A common mistake made by Reformed pastors is to dismiss non-covenant theologies because it was not held from antiquity. But they're not serious, because they've forgotten the 14th and 15th centuries.
The primary marker for Proto-Covenant Theology is infant baptism. If your church baptizes infants, it's because your church believes it is a physical continuation of Israel, the heir of the promises made to Israel. This practice dates to at least 215 AD. Thus by the reports of at least some Early Church Fathers, including Iraneus, Origen, and Justin Martyr (155 AD), the Church generally believed itself to be the heir of the promises to Israel; one sign of that is that baptism replaced circumcision. Once the two ideas were linked, then infant baptism followed naturally.
In opposing Rome, Wyclif, Hus, and the Reformation began the long road of dismantling Christendom. This opposition came from Biblical literacy. Everyone should learn the Bible well enough to examine oneself with it. It didn't automatically solve problems; instead, it allowed reasoned, prayerful dialogue. It commands patience and humility.
But in denying the temporal authority of the Church, you begin to realize that replacement is nuanced. Then in reading the Bible on your own, you see that Paul's motif is not quite replacement, but actually fulfillment -- of the law's requirements by Christ, which Israel could never fulfill. Yet Paul wasn't really a replacement theologian, because he also believed in the idea of the remnant: that a believing remnant of Jews will become partakers of the New Covenant of Christ.
The primary marker for this theology is credo-baptism. And the way it's maintained is through biblical literacy.
No comments:
Post a Comment