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Foundations of Covenant Theology:
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What’s Foundations of Covenant Theology About?
In 2019, Lane Tipton gave a series of lectures for a Reformed Forum seminar on covenant theology. Tipton’s now turned these lectures into “a brief and non-technical” book, suitable for private use or as a supplement to a Sunday School class, building on the work of Geerhardus Vos and Meredith G. Kline.
I really don’t like it when I don’t provide my own summary/synopsis, but after a few attempts, I’m bailing. Primarily because my attempts ended up 2-3 times long as what’s on the back of the book/Reformed Forum’s website. So…why bother reinventing the wheel, if I’m just going to make it bloated and cumbersome?
Drawing from Genesis 1:1 and subsequent biblical revelation, Lane Tipton argues that before creating the visible world, the immutable triune God created a heavenly temple dwelling, filled that heavenly dwelling with the unchanging glory of his Spirit, and sanctified that heavenly dwelling as the realm of everlasting Sabbath rest.
Adam, as the created image of God and federal head of his posterity, could have advanced through perfect covenantal obedience beyond probation on the mountain of God in earthly Eden into the heavenly dwelling of God in Sabbath rest. This God-centered and heaven-focused theological backdrop enriches our understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, as the second and last Adam in the covenant of grace, who in his humiliation and exaltation has opened the gates of heavenly paradise for his church.
Vocabulary and a Glossary
This is a non-technical book as Tipton says in the preface. But at a glance, you’d be tempted to think otherwise. Tipton has a very precise and erudite vocabulary, and it’s in full view here. Where some writers will (unintentionally) obfuscate with their language, Tipton’s doesn’t do that at all. I find his style and word choice to helpful—once you get used to it (and it doesn’t take long), you don’t even notice that it’s not your run-of-the-mill non-technical language.
There are concepts and phrases he uses throughout that he wants to highlight, and they’re included in a Glossary at the end of the book. There were a few he used in the text that I’d have liked a bit more detail on, but it’s clear that he uses the Glossary to focus on the vital concepts to his argument. I wish more people would do things like that.
So, what did I think about Foundations of Covenant Theology?
I’ve lost track of the books/chapters I’ve read that serve as an introduction to Covenant Theology in the last couple of decades. Yet I keep reading them (and, largely, enjoy and profit from them). This is a different way of covering these concepts and it’s a very effective one.
It’s also a different way of looking at Genesis 1-3. Almost every time I’ve seen these chapters explained and exegeted, it had to do with the doctrine of Creation, the Fall and the Promise of the Seed in Genesis 3, and so on. But Tipton’s approach—while addressing all that—focuses on the Big Picture, looking at the purposes behind Creation, the protoevangelium, the Covenants of Work and Grace, and how those are worked out in history (particularly in the last two chapters about Christ as the Promised Seed and the Second Adam).
Would I have liked this book to be longer and these brief chapters to be expanded—making this still non-technical, just not brief. If this had taken me a few hours to read rather than just an afternoon, I’d have been happier. But…this was a fascinating book, a helpful read, and I know I’ll profit from meditating on and returning to these concepts. You really should try this one yourself, you’ll be rewarded for it.
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