 |
GIRS syllabus index: Survey Studies in Reformed Theology Unit Index: Objective Soteriology |
|---|
God's Covenant With Man
by Pastor Bob Burridge ©1998
Westminster Confession of Faith VII
Chapter VII. Of God's Covenant with Man
I. The distance between God and the creature is go great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant.II. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
III. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein He freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.
IV. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the Testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.
V. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the Gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the Old Testament.
VI. Under the Gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.
The Covenant Concept
The term "covenant" is based upon the Hebrew word berit. Clearly the word has to do with some type of "bond" or "relationship" established formally between persons. The question is, "what kind of bond or relationship does berit signify?"
Dr. O. Palmer Robertson, in his book The Christ of the Covenants, reviews historical material from ancient times to illustrate that the bond expressed by this word is one that is established by one party, which is Sovereign over the other party, and that the bond is formalized by the shedding of blood representing the curse of death for parties breaking the covenant. In summary of his extensive thoughts on this issue, Dr. Robertson defines a covenant as, "a bond in blood sovereignly administered."
Some continue to use a very inadequate definition of a covenant. It is often represented as just an agreement between two or more persons. But as the term was used in ancient times, times contemporary with Moses, the element of sovereign administration is always present. The "covenant", (berit), was imposed upon conquered subjects by the absolute authority and power of a conquering king. [For a detailed study see G. Mendenhall Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East (1955), Meredith Kline Treaty of the Great King (1962), and J. Robert Vannoy Covenant Renewal At Gilgal (1976). ]
Moses used the term berit to describe the bond God established with his people. This is a term that in his day was applied to the Hittite suzerainty treaties where a conquering King could simply have destroyed a people, but instead chose to subjugate them according to certain terms. Attached to that treaty were promises by both parties and stipulations. The penalty for violation of the treaty was death.
The classic pattern of those treaties is the same form we find used in God's revealing of his promise of redemption by grace in the biblical documents. The ancient treaties included the following elements:
PREAMBLE: which declared the lordship and sovereign power of the conquering suzerain (king).HISTORIC PROLOGUE: which recorded the past acts of benevolence and mercy of the king. It established that he could have destroyed those conquered, but instead, he made them his people.
STIPULATIONS: which demanded loyalty and obedience to specific laws for the people subjugated.
LEGAL COPIES: which were to be deposited where all parties of the covenant could read them. Duplicates were often made for the King and the people.
WITNESSES: who were called upon to confirm the oath.
CURSES AND BLESSINGS: which were pronounced as consequences which were to be imposed upon the parties depending upon their covenant faithfulness.
The biblical covenants were made by Jehovah, by grace, to a fallen, undeserving, race. Adam stood as the covenant head representing all his posterity. In him we are all fallen and therefore are deserving of God's wrath. God, as Sovereign king, was under no obligation to preserve any of the human race. Yet, by grace, he promised to make some to be his people, and that he would be their God.
Aside from being totally sovereign in their imposition, the Hittite Treaties were sealed with the blood of sacrificed or dismembered animals. A ratification ceremony was held where a symbolic dismemberment and shedding of blood took place representing a pledge of death by whoever would break the treaty.
Biblical covenants were also sealed with the shedding of representative blood.
Hebrews 9:22 "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
In Genesis 15 God sealed the covenant he made with Abram following the usual suzerain treaty form.
:4-8 ...... the promise of Yahveh
:9-11 ..... preparation for the covenant ceremony
:12-16 .... promises of the covenant
:17-21 .... the covenant ceremony and pledge
The same form is seen in what took place after God gave his law to Moses:
Exodus 24:7-8 "then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, 'all that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!' So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, 'Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.'"
In the time of Israel's rebellion, Jeremiah appeals to this same covenant form as Israel is confronted with her disobedience:
Jeremiah 34:18-20 "and I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -- the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf -- and I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth."
