by Stephen Forister
Authors: Tom Wells and Fred Zaspel
Introduction
For some three decades, since the 1970’s, the interpretive approach to Scripture now known as New Covenant Theology (hereafter NCT) has gained recognition through a grass-roots effort by a handful of individuals who have published articles, spoken at conferences, written books, and otherwise labored tirelessly to promote this refreshingly biblical hermeneutic. NCT has been an energetic and diversified front, but its writings have lacked cohesiveness. It is far from monolithic.
As the movement gained momentum, it became apparent that there was a need for a solid reference that would serve as stable groundwork upon which others could build, a central repository of the universally acknowledged, non-negotiable tenets that are singularly NCT in nature. Such a work should contain the key theological constructs of the system as well as exegesis of the pivotal texts pertaining to its understanding and application of law and gospel. Dispensationalists can turn to their Scofield Reference Bible or to Ryrie; Covenant theologians can appeal to their Westminster Confession of Faith, to Calvin, or perhaps Turretin. But where does the student of NCT turn to for guidance? Where could the inquisitive go for an authoritative view of its teachings?
It seemed to be the hope of Tom Wells and Fred G. Zaspel to produce such a volume in their 2002 work entitled New Covenant Theology: Description, Definition, Defense. Incorporating both previously published articles and new material, and being endorsed by such modern-day luminaries as D.A. Carson, Tom Nettles, and Douglas Moo (who wrote the foreword), this book promised to be a significant contribution to NCT. There are fifteen chapters in this book; seven of those were written by Zaspel. The first five of which will be the focus of this review.
Chapter 2: A Brief History of Divine Revelation
Following a convincing first chapter by Wells introducing the appeal of NCT, Zaspel delivers his previously published historical survey of special revelation. It is immediately clear that Zaspel is a lucid and accessible communicator, as well as an able expositor. He does a fine job taking the reader on a journey, as it were, through the chronicle of God’s revelation to mankind – from His general revelation in creation, to His Old Testament special revelation through the Law and the Prophets, to the very Person of Jesus Christ, who “is the supreme revelation of the Father... [and] is God’s final, climactic self-disclosure.” 1
It is at this point, and in the paragraphs that follow, where true momentum begins to build. For it is here that Zaspel introduces the idea that God’s special revelation continued to be progressive in nature. It is not flattened as some might have it; rather, Jesus Himself indicated there was more to come, in the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Here Zaspel states, perhaps contradictorily, that “the Holy Spirit is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus… the climax of our Lord’s work.” 2 It is in this deutero-climax of special revelation that we find the heightened sense of progression. For as Zaspel persuasively argues, the words in John 14-16 pertaining to the Holy Spirit’s ministry apply principally to the apostles, and then through the apostles to all believers. The apostles were given “a very real power of attorney” 3 to convey the finality, the pinnacle, of divine revelation.
The impact of this thesis is enormous for the believer today. If Christ is the apex of the Father’s self-disclosure, and Christ pointed to the Holy Spirit’s ministry through the apostles and their writings, then we must view the New Testament books as the final authority for interpreting the rest of Scripture. The New Testament interprets the Old, never the other way around.
1 Wells, Tom, and Zaspel, Fred G. New Covenant Theology: Description, Definition, Defense. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media, 2002, p. 34.
2 Ibid, p. 36. Emphasis mine.
3 Ibid, p. 37.