LBCF 7.1_God's Covenant - The Necessity of It

The Necessity of God’s Covenant

Though rational creatures are responsible to obey God as their Creator, the distance between God and these creatures is so great that they could never have attained the reward of life except by God’s voluntary condescension. He has been pleased to express this through a covenant framework. [1]

Founders. Confessing the Faith.

[1] Job 35:7-8; Ps. 113:5-6; Isa. 40:13-16; Luke 17:5-10; Acts 17:24-25

Job 35:7–8 ESV

If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.

Psalm 113:5–6 ESV

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

Isaiah 40:13–16 ESV

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

Luke 17:5–10 ESV

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

Acts 17:24–25 ESV

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Luke 17:5–10 NKJV

And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”

Acts 17:24–25 NKJV

God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

What are the Covenants - Three Views

Dispensational Theology

Israel and the Church are forever disjointed

There are 5 major covenants (Schofield held to 7 covenants)

Adamic

Noachin

Abrahamic

Mosaic

New Covenant

At each covenant God changed in how He dealt with mankind. Some men hold to works based regeneration, and others simply say God was gracious to them based off what they knew. Others would hold to the same view that I do in that they were saved by faith through grace. Dispensationalists are all over the map in beliefs.

There are also varying degrees with Classic Dispensationalism to Progressive Dispensationalism – Progressive Dispensationalism is very similar to Historical Premillennialism but they all hold to a Pre-Mil and Pre-Trib eschatology.

Covenant Theology

Two views of Israel: the church replaces Israel or the church is the fulfillment of the covenant promises.

Two primary covenants: a covenant of works and a covenant of grace; however, most also hold to a covenant of redemption (i.e., the eternal covenant). So what is the covenant of redemption or the eternal covenant?

Systematic Theology E. The Relation of This Covenant to the Covenant of Grace

The covenant of redemption may be defined as the agreement between the Father, giving the Son as Head and Redeemer of the elect, and the Son, voluntarily taking the place of those whom the Father had given Him.

The covenants in Dispensationalism are not God altering in how He deals with mankind but they are revealing Christ to all mankind.

New Covenant Theology

A mixture of Dispensational and Covenant Theology, more like Covenant Theology.

Rejects the covenant of redemption.

This view gives the New Testament precedence over the Old Testament; the meaning in the New Testament is the meaning.

The Law is all cancelled - it has no bearing on today; instead they hold to the Law of Christ.

How Were Old Testament Saints Saved?

Content of Faith

Scripture Alone - it was the proclamation of Thus saith the Lord, or God interacting directly with those Whom He was saving.

Grace Alone - it could not be merited or Christ did not need to come.

Faith Alone - Abraham was justified by faith, no other basis.

Christ Alone - He is the ONLY Savior of mankind, there is no other. The blood of bulls and goats never took away sin.

To the Glory of God alone - their redemption was to God’s glory and He repeatedly stressed they were a people after his own name.

Not All of Israel is Israel

Notable people in the Old Covenant were saved though they did not have the lineage.

Rahab - called Rahab the harlot in Joshua

Ruth - she is the grandmother of David, the King

Nebuchadnezzar - this is my personal view that he was regenerated, his testimony is Daniel 4 is beautiful.

Again and again in Israel’s history there were those who were cutoff - this was not merely physically, it was also spiritually.

We have words like “tear your hearts not your garments” and “circumcise your heart”; these speak of God’s desire for the heart not outward obedience and conformity.

Is the Covenant of Grace a Valid Concept?

Questions

Does the Bible speak of the covenant of grace’? If it does, where? If it does not, is this terminology valid?

Should we divide of terminology or concepts?

Why did Baptists and Presbyterians of the past hold to this covenant of grace if it was not important?

If the covenant of grace is not valid then does that mean there is another way men can be saved?

Assertions

“The covenant of grace’ is in this chapter viewed as the ground of every sinner’s salvation, from the fall of Adam onward.” Waldron, Samuel E. A Modern Exposition 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.

This is implied by the statement of paragraph 2 that it was made after the fall of Adam.

It is explicitly stated in the assertion of paragraph 3 that’ It is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality.’

