Exegesis and Theology

William Barrick contributed a chapter on the biblical covenants in Dispensationalism Revisited: A Twenty-First Century Restatement, a book is a Festschrift for Charles Hauser, Jr. published by Central Baptist Theological Seminary.

Barrick focuses on the six covenants that he identifies as having been made between God and Israel: “the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic (or Sinaitic) Covenant, the Priestly (or Zadokite) Covenant, the Deuteronomic (or Palestinian) Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant” (103). Barrick mentions the Noahic covenant in passing, but he claims that the blessing, seed, land, nation, and kingdom themes found in the Israelite covenants are not found in the Noahic covenant.

Barrick also identifies eight dispensations to which he will relate the covenants. He understands dispensations as periods in which there are varied rules for God’s people. For instance, the dietary requirements for God’s people changed in different dispensations. Barrick is clear that man’s soteriological need, the instrument and object of faith, the work of Christ, and other elements of salvation remained constant across dispensations. His eight dispensations are as follows:

“1. The Dispensation of Innocence (Gen 1:1-3:21)

2. The Dispensation of Conscience (Gen 3:22-8:12)

3. The Dispensation of Human Government (Gen 8:13–11:32)

4. The Dispensation of Promise (Gen 12:1-Exod 18:27)

5. The Dispensation of Law (Exod 19:1-Acts 1:26)

6. The Dispensation of Grace/the Church (Acts 2:1-Rev 19:21)

7. The Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom (Rev 20:1-15)

8. The Dispensation of the Eternal Kingdom (Rev 21:1-27; 22:1-5)” (112)

Because he is focused on the Israelite covenants, Barrick does not correlate the first three dispensations with a covenant or covenants. He correlates the Abrahamic covenant with the dispensation of promise. He correlates the Mosaic, priestly, Deuteronomic, Davidic, and new covenants with the dispensation of law. He further correlates the new covenant with the dispensations of grace/church, of the mediatorial kingdom, and of the eternal kingdom.

Complicating these correlations, he also holds that the Mosaic covenant had an initial fulfillment in the past and that it will have a future fulfillment int he millennial period during which Israel will faithfully keep the Mosaic law. In addition, though he correlates the new covenant with the dispensation of the church, he distinguishes between Israel as the nation with which the new covenant is made and Gentile Christians who receive the benefits of the new covenant through their relationship with Christ.

Barrick’s treatment reveals some standard weaknesses in dispensational treatments of the biblical covenants, which I do not think are endemic to dispensationalism. Dispensational treatments of the covenants usually focus on the covenants with Israel. For instance, both Pentecost’s Things to Come and Robert Saucy’s The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism begin with the Abrahamic covenant. Darrell Bock mentions the Noahic covenant in both Progressive Dispensationalism and in his contribution to Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture. But in his coverage in the former book is brief, and in the structure of the latter the Noahic covenant is marginalized. Further, the creation covenant is either ignored or, as in the case of Bock, denied.

However, it is important to recognize that the themes of blessing, seed, and land/kingdom all emerge from the creation covenant outlined in Genesis 1 and 2. Further, these elements which, Barrick fails to see in the Noahic covenant, are indeed there. Once the creation and Noahic covenants are given their place, the covenantal progress of Scripture becomes plain. Furthermore, there is less of a need for a complex relationship between the covenants and the dispensations. The dispensations are largely determined by the covenants. Barrick’s dispensation of innocence is the era of the unbroken creation covenant. His dispensation of conscience is the era of the broken creation covenant, an era in which the protoevangelium had been given but no new covenant yet cut. His dispensation of human government (an unfortunate label given that human government likely existed before the Flood) has its commencement at the cutting of the Noahic covenant. His correlation of the dispensation of promise with the Abrahamic covenant is an affirmation that that covenant created a dispensation, for the promise is that of the Abrahamic covenant. Likewise, with the dispensation of law, for the law in view is the Mosaic law. Finally, the cutting of the new covenant at the cross marks the beginning of the dispensation of grace. Because the new covenant is inaugurated now but only consummated later, a distinction can be made between the present era and the era of the new creation (of which I would understand the millennium to be the first stage). By relating dispensations to covenants, a rationale is provided for variation of some of God’s requirements for his people from age to age. Different covenants can have differing requirements.

If the reasoning of the previous paragraph holds, a further question is raised by the fact that the Mosaic covenant, priestly covenant, Deuteronomic covenant, and Davidic covenant are all correlated to the dispensation of law. I would argue that Barrick’s priestly covenant is subservient to the Mosaic covenant. Likewise, I would see the Deuteronomic covenant as a renewal of the Mosaic covenant.