The nature of the suzerain covenant is seen reflected in Moses outline of the covenant book of Deuteronomy:
Preamble 1:1 - 1:5
Historical Prologue 1:6 - 4:49
Stipulations 5:1 - 26:19
Conditions stated: God's moral lawCopy of the Covenant given to both parties.Sanctions: Covenant Ratification 27:1 - 30:20
Place in Ark of the Covenant (10:4-5) Where God and His people met.Ratification Ceremony 27:1 - 27:26Succession (Administration) 31:1 - 34:12
Blessings 28:1 - 28:14
Cursings 28:15 - 28:68
Warnings & Promises 29:1 - 30:10
Witnesses Called 30:11 - 30:20
In Adam we all became covenant breakers and therefore deserve the curse of the Covenant.
Romans 5:12-21
:12 sin entered by "one man" and death by sin
:14 death reigned from Adam...even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's sin
:15 by the transgression of one, the many died
:16 judgment arose from one transgression yielding condemnation
:17 by the transgression of one, death reigned through the one
:18 through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all
:19 Through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners.1 Corinthians 15:12-28
:21 by a man came death...
:22 as in Adam all died...
God, as sovereign king, would be justified in destroying all of the human race. But instead he revealed his mercy in taking upon himself the curse demanded by our disobedience.
Galatians 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"
A covenant requires the shedding of the blood representing the death of one of the parties of the broken covenant. Humanity was the party that broke the covenant being "in Adam." All human blood deserved to be shed. One of the two parties in the bond made in blood had to pay. If all humans are not to suffer, then the only one who could legally qualify to pay the penalty is the other covenanting party. Jesus died as if he was the offending party. Yet He was the offended.
2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
This was done that the blessings of God might come upon us. Since it was a bond in blood, administered sovereignly and brought unmerited favor upon its recipients, it is properly called a "Covenant of Grace."
Not a Testament
In the New Testament the word diathaekae is commonly used to translate the Hebrew word for "covenant". It has been translated "testament" in keeping with the later Greek use of that term. Biblical law required a specific disposition of a person's possessions to his family upon his death. But Greek culture adopted the idea that a last will and testament could be drawn up to govern a person's estate. In such an agreement the death of the person making the will activates its provisions. On the other hand, death in an ancient covenant was judicial and penal and was directed against the one who violated the provisions.
When Greek translations were made of the Hebrew Scriptures the word diathaekae was used for berit as the closest equivalent in the language. Since the term had been well established among Jews to represent the bond God made with Abraham, Noah and David, it was a logical term to use in the New Testament Scriptures for "covenant".
Therefore we should see that the employment of the Greek word should not force its later legal use upon the original sense Moses intended thousands of years before. Instead we should see diathaekae as being used in a technical sense defined for its readers by the context of their Jewish background and heritage.
Sadly many have imposed the idea of "a last will and testament" upon the Biblical concept of covenant. This does not hold up when examined. There are some similarities between a covenant and a testament. Both involve death and are a legally binding formal agreement. But the differences show that the biblical references to the agreement which God makes with man is not well represented by the concept of "testament."
Death is represented symbolically when a covenant is inaugurated. It represents what will happen to the parties that break the stipulations of the bond. With a testament, death is not a result of breaking the agreement and there is no inaugural symbolic death representing the curse.
While we see the concept of "inheritance" applied to our benefits in Christ, his death is best represented not as the death of the maker of a last will and testament, but as the sovereign party in a covenant. We are called joint heirs with Christ. The inheritance parallels the concept of covenant succession. The promised Messiah took upon himself the death due to the violator of the bond sealed in blood. By this substitutionary death the demands of the covenant are satisfied judicially and the blessings promised in the covenant may be granted to the subjects of the relationship.
The Eternal Counsel of God
There appears to be an eternal plan in the mind of God to create mankind, to permit him to fall into sin and to provide for redemption. The Father was to send the Second Person of the Trinity to redeem a people for himself and the Holy Spirit was to apply that redemption effectually to all the Father had given to the Son. This decree certainly involves all three members of the Godhead.
When a more broad definition of covenant is used, taking it as an agreement between two or more persons, some have seen this decree involving the members of the Trinity as a covenant. It is often called the "Covenant of Redemption" (See Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol II pages 359-362).