Hebrews 10:29

Hebrews 10:29 ESV

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Quote by Meredith Kline

God, Heaven and Har Magedon: A Covenantal Tale of Cosmos and Telos The Lord’s Covenant of Grace with His People

Subsumed under the traditional designation, “Covenant of Grace,” is the whole series of redemptive administrations of the kingdom from the Fall to the consummation, culminating in the New Covenant. Manifestly, this Covenant of Grace and the eternal intratrinitarian covenant are interrelated. It is through his fulfilling of his probation assignment as Servant in his eternal covenant of works with the Father that the Son is entitled to be the Mediator-Lord of the Covenant of Grace. And it is in and through the succession of administrations of the Covenant of Grace that the Son secures the reward promised to him in the eternal covenant, the reward of the countless company redeemed from all generations and nations to be his holy bride.

Keach’s Catechism

Q. 23. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?

A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation, by a Redeemer.

Q. 24. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.

Where does Trinity exist in Scripture? But we would defend it as Biblical truth, would we not? How about inerrancy? Same answer.

‘The covenant of grace’ does refer to a biblical truth intimately related to the divine covenants. [Samuel Waldron]

Support for the Covenant of Grace

This issue must be addressed directly by looking at the organic unity and the thematic unity of the covenants.

The organic unity of the covenants means that they depend on and grow out of each other. The divine covenants are not self-contained entities. They are all phases in the growth of the same plant.

The thematic unity of the covenants means that they have a single ultimate theme or purpose. The text that epitomizes and summarizes this point is Ephesians 2:11-12, which literally translated speaks of ‘the covenants of the promise’.

Ephesians 2:11–12 ESV

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

This thematic unity can be seen in a key recurring phrase or theme that occurs in the divine covenants: ‘I will be your God and you shall be my people’ (Gen. 17:7-8; Exod. 25:8; 6:6-7; 2 Sam. 7:14; 2 Chron. 23:16; Jer. 31:33; Rev. 21:3).

The great promise of all the covenants is fulfilled in Christ and in the New Covenant (John 1:14; Matt. 1:22-23). Now emphatically God is with man.

I believe in Ephesians 2:12 Paul is referring specifically to the promise of a Redeemer initially given in Genesis 3:15, then the following (very brief) survey of the divine covenants manifests their relation to this promise.

The covenant with Noah is given as a framework in which creation will be preserved by common grace until the fulfilment of the promise.

The covenant with Abraham formally initiates that community through which the promised Redeemer will come.

The Mosaic covenant provides the necessary regulation and legislation for that community at the time when it has ceased to be a family and has become a nation.

In the Davidic covenant God’s rule over his people is given concrete manifestation. In so doing the line through which the Redeemer would come is specified.

In the New Covenant the Redeemer appears and accomplishes redemption, bringing to fruition all the types and predictions of the earlier covenants. He inaugurates the final form of the covenant community.

Salvation is by the promise. That is to say, it is by grace through faith in a coming Redeemer.

This single way of salvation has operated in and been progressively revealed in every age of human history (Rom. 4:13-17; Gal. 3:18-22).

Romans 4:13–17 ESV

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Galatians 3:18–22 ESV

For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

The Scripture teaches in Psalm 110:4 that God the Father has given the sworn promise to Christ that he should be the Priest-King of his people unto their salvation.

This covenant between God the Father and Christ the Redeemer is fully revealed in the New Covenant (Heb. 7:18-22; 10: 12-18).

Hebrews 7:18–22 ESV

For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’ ” This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

Hebrews 10:12–18 ESV

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

From such exegetical considerations as these to the theological conception of a single covenant of grace in all ages there is the most natural path. It is proper, therefore, to speak of a single covenant of grace.

Quote from Louis Berkhof

Systematic Theology (2. Points of Difference)

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE.

(a) In the covenant of works God appears as Creator and Lord; in the covenant of grace, as Redeemer and Father. The establishment of the former was prompted by God’s love and benevolence; that of the latter, by His mercy and special grace.

(b) In the covenant of works man appears simply as God’s creature, rightly related to his God; in the covenant of grace he appears as a sinner who has perverted his ways, and can only appear as a party in Christ, the Surety. Consequently, there is no mediator in the former, while there is in the latter.

(c) The covenant of works was contingent on the uncertain obedience of a changeable man, while the covenant of grace rests on the obedience of Christ as Mediator, which is absolute and certain.

(d) In the covenant of works the keeping of the law is the way of life; in the covenant of grace, it is faith in Jesus Christ.

Whatever faith was required in the covenant of works was a part of the righteousness of the law; in the covenant of grace, however, it is merely the organ by which we take possession of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

(e) The covenant of works was partly known by nature, since the law of God was written in the heart of man; but the covenant of grace is known exclusively through a special positive revelation.