Purpose

The purpose of this article is to present what New Covenant Theology is and then compare it with Progressive Covenantalism.

Introduction

This article is about clarifying the perspective called New Covenant Theology, and in this case we will begin with an AI Overview, to keep it simple. We will follow AI's suggestion of comparing NCT with Progressive Covenantalism. Then we will stop there. This AI Overview was created Aug 16, 2026.

Main Point

New Covenant Theology (NCT) is an evangelical Protestant framework proposing that Jesus Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament renders the entire Mosaic Law obsolete. Believers are governed solely by the "Law of Christ" rather than historical divisions like the Ten Commandments or traditional covenantal categories.

Core Tenets

• View of the Mosaic Law: Views the Law as an indivisible, unified block rather than splitting it into moral, civil, and ceremonial parts. The whole system expired at the cross.

• The Law of Christ: Replaces the old covenant rules with the explicit teachings and commands of Jesus and the New Testament writers.

• The Church: Asserts that the New Testament church distinctively began at Pentecost rather than extending back into Old Testament Israel.

• Baptism: Rejects infant baptism in favor of believer's (credo-) baptism, aligning generally with Baptist ecclesiology.

• Distinction from Covenant Theology: Rejects the classic Reformed framework of the covenants of works, grace, and redemption, seeing sharper discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments.

• Distinction from Dispensationalism: Rejects dispensationalism's strict future divisions for national Israel, instead emphasizing a unified progressive redemptive plan pointing directly to Christ.

Would you like to explore how New Covenant Theology compares to Progressive Covenantalism or dive deeper into its specific view of the Sabbath and moral law?

Progressive Covenantalism (PC) - championed by scholars like Stephen Wellum and Peter Gentry - is best understood as a refined, more academically structured offshoot or close cousin of New Covenant Theology (NCT). Both systems reject traditional Reformed Covenant Theology (which collapses the testaments under an overarching Covenant of Grace) and classic Dispensationalism (which isolates Israel from the church). However, they differ significantly in how they handle creation, the law, and theological categories.

Key Similarities

• Fulfillment in Christ: Both view Jesus Christ and the New Covenant as the absolute goal (telos) and climax of the entire Bible.

• Discontinuity of the Mosaic Law: Both agree that the old covenant Mosaic system is obsolete and not directly binding on Christians today.

• The Nature of the Church: Both reject infant baptism, arguing that the New Covenant community consists exclusively of regenerate (born-again) believers rather than a mixed national or genealogical entity like old covenant Israel.

Key Differences

The Adamic/Creation State
NCT: Often rejects or minimizes a formal "covenant of works" with Adam.
PC: Strongly affirms a creation/Adamic covenant requiring legal obedience.

The Adamic/Creation State
NCT: Often rejects or minimizes a formal "covenant of works" with Adam.
PC: Strongly affirms a creation/Adamic covenant requiring legal obedience.

Christ's Active Obedience
NCT: Some variants downplay or reject Christ's active obedience for justification.
PC: Explicitly affirms Christ's active obedience as necessary to fulfill the Adamic/creation demand.

View of the Ten Commandments
NCT: Tends to see the entire Decalogue as expired with the old covenant, replaced only by explicitly re-stated New Testament commands.
PC: Views the moral law/Decalogue as a reflection of God's permanent character that carries over foundationally into the New Covenant in Christ.

Systemic Label and Roots
NCT: Viewed as a distinct "grassroots" biblical movement emphasizing radical testamental shift.
PC: Viewed as a mediated "biblical-theological" hybrid that retains some Reformed structural terminology.

Would you like to examine how Progressive Covenantalism handles the specific question of the Sabbath and moral continuity, or look closer at its critique of classic Covenant Theology?

Summary

We have quietly appreciated and supported the emergence of New Covenant Theology (NCT) over the years. But we do not get too much into the movement or dig into the details of any of these theological perspectives. We don't want to emphasize the theological wrangling, but rather we support the theological perspectives that follow the plain reading of the Bible. For example, when we read Hebrews 8:13, "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. We support the theological perspective (NCT) that best fits the plain reading of scripture.