Circumcision and baptism are therefore not parallel signs within one continuous covenantal structure. They belong to different covenants entirely, covenants with different characters, different peoples, and different appointed testimonies. The Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants both carried forward and progressively revealed the promise of redemption by farther steps, yet they remained distinct covenantal orders governed by their own particular stipulations and conditions. By contrast, the whole of the New Covenant, essentially being Christ Himself, is entirely accomplished, from first to last, by His perfect faithfulness—‘since it is enacted on better promises’ (Hebrews 8:6).
