of interpreting itself.

i would say first of all that this is not to be read as a bedtime book. i had to be awake and alert to be thoughtful enough to follow. a bit complex, but thorough, at the start. book is easier to understand as it progresses. take time to read decent sized pieces of this little (100 Page) book that packs a wallop. let time assist the settling into the mind these little chunks of info and then proceed.
(if you are familiar with covenant theology already, then maybe the book is much easier for you to read cover to cover in one or two sittings. this was not the case for me. this is not my first brush with covenants as such, but my first with them as a system of.....
thank you Mr. Horton.