When we take the more historic use of the word berit, the idea is less attractive. There is no absolutely sovereign administration of one member of the Trinity over the others. The idea that the bond could be made with a blood threat attached, or with the hypothetical possibility of one of the members of the Godhead violating the agreement, is meaningless.
Therefore many do not feel it is justified to call this counsel of redemption a "covenant." To be sure the existence of such an eternal decree is well established in Scripture. But it is no where referred to as a covenant. They would rather call this eternal concurrence of the persons of the Trinity the "Counsel of Redemption."
The Covenant of Works
The classic theological use of the term "Covenant" is summarized by Charles Hodge in his Systematic Theology,
" ... a promise suspended upon a condition and attached to disobedience a certain penalty." (II page 117)
This definition does not include all that we now know is implied in the historical meaning of the term berit. But this classic expression is not contrary to anything we now know about how the word was used in the era of Moses. The theological idea is drawn from Scripture itself showing what a powerful tool we have in the use of context even when our knowledge of language may be lacking.
Reformed theology is primarily federal in that it recognizes the headship of Adam with relationship to the human race as its legal representative before God. The general commandments given to Adam, together with the promised blessings and threatened punishments, are seen as also being made with the whole human race federally. Adam's sin brought sin and death upon us all (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). God also gave certain duties to Adam, and established the idea of marriage and labor which continue to be applied to the human race after the fall.
A promise was made with Adam. It was suspended upon a condition. And attached to it was a penalty for disobedience. This has led to the conclusion that the term "covenant" could be responsibly used to describe this relationship. The term "covenant" is not directly used to describe this bond between God and unfallen man. But there is indirect evidence that justifies the use of the word.
Hosea speaks of Israel saying, "like Adam, they have transgressed the covenant" (Hosea 6:7). This shows that Adam's sin was like that nation's in that it was a transgression of a covenant. The same word (berit) is used here.
God also uses the term berit to describe day and night as being established covenantally as blessings at creation.
Jeremiah 33:20 "Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant for the day, and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, ..."
We can also see that the concept of Sovereign administration is present in Eden. God the Creator imposed his promise and the conditions upon mankind sovereignly. Since the covenant included the death of the covenant breaker as its penalty, it is also included the element of the shedding of blood. Therefore the use of the term "covenant" is justified from the historic use of the word as well as from its theological use within the context of the rest of Scripture. It was clearly a "bond in blood sovereignly administered."
Historically this covenant has been called a Covenant of Works due to the condition of personal obedience placed upon Adam if he was to receive the blessing of the covenant. Since no partial disobedience was permitted the Westminster Confession adds that God demanded perfect and personal obedience.
Man's duties under this covenant are far more broad than the one prohibition regarding the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Creation ordinances are explicitly stated in Genesis regarding man's obligations before the fall.
Man was to work in the garden to maintain it and act in God's place as representative master over all things (Genesis 1:28). He was to exercise that dominion within the bounds of six work days separated by a day of rest (Genesis 2:3, Mark 2:27, Exodus 20:8-11). He was to cleave to his wife and be one flesh with her producing offspring to fill the earth (Genesis 1:28, 2:23-24).
There is a problem though with the term "Covenant of Works." Some, hearing this term, wrongly presume that the value of works is limited to the time prior to the fall of man and that grace was not operative in God's dealings with man in Eden. This is certainly not what the terms were intended to mean. What made this first bond a "Covenant of Works" was not that the goodness of obedient deeds was unique to that period. But that the condition of obedience was upon man himself and his own actions in contrast with the post-fall relationship where men have fellowship with God on the grounds of the obedience of another, Jesus the Messiah. Here again the federal headship principle is seen as Jesus stood to represent all of his people in his suffering, death and victory.
Meredith Kline in By Oath Consigned suggests we use the term Covenant of Creation to describe this first bond between God and man. The idea being that God entered into this bond with man at his creation in distinction from the later bond which God takes up to redeem mankind after the fall.
