Johannes Cocceius

Life

Cocceius was born in Bremen, Germany. His birth name was Johannes Koch; following the scholarly custom of the time, he used the Latinized form Cocceius. After studying in Bremen and Hamburg, he continued his studies at the University of Franeker in the Netherlands. He excelled in the biblical languages, especially Hebrew, which he taught at Bremen and Franeker, and he later became professor of theology at Franeker. In 1650 he moved to the University of Leiden as professor of theology, and he died there in 1669.

Work and Contributions

His principal work is the Summa doctrinae de foedere et testamento Dei (Summary of the Doctrine of the Covenant and Testament of God), published in 1648. In it he presented the whole of Scripture as the historical unfolding of the covenant between God and humanity.

• Covenant of works and covenant of grace: He distinguished between the covenant made with Adam before the Fall (the covenant of works) and the covenant given through Christ after the Fall (the covenant of grace).
• Covenant of redemption: He refined the concept of an eternal compact between the Father and the Son concerning the salvation of humanity. Although earlier scholars had also mentioned this idea, Cocceius is known for having systematized it.
• Progressive abrogation: He held that the covenant of works was abrogated in successive stages, including the Fall, the proclamation of the covenant of grace, the death of Christ, and the resurrection of the body.

In contrast to the prevailing method of his day, which arranged doctrine topically, he sought to read the Old and New Testaments according to their historical sequence. For this reason, later scholars have sometimes regarded him as a forerunner of biblical theology (the discipline that studies Scripture according to the historical progression of revelation).

Influence on the Korean Church

Covenant theology receives significant attention in the theological education of Korean Presbyterian churches, which adopt the Westminster Confession of Faith as their doctrinal standard. However, because the Westminster Confession (1646) was written before Cocceius's major work, its covenantal thought cannot be regarded as derived from him. In Korea, Cocceius is introduced mainly through Reformed systematic theology and church history textbooks as a key figure in the development of covenant theology. He is also frequently mentioned when covenant theology is compared with dispensationalism, which reads Scripture by dividing it into distinct eras.

Assessment

Cocceius is viewed favorably for his emphasis on the biblical text and the flow of redemptive history. In his own time, however, he was highly controversial. A party led by the Utrecht theologian Gisbertus Voetius criticized his doctrine of progressive abrogation as undermining the continuing authority of the law. In particular, his view that the ceremonial aspect of the Sabbath commandment had been abolished in the New Testament era sparked a dispute over Sunday observance. As a result of this controversy, the "Cocceians" and the "Voetians" remained in long-standing opposition within the Dutch Reformed Church. He was also criticized for finding types of Christ and the church in too many places throughout the Old Testament. Scholars today remain divided over whether he departed from Reformed orthodoxy or merely placed different emphases within it.