Baptist covenant theology, also known as 1689 Federalism or Baptist federalism, is a Baptist conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It sees the theological concept of a covenant as an organizing principle for Christian theology. The standard form of covenant theology views the history of God's dealings with mankind, from Creation to Fall to Redemption to Consummation, under the framework of three overarching theological covenants: those of redemption, of works, and of grace.
Covenentalists call these three covenants "theological" because, though not explicitly presented as such in the Bible, they are thought of as theologically implicit, describing and summarizing a wealth of scriptural data. Historical Reformed systems of thought treat classical covenant theology not merely as a point of doctrine or as a central dogma, but as the structure by which the biblical text organizes itself. The most well known form of covenant theology is associated with Presbyterians (paedobaptists) and comes from the Westminster Confession of Faith. Baptist covenant theology (credobaptist) is distinct from Westminsterian covenant theology, and finds its most influential expression in the Second London Confession of Faith of 1689.
