Part 0
Brakel, Israel and the covenants — a new series
An invitation to read Wilhelmus à Brakel himself and to investigate, step by step, what he actually taught about Israel, the church, the Torah and God's covenants.
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Brakel, Israel and the covenants
A step-by-step inquiry into what Wilhelmus à Brakel actually taught about Israel, the church, the Torah and the covenant of grace — in the order of his own work.
Part 1
Why Brakel is still relevant
Israel stands once again in the middle of public and church debate. That is just why it is worth examining how Wilhelmus à Brakel bound Israel, the church and God's covenants together.
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One covenant of grace, two administrations
Brakel begins his history of the church not with two peoples, but with one covenant of grace in different administrations.
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The covenant of grace begins, for Brakel, in paradise
After the fall, for Brakel, no plan B begins, but the revelation of God's promise of grace.
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Abraham: God's church receives a special bedding in one people
Brakel shifts from the general church before Abraham to Abraham and his seed as a particular historical bedding.
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Circumcision: seal of the covenant of grace
What does circumcision seal according to Brakel — descent, obedience, or the promise of grace?
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Horeb: no new covenant of salvation
Brakel calls the covenant at Horeb the same covenant of grace that had already been established with Abraham.
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Why Brakel rejects a separate external national covenant
Brakel opposes the idea that Sinai forms, alongside the covenant of grace, a separate national covenant of salvation.
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The law comes after the covenant: a rule for the confederates
Exodus 19 and 20 must, according to Brakel, be distinguished: first the covenant, then the law as a rule of life.
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Moral, ceremonial and civil laws within the covenant
Brakel orders the Sinaitic law-giving by function and places all three after Israel's entry into the covenant.
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Ceremonies: not punishment but evangelical blessing
Brakel reads Israel's ceremonial service as a privilege and as instruction in the coming Messiah.
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Christ: the same Surety in Old and New Testament
Brakel's unity of the covenant ultimately rests on the one Surety: Christ.
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The same Spirit, the same faith and the same justification
Old Testament believers did not, according to Brakel, live in a lesser kind of salvation.
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Old and new: a difference in degree, not in essence
Brakel acknowledges great differences between the two administrations, but refuses to make them into two kinds of salvation.
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One church out of Jews and Gentiles
The expansion to the nations means for Brakel no second church, but participation in the same goods of the covenant of grace.
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Has God cast away His people?
At Romans 11 Brakel refuses to close the question of Israel with a definitive rejection.
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The olive tree: the root carries us
Brakel's reading of Romans 11 is at once eschatology and a warning against Gentile pride.
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'All Israel': Brakel's expectation of a national conversion
What does Brakel mean — and not mean — when he speaks of the conversion of the whole Jewish nation?
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The prophets in Brakel's proof for Israel's conversion
After Romans 11 Brakel builds out his expectation further with Paul, Yeshua and the prophets.
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Return to the homeland: how literally does Brakel read the land-promise?
Brakel expects not only conversion, but also a future return to Canaan — with clear boundaries.
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What does Brakel ask of the church toward Israel?
The series ends where Brakel himself ends: not with schemes, but with covenant faithfulness, humility, love and prayer.
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