Covenant is from the Hebrew [ ber-eeth] meaning to cut, and by extension means a promise or pledge to do something. Covenant Theology is the Reformed belief that the old Covenant (or Testament) and New Covenant promises made by God to His people, are particular aspects of a single Covenant relationship, and that there is continuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. As opposed to "New Covenant Theology" which believes that the New Covenant law of Christ stands in contrast to the Old Covenant law of Moses. [ back

A system of theology that sees only one people of God, the true Israel, which is now the Church, since national Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

The theological system developed by Reformed theologians taking the covenant as its overarching theme. Distinctives of covenant theology include: Christ's judicial (substitutionary) atonement, the imputation of Adam's sin to all of his posterity, salvation exclusively by grace through faith, the abiding authority of the law, and infant baptism.