The Davidic covenant is interesting in that I do not think it marks a distinct dispensation or age. Instead, it initially functioned under the Mosaic covenant and now continues in the age of the new covenant. Similarly, the Noahic covenant remains in force until the final judgment. Thus, while covenants mark off various eras in redemptive history, there is some complexity to how they do so.

I would also understand the new covenant’s relationship to the dispensations differently than Barrick. Barrick locates the new covenant in the dispensations of law, grace/church, mediatorial kingdom, and eternal kingdom. However, while the new covenant was announced in the Old Testament, it did not exist under the dispensation of law. The cutting of the new covenant at the cross marked the end of the Mosaic covenant with its law and the beginning of the new covenant era. For this reason, I do not see how the Mosaic law can be brought back into force during the millennial period. The new covenant, as Hebrews eloquently argues, is definitively displaced the Mosaic covenant.

Central Baptist Theological Seminary just published Dispensationalism Revisited: A Twenty-First Century Restatement. This book is a Festschrift for Charles Hauser, Jr. that is comprised of chapters by his former colleagues and students. The first three chapters focus on the classic sine qua nons of dispensationalism. This chapter by Kevin Bauder defends the distinction between Israel and the church as a sine qua non of dispensationalism. Bauder observes that the distinction between Israel and the church is “the most basic” of the sine qua non.

Bauder adapts a typology from Markus Barth to map the options of the relation of Israel and the church:

Some suppose that the church either replaces or continues Israel as the people of God. Others see a faithful remnant of believing Israel continuing within the church, which has now become the people of God. Still others draw a contrast between Israel and the church, resulting in distinct peoples of God. Some see an analogous relationship between Israel and the church within the one people of God (71).

Bauder begins to adjudicate between these views by probing what is meant by the phrase “people of God.” He notes that people can be “plural for person” with “people of God” meaning “the sum total of all saved individuals.” However, it is another usage of people that is in play in the discussion of the church and Israel: “people groups” (72).

A brief survey of biblical data reveals these people groups to be nations, in the sense of ethnic groups. A further survey of biblical data leads Bauder to conclude, “God’s plan did not focus exclusively upon calling and saving individual believers. It also included a role for nations” (75). Thus, “A people of God is a nation that worships Jehovah, the true and living God. They are a people of God because he is their God and they are his people” (78).

Israel was a people of God that God created to be his own. According to Bauder presence in the land was essential to being a people exiled Israel was “not my people” (Hos 1:9-11). Bauder also notes the significance of the marriage metaphor for indicating that Israel was the people of God, and he posits Israel’s entrance into the Sinai covenant as the time of their entering this marriage relationship. Though God’s judgment on Israel is depicted as a divorce, that is not the last word. Israel’s purpose as people of God is to mediate the knowledge of God to the nations. The goal is for there to be many peoples of God. This goal will be realized, but “there will always be something special about Israel” (83).

The church is also called the people of God. In addition, Bauder notes that “the church is often described by referencing Old Testament descriptions of Israel as a people of God (Rom 9:22-26; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9; cf. Exod 19:5-6; Hos 2:23)” (83). Bauder then observes that these facts surface two questions: “First, how can the church be called a people if a people is fundamentally an ethnic unit? Second, how is the church related to Israel, such that descriptions of the one can be applied to the other?

Bauder answers the first question by appealing to the union with Christ passages, concluding, “All the other peoples of God are (or will be) constituted as peoples by their solidarity with a biological ancestor. The church is a people, not because of its natural genealogy but by virtue of its spiritual union with Christ. This union is what constitutes it both as a people and as a people of God” (84).” It seems that Bauder is proposing that the church is the people of God between the comings of Christ, that Israel was the people of God before the church and will be again in the Millennium, and that the redeemed nations will be the peoples of God in the Millennium as well.

After laying out this model Bauder turns to Ephesians 2:11-22 and John 10 to answer the question, “how is the church related to other peoples of God?” (85). In reflecting on Ephesians 2:11-22, Bauder proposes that in the OT there were two basic ethnic groups: Jews and Gentiles, only one of which was the people of God. In the present age, there are three basic ethnic groups, Jews, Gentiles, and the church. He points out that 1 Peter 2:9 even calls the church a nation. In John 10 Bauder sees Israel as the fold in which there were two flocks, those who were truly his people and those who were not. Jesus leads those who are his out of the fold of Israel where he unites them in one flock with other sheep that are his which were not of the fold (Gentile believers). This one new flock is the church.