O. Palmer Robertson adopts this term Covenant of Creation. He shows that the particulars of the bond of God with Adam at creation include all the key elements of a covenant:
God promised to provide a universe declaring His glory
God demanded devotion to him as Sovereign Lord
God organized his creation by revealing moral laws which included the sabbath principle, a work ethic, an authority structure for family
God threatened death if the covenant was broken
God promised continuing fellowship with him while it is kept
Original Sin (see also WCF VI)
In Adam's violation of the Covenant of Works all mankind became alienated from God by federal representation. As the old New England primer expressed it, "In Adam's fall, we sinned all."
The principle of federal headship is not uncommon. This is the relationship where one person stands as representative of a specified group of persons. The representative acts on behalf of the people, binding them to the decisions or acts of that one person. We see this same relationship when parents act for their children, when owners of businesses conclude agreements effecting all their employees, and when heads of state commit their citizens to war or conclude treaties.
This principle, built into human relationships by the Creator, is seen in Adam's moral representation of all those who descend from him. God's word directly teaches that sin, together with its consequences, passed upon all of the human race by Adam's sin.
Romans 5:12 "... through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned"1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die ..."
This concept is summarized in the Westminster Shorter Catechism in the answer to question #16:
"The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression."
There are two elements included in original sin according to the reformed view: the guilt of Adam's sin, and the pollution of Adam's sin.
Our inherited guilt is spoken of in two senses. It usually means that we bear the penal consequences before the justice of God. There is another sense in which we are permanently guilty of sin: we will always be creatures who have offended God, even after atonement and justification through Christ (reatus culpae). It is not the reality of sin that Jesus removed on the cross, but the judicial consequences. This guilt (reatus poenae) has been truly satisfied by the substitution of the Messiah in place of his people.
The pollution of Adam's sin is that corruption of the human soul that results from the fall. This is not merely a loss of original righteousness as Augustine asserted in the earliest formulations of this doctrine. Calvin pointed out that it must include the positive disposition toward evil.
The Reformed and Lutheran view is that guilt itself is present in all of Adam's posterity. Since death passed upon all men as a penal result of Adam's sin we are all directly held justly worthy of eternal separation from God on that ground alone. This is called "immediate imputation."
It is necessary for those denying the reformed view to reject the idea that guilt is transmitted to Adam's posterity. They would limit this imputation only to the pollution of sin. For them it is our own depravity which condemns us not inherited guilt. This view is called "mediate imputation." This is the view of Amyraut and LaPlace at Saumur, and was condemned as heresy by the Reformed churches and the Lutheran churches (Helvetic Consensus of 1675, Synod of France 1645). This view has been widely adopted in recent times among the dispensational churches which generally follow the Amyrauldian constructions.
The results of Original Sin are seen in man's total depravity and moral inability. Man is depraved in every aspect of his being. This does not mean that his depravity is never restrained God's sovereign power. But it does mean that the effects and distortions of sin extend to every part of man's being. Fallen man, is not able to understand God's truth in a manner corresponding with that which honors the Creator. He can not do anything morally good. Even the good that is performed in him by the restraining power of God is perverted in his understanding for purposes other than the glory of the Creator. In his representing his deeds as coming from man's own ability aside from Christ he actually offends God by his charities and works.
Scripture abundantly supports the idea of man's total inability and depravity
Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one." (see Psalms 14 and 53)Psalm 130:3 If Thou, LORD, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
Ecclesiastes 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who {continually}does good and who never sins.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Ephesians 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone {as} slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Romans 8:6-8 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able {to do so}; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Mark 7:21-23 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting {and} wickedness, {as well as} deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride {and} foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father."
Central to this issue is the concept of imputation. Adam's guilt was imputed to his posterity in a similar way as the manner in which Jesus Christ's righteousness is imputed to his people by grace, and their sin is imputed to their Savior.
The word impute means primarily to attribute to. The Theological sense of the word reflects the more judicial sense it has in Scripture.
Charles Hodge defines it,
"to impute is to attribute anything to a person or persons, upon adequate grounds, as the judicial or meritorious reason of reward or punishment." (Systematic Theology. vol 2, pg 194)
The concept of federal headship as presented in Scripture indicates that the guilt of Adam and the Righteousness of Christ are imputed to those who themselves have not done the deeds either good or bad, but who are represented by their respective heads. Similarly our sin is imputed to Christ who knew no sin yet bore the just penalty for our sin.
