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Review of Miles V. Van Pelt, “The Noahic Covenant of the Covenant of Grace,” in Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives

May 24, 2022 by Brian

Miles Van Pelt contributed the chapter on the Noahic covenant. This chapter exposits Genesis 6-9 and had many helpful exegetical insights not directly related to the Noahic covenant. For instance, he defends the view that the sons of God in Genesis 6:2 are angelic beings, addresses the theological issues connected with God’s “regret” in 6:6-7, argues that Noah’s righteousness was not sinlessness, describes the word play in Genesis 6:11-13 in which a violent and corrupt world is judged by God’s violence which corrupts or destroys the earth, etc.

More to the point, Van Pelt follows Meredith Kline in arguing for two Noahic covenants. He identifies a conditional covenant made with Noah individually in Genesis 6:18 and an unconditional, universal, common grace covenant made in chapter 9.

Van Pelt also appeals to the use of heqim with reference to both covenants to conclude that both Noahic covenants are confirmations of the covenant of grace given in Genesis 3:14-19. However, as I’ve noted before, that argument does not withstand scrutiny: Can heqim berit refer to the making of a covenant?

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