The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Fred Malone a dispensationalist?

I perceive some confusion here on your part:

1) Paedobaptists don't start with Abraham, in regard to the Covenant of Grace (CoG) but with Adam. (Gen 3:15)

2) The CoG was NOT made in eternity, but in time. The "Covenant of Redemption, aka: Covenant of Peace, was established in eternity between the Father and Son (Holy Spirit implied), which was the expression of God's eternal decree to save the elect. The Father predestinates, the Son agrees to atone for those predestined and to send forth the Holy Spirit to apply the benefits of that atonement upon those who the Father predestined. The CoG was the establishment of that eternal covenant with the elect in time, beginning with Adam and all the godly seed.

The hermeneutical issue is inextricably bound to one's Biblical Theology. Historic CT sees the CoG as progressive; beginning with Adam and continuing throughout all history until the last man is redeemed. Throughout that history, until the coming of Christ, God unfolded the specifics of that covenant in various ways, each emphasizing one or more aspects/facets of it and thus unveiling more and more of its "mystery". The "new covenant" simply brought about a fuller expression of that one CoG and with it came a fullness, albeit in part, of it's understanding. In its "old covenant" form, there were various elements which reflected upon the types and shadows of its essence. And likewise, in the "new covenant" form those elements reflect its greater fullness. For example, the looking forward to the shedding of blood was shown in the covenant sign of circumcision of the "old administration" of the covenant, in anticipation. And in the "new administration" of the covenant, its sign of baptism looks back upon what that shedding of blood accomplished from the aspect of completion.

The CoG has to do with the "spiritual seed", i.e., the elect of God. Too many Baptists conflate physical Israel with the seed, the same mistake, albeit not to the same degree, as did the Jews of Jesus' day. There has always been and always will be two lines that exist within the human race. But there is only one covenant of grace from which the promise of salvation was given and is applied to those whom God had eternally predestined to salvation.

In His Grace,