From this corrupt nature all actual sins of the human race issue. They are the actual sins of the individual acting as the agent of and efficient cause of the sin.
Because we inherit a corrupted nature from Adam, we choose to sin. Real guilt results from each sin. These transgressions also produce spiritual, temporal and eternal agony and misery in the individual.
The Covenant of Grace
Due to the fall of the human race together with its offense and guilt, God is under no obligation to award favor or blessing to any. Rather, eternal and perfect justice demands that the full price of the offense be paid. Any further dealings of God with mankind, other than the execution of eternal judgment, would be entirely sovereign and by grace alone.
There must also be a provision for satisfaction of the demands of justice. Since justice is one of the revealed attributes of God's nature it cannot be set aside or violated. This is not an external limitation imposed upon God but arises from the demands of his own nature (see notes on Theology Proper chapter 2 - particularly the section on God's independence).
If the redemptive relationship of God with any of the human race is purely sovereign and requires that the death penalty be carried out against offenders (the shedding of blood) then this relationship may rightly be termed a covenant.
Since this covenant is not personally meritorious in that fallen individuals are not able to do anything that would stand as good before the judgment seat of the Holy Creator, this covenant may rightly be called a Covenant of Grace.
The term Covenant of Grace ought not be construed to mean that grace played no part in the first sovereign imposition of blessing upon mankind at its inception. Nor should it be seen as excluding the importance of the creatures works. The difference is that the pre-redemptive covenant was to be kept personally while the only hope of blessing in the post-redemptive covenant is found in the obedience of an infinite substitute which is of moral necessity both God and man. This mandates the incarnation of the Son of God (see article by David McWilliams - 1994 - Did Jesus Have To Die? Westminster Theological Journal and the Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies web site by release from the author). Some have attempted to improve the designation of this post-redemptive relationship by calling it a Covenant of Redemption.
The ideas of federal headship and imputation come to their fullness in the concept of redemption through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. He stood as the federal head of the elect given to him by the Father. In his infinitely worthy death he paid the infinite debt of justice on behalf of those he intended to redeem from all eternity. He is rightly called the "last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45).
Each represented his people federally. Adam represented the entire race that would descend from him. Jesus represented all the elect. Each fully acted on behalf of those he represented and his merits were imputed to them.
Historically there are differing views about which humans are included in the Covenant of Grace. Some would view the covenant as being made with all humans since all are held responsible for the stipulations of the covenant and all are to be encouraged to come to the Savior on the grounds of the gospel promise. Those who trust sincerely in the gospel will be saved. The faith we urge the world to have in Christ must neither be seen, nor presented, as personally meritorious of any blessing from God. An individual's faith is more evidentiary than causative of his regeneration and is more instrumental than efficaciously causative of his justification. God implants true faith on the grounds of the merits of Christ only. All those in whom it is implanted will irresistibly, but personally and truly, come in repentance and trust. But that outward call of the gospel is sincerely extended to all fallen humans regardless of their place in the church or eternal election.
Some see the Covenant of Grace as being made only with the visible church. Only they are to receive the sign of the covenant which in this era is baptism and in the old circumcision. There are covenant promises attached to the duties and work of the people as a church. Those who qualify are protected within the care network of the church. Those who reveal a rebellious spirit against the covenant and its Lord are to be excommunicated from the covenant community implying their former inclusion. Membership in the covenant community is not co-extensive with the class of people who are regenerated.
Some see the Covenant of Grace only extended to the elect of God. It is only for them that Jesus Christ served as Federal Head and promises to continue to minister as Savior and Lord. The curse of the covenant is effectively paid for all those represented in Christ and therefore the blessings of the covenant may come upon all those chosen before the foundation of the world by the good pleasure of God alone.
