Keeping the covenant of God did not mean living perfectly. It meant a life of habitual devotion and trust and love to the Lord, that turned from evil and followed him in his ways. When there was a shortcoming, a covenant-keeping person remembered the words of the covenant on Mt. Sinai (“The Lord [is] merciful and gracious… forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin,” Exodus 34:6–7) and repented and offered a sacrifice and received forgiveness and restoration.
When the Old Testament says that covenant-keeping is the condition for receiving God’s lovingkindness, that’s what it meant. It did not imply perfection. “The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting… to those who keep His covenant” (Psalm 103:17–18).” “All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psalm 25:10). All the covenant of God are conditional covenant of grace—both the old covenant and the new covenant. They offer all-sufficient future grace for those who keep the covenant.
This covenant keeping condition of future grace does not mean we lose security or assurance, for God has pledged himself to complete the work he began in the elect (Philippians 1:6). He is at work within us to will and to do his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12–13). He works in us what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21) He fulfills the condition of the covenant through us (Ezekiel 36:27). Our security is as secure as God is faithful.
But what it does mean is that almost all future blessings of the Christian life are conditional on our covenant-keeping….
… I am hard-pressed to imagine something more important for our lives than fulfilling the covenant that God has made with us for our final salvation. The New Testament warning that some in the church “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21; first Corinthians 6:9) is stunning. It is astonishing to me how many Christians are blasé about this matter. It’s as though salvation were a casual and obvious thing. It’s as though grace were a catch-all for every kind of divine tolerance that anyone can imagine. I hope that the little we have seen sobers you out of those illusions.
John Piper The Purifying Power Of Living By Faith In Future Grace (Multnomah Books, 1995), 248–49.
RESOURCES
- Resources For Those Beginning To Study Covenant Theology
- Resources On The Controversy Over “Final Salvation Through Works”
- Resources on the Covenant of Grace and the New Covenant
- New: Resources On The Internal/External Distinction In The Covenant Of Grace
- Resources on the Law/Gospel Distinction
- Resources On The Covenant Of Works
- Resources On The Republication Of The Covenant Of Works
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