A Few Notes on the Antioch Declaration, Dispensationalism & Covenant Theology

I just want to jot down a few notes on the Antioch Declaration. Now that the dust is settling, my intent is not to kick up more dust. I hope to say a few things that will help move this conversation forward on this matter in the coming years.

Why I signed the Antioch Declaration

I signed the Antioch Declaration. No apologies. I have seen a stir around the internet that involves real Jew-hatred and real Nazi sympathies. It is possible that this is run by all FBI bots and trolls or foreign operatives who want to shift our sympathies from Ukraine to Russia, or some other conspiracy. Regardless, there are men on the right falling for this crap. This would not be the first time in history that young men were moved to anti-semitic sympathies. Thankfully, this is not much of an issue in Grande Prairie.

Nevertheless, many in Grande Prairie, AB are fully aware of this issue.

I fully hate anti-semitism and any other sort of inter-ethnic malice and vainglory. Jesus is Lord and He has come to liberate the nations from their sins and to find freedom from sin and new life in Him. He also has come to liberate the Jewish people (including Ashkenazi Jews) from their sins, to find new life in Him, by faith in the Promise.

Why I am Sympathetic to Some who Didn’t Sign the Declaration

Some did not sign the declaration, not because they hate Jews and think that the Jews deserve to die or think that Hitler was a Christian Prince, but because the statement said too much. It’s true. The statement needs work. It could be whittled down. It’s hard to turn historical rumination into theological dogma as much as pastors should be warning people to “live not by lies” whether historical or current. As pastors, we must wise in our kingly office, not foolish. For that we need a bucketload of Proverbs.

In the whirlwind of controversy, I think it is important to recognize that in signing the statement, there were a number of things that I did not sign onto. I posted this initially on Substack and X as a number of antagonistic messages hit my inbox:

In signing the Antioch Declaration I didn't say:

(1) That people must support the modern nation-state of Israel;

(2) I didn't sign on to Zionism or dispensationalism;

(3) That Churchill was a good guy;

Seems reasonable.

On Not Getting Bitten in a Dogfight:

Oh, of course, we should not forget that the reason so many were infuriated was because of the online pastoral battle that took place between Joel Webbon and Tobias Riemenschneider. I’m sure you can find all the links online. I’ll refrain from posting them. I’ll also refrain from picking a side. They have both responded and they have both made their blunders.

First and foremost, by bringing a private pastoral issue into the public sphere. Second, by not having a presbyterial system by which to adjudicate that conflict. So a plague on all their houses.

Reactions and Over-Reactions:

One thing that Moscow ID and Ezra Institute and Apologia seems to have discussed far to little in this controversy is the issue of dispensationalism. If you are looking to study up on covenant theology as opposed to dispensationalism, I would encourage you to read Christ of the Covenants by O Palmer Robertson and watch Late Great Planet Church.

But we should not be unaware of the role that dispensationalism is playing in this controversy. You may have prudential reasons for supporting the nation-state of Israel in the Middle East. But if all of a sudden someone is an anti-semite for being a non interventionist and not wanting to get involved in foreign wars, then there is a problem.

To be clear, neither I, nor my dad, nor my granddad were or are dispensationalists. We have generations of covenant theology in the theological DNA. I also know that during WWII my great-grandparents were part of the Resistance in the Netherlands to the Nazi Reich. Many of their countrymen went a very different direction.

One major factor that we are dealing with in this mess is a lot of people moving from dispensational theology to covenant theology. Aren’t times of reformation always uniquely messy?

Dispensational theology attributes an ongoing importance to the nation-state of Israel and the Jewish people as an ethnic group. In variations of dispensationalism and pre-millenialism, there is a hope that one day Jesus will come down from heaven and will be seated in the earthly city of Jerusalem to rule from there. Some brands of dispensational and premillenial theology even say that He will reinstitute the Old Testament sacrificial system for the Temple.

Much of modern day covenantal theology argues that the Church is the New Israel, that Jesus is ruling now from the heavenly Jerusalem, that the sacrificial system of the Old Testament is finished, and that He will come again to the judge the living and the dead. The Old Testament ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ, in His sacrificial death and resurrection. No longer is the reign of Christ limited to a swathe of land in the Middle East (although it includes it), but Jesus is ruling from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth (Psalm 72).

When the modern day dispensationalist hears this, that can be shocking and even startling. A lot of hope is placed in the nation-state of Israel as the perceived fullfillment of Old Testament prophecy. So when people hear those “reformers” saying that it has no importance they think that this immediately implies that somehow those “reformers” are anti-semitic or pro-Palestinian. Frankly, I pray for the church in both Palestine and Israel.

Iran appears to be on its way to being the next Christian nation. Maybe the nation-state of Israel will join Iran as the next Christian nation and Israel and Iran together will re-evangelize the woke Left and the woke Right in North America.

I imagine that it is possible in fleeing dispensationalism, to overleap the mark and to become antisemitic. Maybe as an overreaction to dispensationalism.

If you are that man running from the incoherence and inconsistencies of dispensationalism, I want to stop you before you go to far. I am convinced that covenantal theology is a coherent system to work with, is deeply Biblical in nature, and will keep men from a descent into ethnic hatred & malice.

It is here that pastors must be wise kings and not foolish ones. We must distinguish historical confusion from theological confusion and recognize sin as sin. Sin must not be coddled. There is enough cuddling going on between men in our era.

Covenantal theology and true antisemitism are opposed to one another. They are at diametrical odds. They are locked in combat. After all, we want to win the ethnic Jews to faith in Christ. Paul in Romans 9:3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

Ethno-Nationalism and Blood & Soil Nationalism

It appears that the rise Ethno-Nationalism and Blood & Soil Nationalism plays a role in all of this confusion.

Frankly, I don’t need to go to Christian Nationalism for a philosophical framework like this. I can go to any pagan religion to learn about this.

But you can see how such an identity based vision for a nation, would lead to identity politics surrounding Israel and the Jewish ethnicity.

Savior of the Nations, Come

It’s advent season in Christendom and there is all kinds of types and shadows of the glory of His universal & eternal reign throughout the Old Testament.

Ruth the Moabitess is brought into the people of God when she rejects her demon gods and embraces the true God of heaven and earth. We see this with Tamar. We see this when Jonah brings the gospel to Nineveh.

In the New Testament, the gospel is sent from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Paul speaks of the Jerusalem above which is free & she is our mother (Gal. 4:26). Paul recognizes that all those who are baptized into Jesus Christ are the true Jews, children of Abraham (Gal. 3:29). We are children of the promise (Gal. 4:28).

It is into this hope of the promise that the Christian Church invites Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, atheist. But only through faith in the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

We are no longer waiting. He has come. Nevertheless, advent season, is a great season to acknowledge the necessity of the incarnation and exclusivity of our Lord Jesus Chrsit in the midst of the nations. May the glory of His reign know no end.

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Photo by David Travis on Unsplash