These various configurations are not a weakness of the covenant model, nor do they represent any conflicting notions. We must remember that all revealed truth is analogical: That is, it agrees with, corresponds with, but is not completely identical with, what is in the perfect mind of God. There is an analogy between what God speaks to his creatures and what God knows infinitely and perfectly." (see notes on Prolegomena, chapter 1).
The eternal reality in the mind of God is projected into finite form for us to know about it. Therefore the concept of covenant is a form produced by providence in its management of history and language, so that this form would exist when God intended to use it in revealing the essential characteristics of the relationship he bears with human persons.
There may be various configurations in the application of the covenant idea. They would depend upon how the model is used and what is being explained by it. There is no confusion of the relationship on the divine side. But there are inevitable limitations in its perception on the part of created beings who must view eternal and infinite things only by observing their projection into temporal and finite form.
The part of Jesus Christ in the covenant is equally intriguing. He is on the one hand the Sovereign God, the offended party. On the other hand he is the Federal Head representing the elect for whom the benefits of the covenant are secured. And again he is seen as the covenant mediator representing the lost race before the manifest presence of God's majesty.
These are not conflicting roles but again represent the covenant idea in its various uses to demonstrate the work of the Eternal Son in redeeming his people by vicarious atonement.
Unity and Diversity of the Covenant
The Covenant of Grace is but one covenant, yet it is administered in various ways. The confession calls these administrations "dispensations" of the covenant.
There is a UNITY of the Covenant in all ages
In each age there were various covenant mediators and degrees of
clarity of revelation, but only one covenant. The continuity of promises
show the oneness of the sovereign administration of the covenant.
Several specific principles are promised in every redemptive age.
The unifying idea of the Immanuel Principle
A central promise of God's covenant is that God assures his people that
he will be present with them in a special way, to be their God and to
declare them as his nation. This concept is demonstrated in many
passages of Scripture and particularly in the use of the words immanu el
which we often transliterate as Immanuel. The
Hebrew expression combines the prepositional form "with us" and the word
for "God" (El). The term means "God with us" and is used as a
designation for Jehovah in his covenantal presence among his people.
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
This Immanuel principle is one of the clear unifying ideas which seems to be always present when God marks out a people for himself in all ages. Fundamental to the concept of the ancient berit is the sovereign taking of an undeserving people for the purpose of subjugating them under the care and protection of the king, and expecting from them loyalty and obedience showing their allegience to the sovereign.
The primary work of salvation is that God restores fallen people to a state of holiness by atonement and redemption towards reconciliation. All this is through the merits of Messiah's substitutionary death, so that the recipients of grace are restored to fellowship with God. He becomes their God and they his people in a way unique from the remainder of the lost human race. This fundamental covenantal union has not changed in the course of human history.
God revealed the basic redemptive promise to Abraham in this covenantal form.
Genesis 17:7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you."
The Lord, using the covenant name Yahveh, spoke to Moses, and to the nation of Israel in his time, showing that same unique relationship.
Exodus 6:7 "Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."In the period of the kings God spoke similarly by his prophets and to those he raised up to lead his people.Deuteronomy 4:20 "The LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today."
2 Kings 11:17 "Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD's people..."Foreshadowing the age of Messianic deliverance God said,Ezekiel 34:24 "And I, The LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the LORD, have spoken."
Zechariah 8:8 "and I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be My people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness."
Zechariah 2:11 "many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then will I dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you."The Immanuel principle is most clearly applied to the union of God with his church after the greatest revealing of God being with us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 8:10 "this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."The basic promise and benefit of God's Covenant of Grace has always been the same in each era of its revelation since the fall of mankind.2 Corinthians 6:16 "... just as God said, 'I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'"
The Consistent Promise of Messiah
The way of becoming a child of God has always been the same since the
sin of Adam. It is always a work of God's grace, on the basis of the
satisfaction of the sins of specific individuals by the one Messiah,
Jesus Christ. That grace removes sin and its guilt by judicially
satisfying it. Then the person is reconciled together with God restoring
his lost fellowship with his Creator. This reparation of the separation
of spiritual death produces faith, repentance and a true desire to obey
God thankfully. These works of obedience are the means by which we
demonstrate God's work on our hearts and are used of God as means to the
ends he has decreed redemptively. Therefore we are saved by grace
through faith. These are gifts of God, not things to be found in our
fallen nature. (Ephesians 2:8, 1Corinthians 2:14).
