WHY EDWARDS DID NOT UNDERSTAND THOMAS BOSTON: A COMPARISON OF THEIR VIEWS ON THE COVENANTS

Abstract

In a letter to a friend Jonathan Edwards remarked that he did not understand the covenant scheme of Thomas Boston (1676-1732). When examining Edwards’ views it appears that he initially shared Boston’s view, but later changed his view. After 1733 Edwards changed from a two-covenant scheme to a three-covenant scheme in which the covenant of grace was distinguished from the covenant of redemption. This means that Edwards’ lack of understanding has to be understood not in the literal sense—that he did not technically comprehend Boston—but in a theological sense. Edwards’ theological development of the covenants of God reveals a real difference with Thomas Boston. This difference can be traced through Edwards’ increasing focus on the historic unfolding of the covenant of redemption, which made him critical towards the absence of the historic aspect in Boston’s covenant view. In short, the development in Edwards’ view leads us to focus on both the relationship and the distinction between the eternal covenant of redemption between God the Father and God the Son on the one hand, and on the application of God’s eternal covenant in redemptive history as the functioning of the covenant of grace on the other hand.