Covenant Theology and Justification by Faith

by Jeon, Jeong Koo

• ISBN13: 9781597525886
• ISBN10: 159752588X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-23
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

This study explores the Shepherd Controversy (1975-1982) and the contemporary debate on covenant and justification by faith from the perspectives of historical, systematic, and biblical theology. The distinctive contribution lies in the identification that the Shepherd Controversy as a logical outcome of rejecting the distinction between Law and Gospel at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. The larger problem is that Norman Shepherd and other associated theologians reject the distinction between Law and Gospel, injecting their monocovenantalism into the theologies of Calvin, the Westminster Standards, and Murray. The result has been hermeneutical and theological confusion among some of the followers of the Union with Christ School scholars. Reformed theonomists (led by Greg Bahnsen), Auburn Avenue theologians, and pastors are also monocovenantalists and have been influenced by the Union with Christ School scholars directly and indirectly. Their common denominator is the rejection of the distinction between Law and Gospel in their analysis and understanding of covenant and justification by faith. Having been influenced by the Union with Christ School scholars at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, some scholars began to adopt the hermeneutics and theology of the New Perspective on Paul, which is anti-Reformational and anti-Pauline. The adaptation of the New Perspective on Paul among some of the followers of the Union with Christ School is a logical step because both of them reject the distinction between Law and Gospel, which was a key hermeneutical and theological tool during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation against the background of the medieval legalistic religion.

Author Biography

Jeong Koo Jeon is Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Chesapeake Reformed Theological Seminary in Maryland

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. x
The Rise of Monocovenantalism	p. 1
Karl Barth's Existential Monocovenantalism	p. 1
Reformed Rejection of the Antithesis between Law and Gospel	p. 3
Calvin, the Westminster Standards, and Murray against the Union with Christ School	p. 3
The Union with Christ School and the New Perspective on Paul	p. 26
The Union with Christ School and the Auburn Avenue Theology	p. 37
Rejection of the Antithesis between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace	p. 42
Justification by Faith	p. 54
Rejection of the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ	p. 54
Rejection of the Idea of Merit	p. 65
Justification by a Penitent and Obedient Faith	p. 67
Van Til, Bavinck, and the Shepherd Controversy	p. 70
Recapitulation	p. 79
Romans 2:13	p. 82
The Redefinition of Justification by Faith Alone	p. 86
The Covenant Way of Salvation	p. 91
Covenant and Election	p. 97
Conclusion	p. 106
Bibliography	p. 108
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