True salvation, in contrast with the false religions of man, is a sovereign work of God alone. It is not based upon any merits or qualities in the sinner, but wholly upon the merits of Jesus Christ. God provides all that is necessary to remove the curse of sin which enslaved humanity when Satan lured Adam into spiritual death.
The promise of grace was first made to Adam. The seed of Satan would be destroyed by the woman's seed.
Genesis 3:15 "... He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."At the ceremony where God ratified the covenant with Abraham, that same foundation of grace is evident.
Genesis 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.In Romans 4 the Apostle Paul details how the covenant of God with Abraham was not founded upon the works the Patriarch had done, but wholly upon that which God provided evidenced in the faith wrought in his heart. He quotes Genesis 15:6 as support for his statement,
Romans 4:2 "if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God..."
The humility of King David shows his understanding that his blessings were not the result of works or of personal merit.
Psalm 32:1 "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!"Before he quoted David's words from Psalm 32:1-2, Paul interpreted David's testimony unambiguously,
Romans 4:6-9 "just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works..."Isaiah showed the faith God produced in the Old Testament believers which looked to God to provide for the removal of their sin and its guilt. Through him God revealed more detail about how the provision would be made. There would be a suffering servant of Jehovah, one who would pay the judicial debt of his people (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). He was the One the Sacrifices of Moses had depicted from long before.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being {fell} upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (6) All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.More revelation took place to the disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus made it clear that it would be his blood that would be shed to seal the covenant upon his church "this is the new covenant in My blood." (Matthew 26:28)
In writing to the Galatians (Gal 3:6-29) Paul quoted Genesis 15:6 again. He explained how the promised Messiah fulfilled the same promise God had made to Abraham.
:7 "... it is those who are of faith that are sons of Abraham"His whole argument is to show this unity ...
:8 "... all nations shall be blessed in you"
:29 "if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
This same unity, centered in the promise of a Messiah who would satisfy divine justice for his people as a perfect vicarious sacrifice which is embraced by a faith implanted by grace, is demonstrated in Hebrews (particularly chapter 11), Romans, Ephesians, Galatians, and all through the New Testament.
Both the Old and New Testaments build on this same idea. In every age, since the fall, man has only been justified in one way: by grace through faith, never by works, never by his own abilities
Any salvation by man's initiation would be impossible. Man's total depravity begins at the fall (Romans 5). The promises of grace as the cause of faith did not begin with the New Testament. Therefore, every Old Testament believer was saved not by works, but by God's Sovereign Grace, on the ground of salvation provided in the coming Messiah, and applied by the instrumentality of God's gift of faith.
The Unity of the Parties of the Covenant
The covenant has always been between Yahveh and His chosen people.
Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (7) The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, (8) but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."The promise of the covenant is made by God to the seed, the descendants, of Adam (Genesis 15:18, Exodus 20:5, Acts 2:39).
Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as (5) You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me"That same promise is explained as extending to believers in the New Testament period. Not a new promise but a renewed understanding of the old one, a new form and administration of a promise that extended from Eden. In reference to this ancient promise Peter said,
Acts 2:39 "For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."The ancient promise was not temporal but was intended by God himself as a perpetual one. There is a grafting in of the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations) into the covenant nation of God's promise.
Genesis 17:13 A {servant} who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."Since the promise is associated with descendents, dying without seed (children) was considered a tragic matter. Would the suffering Messiah die without seed? It may appear so at first. But we who are grafted in by grace are the seed of that Messiah, his spiritual children. Compare Isaiah 53:8 with verse 10;Romans 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, (18) do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, { remember that} it is not you who supports the root, but the root {supports} you. (19) You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke {was due?}Isaiah 53:10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting {Him} to grief; If He would render Himself {as} a guilt offering, He will see {His} offspring, He will prolong {His} days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
The Unity of the Forms of Covenant Renewal
In each age there were new covenant mediators. God, the Sovereign
party of the covenant does not change. The covenant representative of
the people does change since men are temporal. (For a more detailed
examination see Covenant Renewal at Gilgal by J. Robert Vannoy).