This is Bauder’s conclusion: “The church is a people of God. Because it is a people of God, it is like Israel in some respects, but it is also different. Israel was a visible nation with visible descent from a common ancestor. The church is a spiritual nation with invisible union created both by Spirit baptism and by following a common Shepherd. Israel and the church are both peoples of God, but they are not the same people. They are not even the same kind of people. The element that constitutes each as a nation is different” (88-89).

This leads Bauder to consider the relationship between Israel and the Church. He enumerates elements of continuity first. The saints in both the church and Israel are saved the same way, both pursue the same “life of faith,” (90), both are “branches from a common root (Rom 11:16-25)” (90), both are part of the “same household of God even though they are distinct peoples” (Heb 3:2, 5) (90), and “both belong to the category of ‘people of God'” (90). These continuities justify 1 Peter 2’s application of Exodus 19:5-6 and Hosea 2:23 to the church.

Bauder then considers whether identifying Christians as of the true, inner circumcision means that the church is the new Israel. He concludes in the negative, noting that a distinction between inner and outer circumcision persisted throughout the Old Testament. For the Jew, having the one did not negate the necessity of the other. The fact that Gentiles have inner circumcision does not mean, however, that they are Jews (who were distinguished by outer circumcision).

Evaluation

Bauder has written a careful essay that demonstrates the variety of biblical data that must be accounted for in developing a theology of the people of God. He handles this data well, and his position accounts for the range of the data.

However, I think there is one important theological concept missing from Bauder’s treatment of the people of God. At the same time that I read Bauder’s essay, I read Rod Decker’s article on the people of God in The Dictionary of Premillennial Theology. Decker, though also a traditional dispensationalist, synthesized the biblical data somewhat differently. Decker emphasized the importance of a covenant relationship for establishing a people of God relationship.

The first uses of your people or my people (with reference to Yhwh) occurs in Exodus 5:23 and 6:7. It then recurs throughout the narrative of the conflict with Pharoah, not least in the iconic phrase “Let my people go.” It is clear in these contexts that the term people refers to an ethnic group, and that group is is God’s people due to a covenant relation with God (the Abrahamic covenant at this point). In Exodus 19:5, in a statement of the Mosaic covenant, God says that if Israel kept that covenant they would be Yhwh’s “treasured possession among all the peoples,” which is to say that Israel would be God’s special people. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, Israel’s status as the people of God is rooted in the Mosaic covenant.

The New Testament data is more complicated. The angel told Joseph to name Mary’s Son Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). Though this could be read narrowly as saying that Jesus would save the Jews from their sins (cf. Mt. 2:4, 6), it would be better to understand people in this context to refer to all those whom Jesus saves. In Matthew God’s people expands to include the Gentiles (cf. Mt. 4:15-16). Further, those whom Jesus saves from their sins includes all the redeemed from all periods of history. This points to the people of God as a comprehensive category for the redeemed.

This comprehensive usage does not negate the numerous places in the Gospels where the people are the Jewish nation (e.g., Lk 2:32; 7:16). There are also historical reference to Israel as God’s people (Acts 7:34; 13:17).

In the New Testament, the church is the people of God as believing Jews and Gentiles now both share in the new covenant. I’m not sure that the application of the people imagery to the church requires the church to be conceived of as an ethnic group, as Bauder does. To be sure, on occasion the church is singled out from Jews and Gentiles as a third race, but at other times the church is conceived of as comprised of people of various ethnicities. Thus, I am willing to see the label of people as applied to the church as figurative. The church is not an ethnic group as Israel is, but it can be described as the people of God because it is in covenant with God as Israel was.

In Romans 9:25-26 Paul takes statements from Hosea 1 that referred to Israel and applied them to converted Gentiles. Hosea revealed that the Israel which violated the Mosaic covenant were now “not my people,” but he also promised, on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant that one day they would again be called “my people.” Paul can apply these words to the Gentiles because when Israel became “not my people” they became as the Gentiles. Further the Abrahamic covenant not only guaranteed the restoration of Israel as the people of God but also promised the salvation of Gentiles. Thus Romans 9:25-26 seems to envision Jews and Gentiles in the new covenant era as part of the same people of God. In Romans 11, however, Paul can still speak of Israel in particular as “his people” (Rom. 11:1-2; see also Rom. 15:10). However, some think that the olive tree in that chapter represents a unified people of God.

Similarly, In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 Paul applies passages that originally applied to Israel to the church at Corinth. Specifically, he applies the covenant formula, “I will be their God and they shall be my people.” This can be said of Gentiles in the church because they are included in the new covenant.

In Titus 2:14 Paul said that Christ “gave himself for us … to purify for himself a people for his own possession.” This would seem to refer to a unified people spanning both Testaments; all people comprised of all the redeemed.

