John 17 and the Covenant of Redemption

How can detailed discussions about Trinitarian processions and missions move you to greater love of God and understanding of scripture? In this episode of Credo podcast, Dr. Harrison Perkins, author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction, joins Matthew Barrett for an in-depth discussion of classical theology in John 17.

Perkins outlines this passage as a key place to understand how the Trinity – before the creation of the world –  covenants for the sake of our redemption. By examining Christ’s high priestly prayer, Perkins argues we can understand key theological concepts such as the common will of the triune God, the economy of salvation, and the obedience creatures owe God. Perkins and Barrett jointly point to the scholastic approach as that which does not generate spiritual dryness but facilitates an encounter with the Triune God that manifests his internal glory by loving us into salvation.

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Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast) is pastor at Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), online faculty in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and the author of Catholicity and the Covenant of Works: James Ussher and the Reformed Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Matthew Barrett is the editor-in-chief of Credo Magazine, director of the Center for Classical Theology, and Research Professor of Theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary, and the author of several books, including Simply Trinity, which won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in Theology/Ethics. His new book is called The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He is currently writing a Systematic Theology with Baker Academic.

Image Credit: Altug Karakoc | Flickr