Review of The Covenantal Gospel

By Brent Bradley
The Covenantal Gospel, by C. van der Waal (Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada:
Inheritance Publications, 1990)
Contra Mundum, No. 6, Winter 1993
Copyright 1993 Brent Bradley

An unchurched youngster once attended services where a message was preached on God's
judgment of Dathan and Abiram. The following week his friend invited him to attend
services again, but he refused, stating his fear of an unreasonable and angry God who
destroyed His enemies with such violence and finality. In an effort to persuade him, his
friend replied, Oh no, you have it all wrong. That was in the Old Testament. Now God
has become a Christian! The story is apocryphal in its details, but serious because many
evangelicals embrace a similar discontinuity between the New and Old Testaments.
The preaching of the gospel is placed at risk by those who fail to interpret the whole Bible
in terms of the unifying principle of God's covenant and pit the New Testament against
the Old. In The Covenantal Gospel Dr. C. van der Waal argues for the unity of the Bible,
stating that, This book will prove that the structure of the old and new covenant is the
same.
The doctrine of the covenant is woven into the very fabric of Scripture and it is difficult
to point to any one exhaustive and irrefutable proof text. Yet a careful reading of the
Bible reveals the underlying structure very clearly. If you were to view a detailed tapestry
you would not be aware of the backing through which the threads are woven by the artist
to portray the image, but that backing provides the necessary framework for the whole
picture. If you remove the backing, all you have left is a tangle of colored threads that
have no apparent relationship to each other. Thus when Christians neglect or reject the
backing of the covenant, they are unable properly to understand and apply God's word.
To prove that the old and new covenants are the same, Dr. van der Waal surveys the
Biblical record of the covenants made between men and identifies their common
elements. He then points out similar elements in extrabiblical covenants discovered
through archaeological research. Finally, he surveys the Old Testament record of God's
covenant with His people, noting the similarity of covenants within and without the
1

Biblical record. Dr. van der Waal is careful to insist that the doctrine of the covenant be
derived from Scripture, and not custom. Extra-biblical covenants may be helpful to our
understanding of the Bible, but do not dictate it. Archaeology, he insists, must remain
the handmaid of Biblical Interpretation, not its master. (p. 16)
Van der Waal's discussion of the basic elements of the covenant is excellent. Covenants
usually include a historical prologue, the conditions of the covenant, blessings promised
to covenant keepers, and threats to be executed upon the breach of those conditions.
These basic elements are found in the New Testament as well as the Old.
The Covenantal Gospel argues that the New Testament must be understood in light of its
covenantal structure. The Gospels provide the historical prologue which presents the
saving work of Christ as the gracious ground of God's demands in the covenant. The
epistles demonstrate the covenantal structure when they set forth doctrine before
addressing the demands that flow from Christ's work. A good example of this is Romans
12:1-2, where Paul summarizes the first 11 chapters of Romans as the mercies of God,
and then appeals to believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices to God. The
conditions of the covenant are seen in the admonitions given to believers which are to
govern the way they think and act. The blessings are held out in the promises of Christ for
this life and the one to come. The threats are published in the impending judgment on
unbelieving Israel and those who imitate Israel in her unbelief. (Matthew 23:37-38,
Romans 11:17-22)
The failure to believe the demands and threats of the covenant has produced the easy
believism that pervades the church today. The modern presentation of the Gospel
portrays Christ as a helpless salesman rather than as the King of kings and Lord of lords
demanding His crown rights from rebellious men and defining His salvation in terms of
obedience to the stipulations of the covenant. Noting that an easy going Christianity
and antinomianism has hurt both established churches and missions, van der Waal says,
To say that the new covenant knows no conditions, is to rob the gospel of its obligatory
character. (p. 103)
Of particular interest is van der Waal's treatment of the roots of modern dispensational
thought, which views the Bible in terms of discontinuity instead of unity. Marcion,
viewed by his contemporaries as the most dangerous enemy of Christian doctrine,
believed that, Jesus revealed a new God, who was totally different from the God of the
Old Testament. The latter was 'earthly' and stern, a vengeful God. But the God of the real
New Testament sent Jesus in a phantom body to reveal his love. He made the distinction
of law and gospel absolute and extended it to the relationship between the whole of the
Old and New Testament. Influenced by a revival of Gnostic thought, Ptolemy made the
dichotomy between Jesus and Moses more palatable by introducing an evolutionary
model of the development of Scripture. Later, the Anabaptists embraced a similar
approach to Scripture. Referring to the Institutes, (II, 10, 1), van der Waal paraphrases
Calvin's reference to the Anabaptists who regard the people of Israel in the time of the
Old Testament as nothing but a herd of swine, fattened by the Lord, without hope of
2