In the book of Hebrews the concept of people of God is applied to Israel, to the church, and to all the redeemed throughout the ages. The author of Hebrews says, “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). In the immediate context, the people of Israel are in view, but the author is applying this teaching to all the redeemed: “let us therefore strive to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11). Thus, “people of God” here seems to stand for all the redeemed. There are a few additional places in Hebrews where “the people” seems to be used of all the redeemed (Heb. 2:17; 13:12). Hebrews 8:10 applies the new covenant promise, “they shall be my people” to the church. Likewise, quotation of Ps 50:4; 135:14 applies a “my people” that originally referred to Israel to contemporary believers.  Note, however, that there are places in Hebrews where people does specifically refer to Israel (Heb. 5:3; 7:11, 27; 9:7, 19). The use of “people of God” in Hebrews 11:25, the people Moses chose to mistreated among would in the first place be Israel, but in this context would most likely connote believers specifically.

In 1 Peter 2:9-10 language that was used of Israel is used of the church. The church is called “a chosen race,” “a holy nation,” and “a people for his own possession.” These are all ethnic terms applied to a body made up of many ethnicities. Thus verse 10 says, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” I don’t think that we need to find a way to make the church literally another ethnic group. Rather, I think that we should see terms that were ethnic terms when originally applied to Israel applied to the church metaphorically, with the emphasis being that the church is now the new covenant body of people possessed by God just as Israel was the old covenant people possessed by God.

In Revelation 5:9 there are many peoples that worship the Lamb, while in Revelation 18:4  God can refer to “my people” in the singular. Revelation 21:3 has a textual variant in the covenant formula with some manuscripts reading singular people and others reading plural peoples. On balance, the plural is more likely: “God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God” (CSB). Thus in this last statement of the covenant formula the plurality of the peoples of God is emphasized. And yet, this phrase is announced from heaven at the descent of the new Jerusalem to earth. This new Jerusalem has the names of the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed on its gates and the names of the twelve apostles inscribed on its foundations, which would point to the unity of the people of God in the Old and New Testaments.

Conclusion

I think Bauder has provided a plausible synthesis of the biblical data regarding the people of God: Old Testament Israel was a people of God, the church is a people of God due to its connection to Christ, and in the future there will be many peoples of God. He also acknowledges that people can be used of all the redeemed.

However, when the category of covenant is introduced, I think a slightly different synthesis of the data comes to the fore. A group becomes a people of God by entering into covenant with God. Thus Israel was identified as the people of God primarily by virtue of its covenant relationship with God. Further, Israel as the people of God included both the redeemed and the unredeemed since the Mosaic covenant included both the redeemed and unredeemed.

When used of Israel, the term people retains its full ethnic sense. It is a people or nation in covenant with God. The church, on the other hand, is the multi-ethnic new covenant people of God. I do not think that the theologian needs to find a way to conceive of the church as an ethnic group (as Bauder does by appealing to union with Christ). Rather, I think the terminology of people, used literally of Israel as a nation in covenant with God, is applied metaphorically to the church. While in one place the category of church is placed alongside the ethnic categories of Jew and Gentile (1 Cor. 10:32), in other places it is clear that neither Jews nor Gentiles in the church give up their ethnic identities by becoming part of the church.

In addition, passages like Deuteronomy 30 indicate that the truly redeemed of all ages are those who called out by faith to receive the internal circumcision and union with Christ that the new covenant promised. Thus, the core of people who experience regeneration in both Testaments form a unity that enables one to speak of a unified people of God even as one speaks of an Old Testament people of God and a New Testament people of God.

Finally, because of the covenant lens, I’m hesitant to follow Bauder’s three-stage people of God: Israel in the Old Testament, church at present, many peoples of God in the millennium and new creation. The new covenant remains the covenant in force into the millennium and beyond. However, there are occasions when the Bible speaks of various nations as peoples of God in the new creation (Isa. 19:25; Rev. 21:3).

My conclusion would be that the Bible uses the terminology people of God in various ways. It can be used of Israel under the Mosaic covenant. It can be used of the church as the new covenant people of God. It can be used of all the redeemed throughout the ages. And it can be used of nations in the new creation. Some of these senses are limited to stages in redemptive history. For instance, Israel is a people of God under the Mosaic covenant only while the Mosaic covenant is in force. The nations are peoples of God only in the new creation because in the new creation alone are all the people in those nations redeemed. But some of these senses span ages. The sense of all the redeemed throughout the ages, clearly spans the ages.

So is there one, two, or many peoples of God? The answer is “yes” depending on the sense in view. This is a different answer than I would have given before reading Bauder’s essay. I commend the essay for compelling readers to think through the issue of the people of God with greater precision and clarity.