Overview
What is 1689 Federalism?
A clear introduction to the covenant theology of the 1689 Baptist Confession—what it teaches, why it matters, and how it fits together.
Confessionally grounded
Flows from the 1689 Baptist Confession, especially Chapter 7 on God's covenant.
One way of salvation
Grace through faith in Christ—from Adam to Abraham to you.
Distinct covenants
Old Testament covenants are real and distinct—not mere administrations of one covenant.
In short
1689 Federalism is a way of reading the Bible's covenants—especially the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament—through the lens of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
At its core, it teaches that God's saving covenant (the covenant of grace) is formally established in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David were real, distinct covenants that served God's redemptive plan, but they were not the covenant of grace itself.
This is not a rejection of the Old Testament. It is a way of honoring what each covenant actually is, how they fit together, and why the New Covenant in Christ is the fulfillment of everything that came before.
Where the name comes from
"Federalism" comes from the Latin word foedus, meaning covenant. In theology, "federal" language describes how God relates to humanity through covenants—formal arrangements with promises, conditions, and representatives.
"1689" refers to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, published in 1689. This confession is the doctrinal standard for many Reformed Baptist churches today. 1689 Federalism is the covenant theology that flows most naturally from that confession—particularly Chapter 7, "Of God's Covenant."
The position is held by Reformed Baptists who want to be confessionally faithful while taking seriously both the unity of Scripture and the real differences between Old and New Testament covenants.
Two foundational covenants
Before diving into Old Testament history, 1689 Federalism starts with two overarching covenants that frame the whole Bible:
- The covenant of works was made with Adam in innocence. Life was promised on the condition of perfect obedience. Adam broke this covenant, and all humanity fell under sin and death in him.
- The covenant of grace is God's free offer of salvation to sinners through Jesus Christ. It rests on Christ's obedience and death, not ours. Sinners receive its blessings by faith—and even that faith is a gift of God's grace.
Every person is in Adam or in Christ
This is the simplest summary of the whole system: you are either under condemnation in Adam, or under grace in Christ. There is no third category.
Adam was the representative head of humanity in the covenant of works. When he sinned, we sinned in him and inherited the consequences. Christ is the second Adam—the representative head of all who trust Him. His obedience and death count for His people, and they receive His righteousness by faith.
The covenant of grace is how God saves sinners out of Adam's fallen family and brings them into Christ's redeemed family.
What makes 1689 Federalism distinct
Many Reformed Christians agree on the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Where 1689 Federalism differs is in how it understands the Old Testament covenants in relation to the covenant of grace.
Paedobaptist covenant theology (common in Presbyterian churches) often teaches that the covenant of grace is one covenant administered in two eras: the Old Testament administration (with circumcision as its sign) and the New Testament administration (with baptism as its sign). On this view, the Abrahamic covenant is essentially the covenant of grace, and infant baptism replaces circumcision.
1689 Federalism rejects that framework. It teaches that the Old Testament covenants were distinct covenants—not different "administrations" of the same covenant of grace. They were not identical to the New Covenant, though they pointed forward to it.
The Noahic covenant (Genesis 9) preserved the world and common grace after the flood.
The Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12, 15, 17) promised land, seed, and blessing—and included typological elements like circumcision tied to the physical seed.
The Mosaic covenant (Exodus–Deuteronomy) was a national covenant for Israel at Sinai, giving the law and governing the theocratic nation.
The Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7) promised an enduring royal line and kingdom.
How were Old Testament believers saved?
A common question follows: if the covenant of grace is the New Covenant, how were people saved before Christ came?
The answer is that they were saved the same way we are—by grace through faith in Christ. The difference is timing and clarity, not method.
God revealed the gospel progressively. The promise of the seed who would crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15) was the first glimmer. That promise was expanded through Abraham, pictured in the sacrifices, proclaimed by the prophets, and finally fulfilled in Christ.
Old Testament saints looked forward to a coming Redeemer in faith. New Testament saints look back to the Redeemer who has come. In both cases, salvation is by the covenant of grace—Christ's work applied to sinners who believe. The Old Testament covenants revealed and prepared for that work, but the covenant of grace itself is formally established in Christ's New Covenant (Jeremiah 31; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8–9).
The New Covenant is the covenant of grace
Jeremiah 31:31–34 is central to 1689 Federalism. God promises a "new covenant" that is "not like" the covenant made with Israel at Sinai. In this covenant, God writes His law on hearts, forgives sins, and knows His people personally.
The book of Hebrews quotes this passage and declares that Christ is the mediator of this new and better covenant, founded on better promises. The old covenant at Sinai is called obsolete because the new has come.
This is why 1689 Federalism locates the formal establishment of the covenant of grace in the New Covenant. The substance was always Christ, but the covenant of grace as a distinct, saving arrangement is enacted in Him.
Why this leads to believer's baptism
Covenant theology and baptism are connected. Who receives the covenant sign depends on who belongs to the covenant.
If the Abrahamic covenant is the covenant of grace and includes the children of believers by birth, then the covenant sign (circumcision, and by extension baptism) belongs to infants in believing households.
1689 Federalism reaches a different conclusion. Because the New Covenant is the covenant of grace, and because Jeremiah 31 describes its members as those who know the Lord—regenerated, forgiven, and taught by God—its sign belongs to those who profess faith in Christ.
This is credobaptism: baptism for believers only. It is not a rejection of children, but a recognition that the New Covenant is entered by spiritual regeneration, not physical descent. The New Testament pattern is belief, then baptism (Acts 2:38; 8:12; 10:44–48).
What 1689 Federalism is not
Because it emphasizes distinctions between Old Testament covenants, 1689 Federalism is sometimes misunderstood. Clarifying what it is not helps prevent confusion.
- ✕It is not dispensationalism. Dispensationalism divides Scripture into sharply separated eras with different ways of salvation. 1689 Federalism affirms one way of salvation throughout history: grace through faith in Christ.
- ✕It is not anti–Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Word of God, profitable for teaching and fully part of the Christian canon. The differences between covenants are theological distinctions, not a ranking of Scripture's importance.
- ✕It is not novel. The 1689 Confession's covenant theology was held by the Particular Baptists who wrote it, and it stands in continuity with earlier Baptist confessions (1644, 1651) and Reformed theology more broadly.
- ✕It is not a monolith. Reformed Baptists who hold to 1689 Federalism may differ on secondary questions—such as how the Mosaic covenant relates to the covenant of works—but agree on the core framework.
Why it matters
Covenant theology is not an abstract exercise. It shapes how we read the Bible, understand the church, practice baptism and the Lord's Supper, and relate the Old Testament to the Christian life.
1689 Federalism offers a coherent account of Scripture's storyline: creation, fall, promise, law, kings, exile, Christ, church, and consummation—all held together by God's covenant faithfulness.
For Reformed Baptists, it provides a framework that is confessionally grounded, exegetically serious, and pastorally useful. It helps believers see Christ throughout the Old Testament without flattening the real progress from shadow to substance.