Does it make much difference whether a Christian believes in covenant theology or dispensational theology? Do these two systems of theology include major distinctions, or do only minor differences divide them?

Showers, formerly on the faculty of Philadelphia College of Bible and presently on the staff of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, demonstrates with clear, cogent arguments from Scripture that these two theological systems differ profoundly. They are distinct in the way God is viewed as fulfilling His ultimate purposes for history, in the way prophetic passages of the Scriptures are interpreted, in the nature of the biblical covenants, in the way God’s program for the nation of Israel is viewed, and in the nature of the kingdom, the beginning and nature of the church, and the means by which Christians are to lead godly lives.

After covenant theology and dispensational theology are defined (Showers presents evidence for seven dispensations), the biblical covenants are examined. These covenants—the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New—clearly point to dispensational theology. Of particular interest is Showers’s discussion of the Davidic Covenant, in which he gives six lines of evidence that David’s throne is earthly not heavenly. He also presents biblical support for the premillennial view that the Davidic Covenant will be fulfilled in the future, when Christ will reign over a literal, political kingdom for 1,000 years on the earth.

In three chapters Showers presents an excellent summary of the history of millennial views. He also points up major differences between the universal kingdom of God and the theocratic kingdom of God.

Another excellent feature of this book is Showers’s presentation of seven lines of evidence that the church began on the day of Pentecost and did not exist in Old Testament times, and seven lines of evidence that the church and Israel are not the same.

Showers also argues cogently that Christians are not under any part of the Mosaic Law, since it is an indivisible unit given to Israel as a rule of life, but Christians are under "grace as the new way of God’s administering His moral absolutes" (p. 195).

 This book review was originally published by Dallas Theological Seminary in the theological journal, "Biblio Theca Sacra" Vol. 149, No. 596, October-December 1992, and was used by permission. To order a book or for more information on Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, go to www.foigm.org.