I received my Fall 2004 Southwestern Journal of Theology issue this weekend. Strange that it is the Fall 2004 issue and is copyrighted 2006 and distributed this weekend. Oh well.
The first article is entitled Are Biblical Covenants Dissoluble?: Toward a Theology of Marriage. It is written by David W. Jones and John K. Tarwater of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. I thought it was a well written look at the topic of covenants in the Bible and how they might apply today.
While the authors spend most of their time discussiong biblical covenants, they also explain the intent at contributing to the church’s understanding of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. They spend most of the article examining the Hebrew concept of covenant. The word is studied (both the Hebrew and the Greek as covenant is used in the New Testament), the nature is examined, the manner of establishing covenants, and the violations imposed when there were broken.
The most important point I got from my reading of this article was that covenants in which God is a participant are not dissoluble. The authors list 267 uses of the Hebrew word covenant and 34 examples of the Greek words for covenant and not one that involved God as a participant were dissolved. The reason God as a participant is mentioned is that the Bible does include references to covenants between men that are dissolved.
So what does we say then about Holy Matrimony? A marriage as a covenant between man, woman, and God. We believe that it is a permanent union. We agree with the Bible going into the marriage. It always seems that we don’t agree as much when a marriage is terminated.
Which Scripture do we run to when the marriage runs into trouble? Is it Matthew 19 or 1 Corinthians 7? It is my prayer that God would help us all to glorify Him through the covenant of marriage.
(P.S. The picture is of the first wedding ceremony that I officiated)
Take Courage 
I took Marriage and Family with Dr. Jones last spring and heard his lectures pertaining to this topic. Overall, I was in agreement with 80% percent of His stance on covenants. Where did I differ? In the fact that not all the covenants that God was involved with are still in place. For example, the Mosaic Covenant, given and ratified on Sinai, was never deemed as “eternal,” as the other major covenants are. To state that the Mosaic covenant has not been dissolved or rather fulfilled, then one has to do a hermeneutical hopscotch over Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:17.
Dear Brother Sean,
I was going to make the same point Brother James made. One of the hallmarks of Dispensationalism is the belief that God’s covenants are never dissolved. But I believe, although I am really just a novice, that in classic Reformation theology, it is recognized that some covenants with God were broken by man, and are no longer in force. Certainly God never violates the terms of any covenant!
Please keep in mind that Dr. Patterson and Dr. Blaising are progressive dispensationalists. I do not know everything about their theological system, and I am sure there is much value in it. But some of the teachings, especially regarding covenants and dispensations, are very different from those of Calvin and other reformed thinkers.
Love in Christ,
Jeff