From the Author’s Preface
This book is a re-working and expansion of a part of Volume 6 of my Evangelical Dogmatic Series, which is published in Dutch by Medema, Heerenveen [the Netherlands] and comprises a total of twelve volumes. Part of it was already introduced in the first volume of the present series, The Eternal Torah, and the second volume, The Eternal Covenant, and is expanded here. This present volume marks the midpoint of the series.
My intention was, and is, to offer an Evangelical analysis of three subjects that traditionally have played a great role in Reformational—especially Reformed—thinking: the law,the covenant, and justification.
I have written the present volume with essentially two purposes in mind. On the one hand, I wanted to emphasize the importance of justification by faith in both the Old and the New Testament. On the other hand, I wished to point out that Reformed theologians have often emphasized the notion of justification too unilaterally—there is more than justification—or have beset it with misunderstandings, especially the “imputation” doctrine.
Bible quotations in this book are usually from the English Standard Version. When other translations are used, this is indicated. I have taken the liberty to sometimes substitute “Torah” for “law,” or “Messiah” for “Christ.” Unless otherwise noted, quotations from the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards are from Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, 4 vols., ed. James T. Dennison Jr. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008–14).
About the Series
The set to which this volume belongs is informally entitled “The Eternal Series,” because each volume of the set unfolds an aspect of the reality of God’s relationship with humanity that reaches from eternity past to eternity future. The formal title of the series is “An Evangelical Introduction to Reformational Theology.” Here are the volume titles:
Part I: Scripture: The Revealed Source For Theology
Part II: God: The Personal Source Behind Theology
Part III: Redemption: The Christ-Centered Heart of Theology
Part IV: Consummation: The Lived Shape of Theology
These volumes have been written for the informed Christian who is somewhat familiar with both the Bible and Christian theology. As you will learn in these volumes, that order-first Bible and then theology-is crucially important. So too is the distinction (but not the separation!) between these two: the Bible is not theology, and theology is not the Bible. Both following that order and honoring that distinction are prerequisites for healthy, charitable, and enduring Christianity.
Dr. Willem J. Ouweneel is a Dutch author whose three doctorates-one each in biology, philosophy, and theology-rank him among the premier Bible scholars of this generation, and equip him with breadth of vision and depth of insight.
When these volumes are read alongside an open Bible, the patient reader will acknowledge the authority of the claims being defended. The reader’s certitude will ultimately come to rest, not in any particular theological system or model, but in the inspired, infallible Word of God, and more importantly, in the God of that Word. As such, this entire series and these volumes are fresh and faithful reformulations of the essence of biblical faith and life as that was transmitted throughout the centuries, was rediscovered in the Reformation, and has come to be known as Reformational theology: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus, soli Deo gloria.