Covenant Theology is the apex of calvinistic theology. You cannot have a view of Calvinism that excludes a covenantal understanding of redemptive history. But what is a covenant? The most helpful definition of covenant theology comes from the uniqueness of Trinitarian relationship. Van Til himself acknowledged this relationship when he wrote:
The three persons of the Trinity have exhaustively personal relationship with one another. And the idea of exhaustive personal relationship is the idea of the covenant.[1]
Hence, a covenant is a relationship; man cannot escape his covenantal existence. God has structured human history on the basis of His own intra-trinitarian relationship.[2]
[1] Karlberg, p. 105. Quotation come from an article by Van Til on “Covenant Theology” in The New Twentieth Century Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.
[2] Thanks to Ralph Smith for his excellent insights.
