What’s the Deal with Covenanting? A Very Short Primer By Rev. Benjamin Glaser

What’s the Deal with Covenanting? A Very Short Primer

By Rev. Benjamin Glaser

      Given the political changes we’ve seen over the past several months I have had some folks inquire with me, the token Covenanter in the ARP, about what this whole doctrine is, where do I see that in the Bible, and why does any of it matter other than as historical curiosity. In this short essay I cannot give a full weight and defense, but my hope is that whetting the whistle will get you thirsty enough to dive into William Symington, or even read some Covenanter sympathizers like Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, or my personal favorite (and whose image adorns my study wall at church) Alexander Moncrieff. 

     The ARP has a very rich history of political theology and we limit ourselves by not drinking deeply at this well. We do not ask enough questions, allowing the world too much leeway in instructing the people of God in how to think about partisan politics, defining for us what a "Christian nation" is instead of dictating to them what this means. We also have a tendency to not really spend any time asking if whether what we are defending has any relevance to what the Bible teaches. Both major national parties are far from meeting the standard set by Jethro to Moses in Exodus 18 and the truth is each group has sold their souls to the devil in their own unique ways. While it may be the case that one is less evil than the other, neither is interested in Christian ideals nor doing anything other than paying lip service with crossed fingers in regards to their call to obey God and His word; while the Northern Kingdom is Apostate, the Southern Kingdom is two-faced and full of dead men's bones. 

     What we need to do is to "come out from among them" and reassess how we are involved in our current government structures, and how we as the Church should be encouraging the civil authorities to remember their place in the Lord’s kingdom. We must take back our place as prophets, warning them in the fear of God about the dangers they face due to their ongoing rebellion against His rule. How is this accomplished? My answer is to go back to the old paths, engage in political dissent, and call for obedience to Christ the King. 

     To do that a reassessment of the Covenanter principles that the "R" in ARP stand for are worth a moment's time. 

Introduction

      To start off, what are we actually talking about here? 

Covenanting is the idea that the State is called to submit itself to Christ publicly. In other words, there is to be a covenant (an agreement between two parties) made by the civil government to Christ as the Mediatorial King that they will serve Him and ensure their dominion is ruled according to His design.

The most succinct way to think about this can be found in Samuel Simms catechism:

                “Does not the supreme headship of Christ over the nations lay the [civil rulers] under solemn  obligation to render due allegiance to the Prince of the kings of the earth?

                “Most certainly. Nations, being moral subjects of the Redeemer (Psalm 43:1; Isaiah 10:6; Ezek. 2:3), are bound to take His laws as the supreme standard of right and wrong (Deut. 4:5-8; 17:18-20; Josh. 1:8); to have respect to the moral and religious qualifications of those who occupy places of power and trust in the nation (Exod. 18:21; Deut. 1:13; Eccl. 10:16; 2 Sam. 23:3); to swear allegiance to Him; and to aim at His glory in all that they do – the ruler ruling in the fear of the Lord, & the ruled having a respect to Christ in their civil allegiance. (2 Sam. 23:3; Rom. 13:1-7).”

So what is the basic teaching? Well, let me take a cue from our Eastern Orthodox friends and engage in some apophatic theology and talk about what it is not.

Myth #1 – Covenanters don’t believe in two- kingdoms.

     A common misconception of the Covenanter position is that we are mixing roles, getting the church’s peanut butter into the state’s chocolate and vice versa, engaging in a one-kingdom Kuyperian transformative project. However, neither is the case. When properly in their positions they remain individual institutions, not messing with either the State’s authority to bear the sword (sorry Rome) nor the Church’s place to administer the sacraments (apologies to Canterbury). One of the key ways this distinction is maintained is by remembering that Christ is King and Mediator over both (Col. 1:16-17, Eph. 1:21-23, Rev. 15:3, Jer. 10:7) and that each are governed by His law, and are not a law unto themselves. There is a real separation of Church and State in Covenanter theology, but not like the 1^st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution thinks.

     A Church which dabbles in elected politics is as much operating outside its sphere as a State which is telling the Church whether or not it can meet for worship. What this means for the doctrine of the two kingdoms is that when you read the Scriptures, and understand natural law, which is itself a revelation of the moral law written on the hearts of men, you see that there are clear missions and purposes given to each entity that show them neither to mix nor to act as if they are wholly separate (apologies to the American revisions to the WCF). In the Old Testament this made clear by the consequences born upon Uzziah for his taking on the priest's role (2 Chron. 26:18). 

     The State is to be about the business of being a Foster Father/Nursing Mother to the Church (Isaiah 49:23, 60:16) and maintaining order (Rom. 13:1-7), whereas the Church is to be fulfilling the mission given to it by Christ (Matt. 28:16-20, 1 Cor. 4:1). The duty of the Magistrate is circa sacra, not in sacris, and the work of the Church is Gospel-focused. Sometimes this will include the Magistrate calling a Synod, and the Church calling the Magistrate to repentance. While all the above is consistent with the Establishment position what does this have to do with being a Covenanter? Well, for a Covenanter not only do you see Christ’s relationship to the State being as the Mediator and not as the Creator, you have the State openly declaring its exclusive allegiance, bowing the knee, to Jesus the King.

