Dual Covenant Theology

Heresy: n 1: any opinions or doctrines at variance with the official or orthodox position [syn: unorthodoxy, heterodoxy] [ant: orthodoxy] 2: a belief that rejects the orthodox tenets of a religion

Because of their enthusiastic support for the Jews' biblical right to the Land of Israel some Christian organizations are willing to compromise the New Testament teachings that salvation is obtained through Jesus Christ alone. In order to show the Jewish people that they harbor no hidden agenda through this support, they state that not only will they not proselytize Jews to the Christian faith but that Jews do not have to accept Jesus as their Messiah in order to be saved. Such a teaching is not only contrary to the clear teachings of Jesus and His apostles but it is the most heretical doctrine in Christianity because it strikes at the reason God sent His Son to earth in the first place. This teaching is known as the Two or Dual Covenant doctrine. The Dual Covenant theological position states that the Jews have a covenantal relationship with God through the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants and therefore do not need to accept the New Covenant or Testament made through Jesus Christ.

The Abrahamic Covenant

A covenant is an agreement or contract between two parties. In the Old Testament God made several agreements between humans and Himself and also between the Jews and Himself. The first major covenant that God made with the Jews is called the Abrahamic Covenant because He made it with Abraham on behalf of his Jewish descendants. The Scriptural basis for this covenant is found in the Book of Genesis.

• Genesis 12:1-3 - Now the LORD had said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

• Genesis 17:1-11 - And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you."

This covenant had several aspects to it. One is that the land of Israel would belong to the Jews forever. Another is that God would make the seed or descendants of Abraham multiply exceedingly and that kings would arise out of his lineage. The most important aspect of this covenant was that all the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham. God states that this covenant is to be an everlasting covenant. Therefore, are the Jews still under this covenant and not required to accept the New Covenant made through Jesus Christ? The answer is found within the covenant itself. All nations of the earth were to be blessed through Abraham and his descendants. This is a clear prophetic reference to the Messiah. Thus, from a New Testament perspective, when the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah they also rejected the salvation part (i.e. "I will be their God" as in a saving relationship) of this covenant and are no longer under its covering.

The Mosaic Covenant

The Mosaic Covenant is an agreement that God made with the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai through His servant Moses. The foundation of this covenant is found in the Book of Exodus.

• Exodus 19:1-8 - In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD."

The next several chapters of Exodus go into detail as to the nature of this covenant. Note that God said "if you obey my voice and keep my covenant" then the Jews would have a special relationship with God. The problem is that the Jews didn't obey God's commandments and so were never able to fulfill their end of this agreement. However, at least one expositor on the Mosaic Covenant maintains that this agreement was based upon God's grace and not works or strict justice alone: John Piper - God's Covenant Through Moses. Accordingly, even though the Jews had broken this covenant they were still under God's saving grace. This is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament as the apostle Paul makes adamantly clear in his letter to the Christians in Galatia.

• Galatians 2:-21 - We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Paul is emphatic that justification before God comes not through faith in the Law that God gave to Moses but through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The concluding statement in this passage is unequivocal in its meaning: "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." To say that God's grace allows for righteousness through the Law is to say that Jesus Christ's death meant absolutely nothing. Thus, the New Testament declares that the Mosaic Covenant no longer has any efficacy as far as the Jews or anyone else is concerned in the salvation of humanity.

Dual Covenant Theology

According to Dual Covenant theology, these two covenants are still in effect as far as the Jews are concerned. Therefore, they have no need to accept the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ as atonement for their sins and the resulting salvation from God's judgment of sin. Jews maintain a saving relationship with God through these covenants and Gentiles maintain a saving relationship with God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The primary scriptural basis for this doctrine is found in the Book of Romans.

• Romans 11:1-2a - I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.

• Romans 11:25-32 - For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

If God has not cast off the Jews then they must still be under the Old Testament covenants that He made with them. The problem with using these verses to justify the Dual Covenant position is that they are taken out of context. In the entire passage of Romans 11:1-32 the apostle Paul makes clear that the Jews have been removed from God's covenant blessing concerning salvation for the time being but that one day He will restore the Jews to His saving grace when they are no longer in unbelief concerning the Messiahship of Jesus Christ.

• Romans 11:10-24 - Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

Paul states clearly that the Jews were the original branch of the Tree of Salvation but that they were broken off because they did not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah that God sent to them. As a result of this unbelief, God allowed the Gentiles to be grafted in to the Tree of Salvation. However, Paul makes it clear in the entire passage in Romans 11 that this unbelieving national blindness will last "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" and then "all Israel shall be saved".

The New Testament could not be more clear in its rejection of the tenets of Dual Covenant Theology. The only way to be saved is through Jesus Christ and Him alone.

• John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

• Acts 4:8-12 - Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

• Matthew 15:24 - But [Jesus] answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

The passages are too numerous to list that express the same truth as these verses state: There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ and no other. Jesus Himself and the apostle Peter stated these truths yet proponents of Dual Covenant theology contradict them with their own statements. Also note that in the third passage Jesus refers to the Jews as the lost sheep of the house of Israel. If they were saved under the Old Testament covenants then Jesus would not have referred to them as lost. The heresy of the Dual Covenant doctrine is evidenced by the fact that some Jews may go to hell because some Christians mislead them into thinking they are secure in their salvation without accepting the atoning sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.