I recently joined the Reformed Northwest Podcast for a 5-part overview of 1689 Federalism. I’d love to hear any comments/thoughts/feedback/criticism/disagreement you may have.
[Update: the mp3 links were previously broken but have been fixed]
- Ep. 24 – 1689 Federalism – pt 1: Introduction – What is Covenant Theology?
- Ep. 25 – 1689 Federalism – pt 2: The Covenant of Works
- Ep. 26 – 1689 Federalism – pt 3: The Noahic and Abrahamic Covenants
- Ep. 27 – 1689 Federalism – pt 4: The Mosaic and Davidic Covenants
- Ep. 28 – 1689 Federalism – pt 5: The New Covenant
Contrast 
Excellent podcast; I especially enjoyed the comments about Abraham scaring away the birds of prey. Very interesting.
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Hello, Brandon.
I’ve been following closely your thoughts for some years now, and something in episode 3, concerning the Abrahamic Covenant, has puzzled me. I thought I read you saying somewhere, sometime ago, that Jeffery Johnson’s The Fatal Flaw was the most influential book upon your thought so far, though I can’t find that statement now. Anyway, in your recommendation of Recovering a Covenantal Heritage you present a good picture of Johnson’s chapter on the dichotomous nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. I’ve read both The Fatal Flaw and The Kingdom of God a while ago and Johnson takes a pretty firm stance on this point.
Now, on the podcast you have argued for an interpretation of the Abrahamic Covenant as being exclusively conditional, is that right? Is this a departure from Johnson’s thought? Or am I misunderstanding something? If it is a departure, I have two further questions.
1. Did Particular Baptists hold to your position in the 17th century? You quoted Coxe on the conditionality of the Abrahamic Covenant, but I believe you have some differences with his interpretation. Are there any other examples of a ‘one-fold conditional abrahamic covenant’ position?
2. Could you point to some other author/work that has presently being a great influence upon your thought?
Thank you very much,
Pedro.
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Hi Pedro,
Thanks for the question/comment. I think you may be misunderstanding something.
I don’t recall saying that Johnson’s book was the most influential book on my thought. It’s not/hasn’t been.
I have never entirely agreed with Johnson’s view of the Abrahamic or Mosaic Covenants. See http://www.1689federalism.com/2015-founders-conference-w-commentary/
With regards to the conditionality of the Abrahamic Covenant, note the Renihan’s statement in RaCH:
There are a variety of ways that 17th century antipaedobaptists expressed the Abrahamic Covenant. See my above link for quotes. For example, Tombes argued that it was a “mixed covenant”. Coxe argued that the Abrahamic Covenant = Covenant of Circumcision = Carnal, Conditional Covenant. I would recommend carefully working through this outline of Coxe http://www.1689federalism.com/interactive-outline-of-coxe-on-the-covenants/
Where I disagree with Coxe is that he argued the “second Abrahamic promise” (as I called it) that “in you all nations of the earth will be blessed” was actually part of the New Covenant/Covenant of Grace and not actually part of the Abrahamic Covenant. See https://contrast2.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/some-disagreement-with-coxe-on-galatians-317/
To be clear, I am not denying a dichotomous nature to the Abrahamic Covenant. I just have a slightly different understanding of that dichotomy than Johnson. If you haven’t finished the podcast series it might make more sense by the time you get to the end. I like the way that James Haldane expresses/explains the Abrahamic Covenant https://contrast2.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/klines-two-level-fulfillment-184-years-before-kingdom-prologue/
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Ok Brandon, thank you for the clarification. I will go through (or go back) to those texts and reach back to you if necessary.
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Hello again Brandon. Unfortunately these links are now broken. Do you happen to have recorded elsewhere? I tried to access them in many platforms, none worked. There’s a lot of great stuff there, I hope it doesnt get lost.
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Sorry for the delay. I was able to get them uploaded somewhere else. Check the post for the updated links.
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Thank you Brandon. It seems the server is back, I was able to download it again. Thanks for your service, brother.
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