This is seen historically in the National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant.

Our Larger Catechism in Q. 191 lays this out beautifully:

Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, (which is, Thy kingdom come,) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

Likewise Chapter 23:3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (ARP Edition) that we subscribe to, while not being Covenanter per se agrees that the civil magistrate has responsibilities to the Church and must be found ruling according to the witness of the Bible or face the judgment of Christ:

The civil magistrate may not assume to himself administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; yet, as the gospel revelation lays indispensable obligations upon all classes of people who are favored with it, magistrates as such, are bound to execute their respective offices in a subserviency thereunto, administering government on Christian principles, and ruling in the fear of God, according to the directions of his word; as those who shall give an account to the Lord Jesus, whom God hath appointed to be the judge of the world. Hence, magistrates, as such, in a Christian country, are bound to promote the Christian religion, as the most valuable interest of their subjects, by all such means as are not inconsistent with civil rights; and do not imply an interference with the policy of the church, which is the free and independent kingdom of the Redeemer; nor an assumption of dominion over conscience.

 

Myth #2 – Covenanters are just Theonomists by another name.

     This objection is often rooted in, if I may say so, an ignorance of both what Theonomy is/was and what Covenanters understand about the role of the State and the basis of the laws they are called on to enforce. What is really behind the concern here is Theocracy. This is a scare word some use to suggest Jihad and Sharia Law. It should not be a term that puts fear into any Bible believing Christian, however. It stands to reason that if Jesus is King then the King gets to declare the law. Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 are not idle threats. So what are the central differences? Well, the main difference is that Theonomy does not believe either in the Establishment of the true religion or Covenanting as laid out above. Other differences include the enforcement of both tables of the law, nearly all Theonomists deny the magistrates responsibility to enforce the Sabbath command, as an example. Still another is the different understandings of the general equity of the law as found in Westminster Confession of Faith 19. There is much to benefit from the way Theonomists take seriously the law, but it cannot be said that Covenanters and Theonomy are two sides of the same coin.

Myth #3 – Covenanters are living in a dream world that will never exist on this side of Heaven.

     Well, this one is false primarily because it has existed in the past, and we are to walk by faith and not by sight. The Church is not to deal in defeatism. In dealing with this objection I want to shift gears a little bit and make a positive statement about how I would see Covenanting, not only social covenanting specifically, but Establishmentarianism in general (as noted before Covenanting and Establishment are not the same thing, though intimately related) come back into vogue. The Covenanter does not believe that the civil authorities will just magically wake up one day in 2022 and call for a National Covenant, that would be wonderful, but not likely. We also do not believe that this will come by force of arms. This will be accomplished by the patient teaching of these truths in the Church, then witnessing to the civil authorities of their responsibility before God and Christ, by the preaching of the gospel to the nation, and lastly through prayer. We are in a situation today where the people of faith need to reexamine their idolatry of partisan politics and take a step back and ask questions about what really matters, and then meditate on how are we going to accomplish these things using the means Jehovah has given to us. Continuing to seek answers and solutions in the wisdom of man will further result in setbacks and losses. We must press forward in truth for Christ and His Kingdom.

Conclusion

This was a very brief and limited time spent on such an important topic so I want to provide some resources for reading that will elucidate some of the points made here and help us understand why this stuff still matters to those interested in what Reformed people have in their arsenal historically for dealing with the insanity of contemporary political life. It is my informed opinion that a recapturing of a robust, and biblical, doctrine of the Church and State will help prepare us for the days ahead. Let me close with a quote from Thomas Houston, minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church: 

Your renowned fathers testified to the necessity of a Scriptural Magistracy as well as a faithful Ministry. We would walk in their footsteps. May their mantle descend upon us, and the Holy Spirit, who animated them in their struggles, and rendered them valiant for the truth upon them enable me to speak, and you to receive the word of instruction, so that our souls may be refreshed, Christ honoured, and God in all things glorified.

Further Reading:

https://purelypresbyterian.com/2015/07/17/confessional_two_kingdoms/

https://purelypresbyterian.com/2016/07/11/establishment-principle-1-what-it-is-what-it-isnt/

https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/christ-the-king-of-all/

https://archive.org/details/christianmagistr00hous

https://www.crownandcovenant.com/product_p/ds385.htm

https://purelypresbyterian.com/2015/06/07/8-differences-between-covenanters-and-reconstructionists/

Sermons

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=4100671240

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=95111347303

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=71220159234077

Ebenezer Erskine

https://archive.org/details/wholesorksofreve02ersk/page/518/mode/2up

Alexander Moncrieff

https://books.google.com/books?id=BNQLSNMuS2oC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false