Mediator | Covenant sealed to him by... |
Adam | God's promise and the providing of skins in Eden |
Noah | The rainbow and the sacrifice after the flood |
Abram | The literal dividing of animals |
Samuel | Renewal at Gilgal (1 Samuel 11:12-12:25) |
Jesus | His death at Calvary: declared the lamb of God |
There is a DIVERSITY in the Covenant through the ages
One of the most obvious diversities of God's covenant throughout the
ages is the progression of how much is revealed about God, about his
promises and his decrees.
The work of Messiah has been made known progressively. In the time prior to the birth of Jesus it was depicted in an increasingly precise system of sacrifices representing the judicial death of the sinner and the promise of a substitute who would satisfy the demands of guilt and sanctify the sinner. By obediently presenting the sacrifices, with true faith placed only in the gracious promise of God, the Old Testament worshipper was demonstrated to be a regenerated child of God and strengthened spiritually.
In the time after the death of Jesus the anticipatory sacrifices were replaced with a commemorative and sealing sacrament, the Lord's Supper, which is a symbol and an obedience like the sacrifices. By partaking obediently, with true faith placed only in the gracious promise of God, the worshipper is demonstrated to be a regenerated child of God and strengthened spiritually.
The pre-resurrection sign of the covenant was circumcision which represented the removal of moral defilement by a bloody sign. Those who took upon themselves this sign in faith were counted as members outwardly of God's covenant people. The sign was only to be given to adults if they made a credible profession of faith in the promises of the God of Israel. The same sign was to be placed on the male infants to show that they too were to be raised as members of the covenant people. Those who grow up to deny the covenant sealed by their circumcision were cut off from Israel by judicial process.
The post-resurrection sign of the covenant is baptism. It, rather than the bloody sign of circumcision, marks out those who make a credible profession of faith, together with their children, as members outwardly of the covenant people of God. As with circumcision this sign was only to be given to adults if they made a credible profession of faith in the promises of God as fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And to the children of only those baptized.
The place of convocational worship also depicted God's truth progressively. At first it was done in the locations of the families identified in the sacrifices. Then it became centralized (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14, 18). This centralization did not become more fully realized until the time of David and then Solomon when the temple replaced the tabernacle. Jesus showed that in his completion of the work of atonement the local limits upon convocational worship would be lifted.
John 4:21-24 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. (22) You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (23) But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
The temple veil was rent at his resurrection and the temple itself was removed as a judgment of God in 70AD (Matthew 23-24).
Yet, with all these diversities, there is no sharp division into separate covenants of God. The Exodus took place under the Abrahamic form established for the administration of the covenant. The Mosaic law and its levitical ceremonies had not yet been given at Sinai. Therefore the Passover was based on the promise made to Abraham, not upon those given later after Sinai in the Mosaic Law.
Exodus 6:8 "I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD."The deliverance of Israel was the basis for the law. That deliverance under the Abrahamic promise became the foundation upon which the commandments were given to Moses.
Exodus 20:1-2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery..."
The term "dispensation" is used to describe the administrations of this same covenant in its diverse ways by the succession of covenant mediators God raised up over his people. The covenant was administered differently under the Patriarchs, the Judges, the Kings and Prophets, and after Jesus' resurrection by the Apostles and continuing officers of his church acting as appointed shepherds and teachers under the mediatorship of Jesus Christ himself.
Each administration clarified of the ones before. The truth of the covenant rule of God over his people has been an expanding revelation and realization of his eternal decree. In each period we learn more about God's plan and grace, and are enabled to live more and more by progressively clearer principles all based on the one eternal and unchanging purpose of God.
The covenant of God's grace, his redemptive covenant, is singular. The whole Bible belongs to the church, not just the New Testament. The word of God is a unity proclaiming the plan which will not be finally revealed to us before the final day of judgment in the return of Jesus Christ and the consummation of the ages.