Biblical Theology
How does the old covenant relate to the new?
Christians agree that the new covenant fulfils God’s promises in Christ, but differ over the degree of continuity between Israel and the church, the continuing role of Mosaic law, and the future of promises given to ethnic Israel.
The question
Where the disagreement lies
This debate is not simply a choice between continuity and discontinuity. Each reading preserves both in a different pattern: one covenant of grace under different administrations, distinct dispensations within one divine plan, or progressive covenants that reach their fulfilment and transformation in Christ.
Different Perspectives
TransparencySources, generation and reviewHuman review pending
AI generation record
- System
- OpenAI Codex AI assistant
- Generated
- 14 August 2026
- Review
- Human review pending
The AI synthesized the draft from the listed biblical and scholarly sources. Associations describe broad affinities, not formal endorsements by every person or tradition represented.
- Westminster Assembly, Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 7 and 19
The confessional account of one covenant of grace under old- and new-testament administrations and of the uses of the Law.
- Orthodox Presbyterian Church, The Covenant of Grace
An accessible Reformed explanation of covenant continuity, Christ, and the moral law.
- Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics, Dispensationalism and the New Covenant
A collection showing multiple dispensational approaches to the church’s participation in the new covenant.
- Robert Gromacki, Distinctives of Dispensational Preaching
A traditional dispensational account of the dispensations and unconditional covenants for Israel.
- Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant
A progressive-covenantal account presented as an alternative to both covenant theology and dispensationalism.