BT26: Carefully think through the continuity-discontinuity issue, using the text, recommended readings, and your own resources to examine the question further. Write out a summary of your own position. Your position will probably be tentative at this point, open to modification as new information becomes available.

In the history of salvation and how God has dealt with humanity, several theories have been developed to address the continuity versus discontinuity issue. Two of the most popular are dispensationalism and covenant theology. Dispensationalism says that God has dealt with humanity in different ways, at different times throughout history. Each dispensation has been marked by a type of test that humans fail, and then, that dispensation is followed by a new dispensation. Dispensationalists tend to favor discontinuity and say that only church-related Scriptures apply to present-day Christians. By contrast, covenant theology says that there are two basic covenants, the covenant of law and the covenant of grace, and that the latter covenant has been in effect since the fall of Adam and Eve. With covenant theology, salvation by grace has been true of all humans, and the multiple covenants in the Bible are considered to be sub-covenants within the greater covenant of grace.

The view which seems most consistent with biblical teaching is covenant theology. However, dispensationalism also has some points which must be incorporated. Galatians 3:9 says that Abraham was a man of faith. Hebrews 11:1-40 talks about many Old Testament saints that lived by faith. Habakkuk 2:4 and Galatians 3:11 both say that the just shall live by faith, so salvation by grace through faith is taught throughout the Scriptures. But from a dispensationalist point of view, the Bible also identifies at least seven dispenations. They are the dispensations of innocence, conscience, human government, promise, the law, grace, and the new kingdom, and each one has a covenant associated with it. The seven covenants, respectively, are the Edenic, the Adamic, the Noahic, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the covenant of Grace, and the new kingdom covenant. With covenant theology, the conditions of each covenant are additive rather than independent, and that satisfies the continuity position over the discontinuity position.

Tom of Bethany