heavenly immortality. (p. 67) To this Calvin responds: The covenant made with our
forefathers differs in no way from that with us, neither in substance, nor in contents; so
much so, that the two are wholly identical. Because of its doctrine of the relationship
between the Old and New Testaments, van der Waal charges that dispensationalism is a
revival of old heresies. (p. 70)
There are also some weaknesses in The Covenantal Gospel. Van der Waal's style is short
and crisp, and sometimes leaves the reader dizzy with the speed at which he moves
through material. At times the brevity with which he treats a subject leaves the reader
anxious for a more lengthy explanation. One section of the book was not completed
before the author's death. This adds to the sense of incompleteness, though it by no means
negates the usefulness of the chapter or the book.
The author is not timid about taking on the historic creeds of Christendom when he
considers them to be in error, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) and
Larger (LC) and Shorter Catechisms (SC). WCF chapter VII, paragraph 2, states "The
first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to
Adam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience".
Having compared this statement with chapter XIX, 5 and 6, van der Waal states that the
confession teaches that obedience to the covenant with Adam would bring about
righteousness through works, and says that this notion must be rejected radically. (p.
54) Yet if you reject the proposition that Adam's obedience would have resulted in
righteousness through works, must you not also reject the proposition that the obedience
of Christ, the second Adam, secured the righteousness imputed to His covenant people?
Was Christ's work only passive in dying to atone for sin, or was it also active, in
providing a positive righteousness by fulfilling the covenant of works which Adam failed
to do? In addition, the Westminster divines would have insisted that any gift of life upon
condition of Adam's obedience must still be seen as an act of God's sovereign grace. Had
perfect obedience been rendered, Adam would still have been an unprofitable servant,
having only done what was expected of him.
In another place van der Waal rejects the concept of an innate knowledge of God's Law as
being humanistic. Particularly in a time when humanity is assumed to be the deciding
factor, it is necessary to reject the strange philosophy that Adam was created with God's
law instilled in his heart. Such an assertion promotes existentialist and mysticrevolutionary ways of thinking. For Adam too, faith came by hearing of the Word of
God. (p. 58) In an effort to curb the blatant rebellion of humanism, van der Waal seems
to throw the baby out with the bath water. It is true that men are prone to develop
existential and mystical ways of thinking. However the Bible teaches that men have an
innate knowledge of God and His will as a result of being created in God's image and the
constant message proclaimed by God's created world. Paul tells us that reprobate men
suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident
within them; for God made it evident to them. (Romans 1:18-19) Furthermore the
message of creation and the knowledge of God which men suppress make them to be
without excuse. (v. 20) Elsewhere we read, For when the Gentiles who do not have the
3

Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to
themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience
bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the
day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus
Christ. (Romans 2:14-16) It is true that the only infallible rule of faith and practice is the
word revealed in the Bible, but the Bible indicates that man cannot escape the demands of
God upon Him even though he may never hear God's word preached.
On another note, van der Waal interprets the struggle in Revelation as a conflict between
the church and the synagogue, not the church and Rome. (p. 125) He then insists that
there must be no link between the monsters of Revelation and modern political
oppression. Rather the emphasis must be on a necessary separation of the true church
from the counterfeit. If he means by this that the Book of Revelation should be
interpreted in terms of the issues that were facing the Church at the time of the writing of
Revelation, we may agree. However, if he means that there can be no appeal to God's
people to stand against false religion of statism that is so prevalent today, then he has
restricted the Church in her mission to disciple the nations.
Dr. van der Waal sees the effects of latent dispensationalism affecting the church in
hymns replacing the singing of Psalms. This is a threat to the covenant gospel, which
includes covenant vengeance along with covenant blessings. Anyone who discriminates
against the Psalms, in actual fact attacks God's kingship. He also attacks the gospel,
because the gospel is the gospel of the kingship of God, who will not be mocked. Even
those who do not hold to exclusive psalmody will agree that the church at large is
squeamish about and often embarrassed by the Psalms in general and the imprecatory
Psalms in particular. It is not man's place to sit in judgment on God's word, but God's
word must judge man. We deceive ourselves if we believe that God's vengeance is no
longer to be visited upon covenant breakers. (cf. pp.130-131)
Those who desire to grow in their understanding of God's revelation will find this book to
be a helpful tool. While not exhaustive in its treatment, Dr. van der Waal brings together
a number of themes in the Bible and shows their mutual relationship under the unifying
theme of the covenant. This book demonstrates the continuity of the covenant as it is
renewed and brought to its completion in Christ. There is to be no radical dichotomy
made between Old and New Testaments. The whole Bible is God's covenant gospel and
must be interpreted as such. Passages of God's word which appear difficult or obscure are
opened up, and the majesty of the gospel is seen with new clarity and understanding.