In part 2 we looked at the covenant of grace. § The New Covenant With Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension the promise which God made to Adam and repeated to Abraham remains, but the circumstances have changed. We who live on this side . . . Continue reading →
In part 3 we considered what Scripture says about national Israel. § Jesus the Israel of God It is the argument of this essay that Jesus Christ is the true Israel of God and that everyone who is united to him by grace alone, . . . Continue reading →
In part 4 we considered how Jesus is the Israel of God. § The Dividing Wall Demolished (Ephesians 2:11–22) The movement of the history of redemption is on this order. The people of God were an international people from Adam to Noah to Moses. Under . . . Continue reading →
XV. In Scripture, we find two covenants of God with man: the Covenant of Works, otherwise called, the Covenant of Nature, or the Legal and the Covenant of Grace. The apostle teacheth us this distinction, Rom. 3:27, where he mentions the law . . . Continue reading →
THere be severall opinions about the Covenant of Works, and the Covenant of grace, to the great disturbance of many Christians; some hold that there be foure Covenants, two of Works, and two of Grace; the two first, one with Adam before . . . Continue reading →
Jesus’ new covenant is not only a revision of the Abrahamic covenant but also an incorporation of a new body of people. This new covenant is said to be for all who believe in Jesus–not only believing Jews but also believing Gentiles. . . . Continue reading →
Ver. 24. Which things are a typical history; for these two women represent the two covenants, with the churches thereto adhering respectively; the one from Mount Sinai, to wit, the covenant of works, which was given there, and where the Jewish synagogue, . . . Continue reading →
Whoever errs here or denies the existence of the covenant of works will not understand the covenant of grace.—Wilhelmus à Brakel. Continue reading →
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.’ If it was ‘by Promise,’ then it was ‘by faith,’ for faith only receives the Promise; if it was by . . . Continue reading →
Mr. Shepherd rejects not only the term ‘covenant of works’ but the possibility of any merit or reward attaching to the obedience of Adam in the creation covenant. He holds that faithful obedience is the condition of all covenants in contrast to . . . Continue reading →
The two covenant scheme of the Westminster Standards has been absolutely essential in combatting the Neonomianism of both Norman Shepherd and the Federal Vision, not to mention Roman Catholicism. There are, of course, matters in which the two covenants are similar (they . . . Continue reading →
XXV. Such a perfect observance of the laws of the covenant, up to the period which God had fixed for probation, had given man a right to the reward. Not from any intrinsic proportion of the work to the reward, as the . . . Continue reading →
3. BASICALLY, THE COVENANT OF GRACE IS SIMPLY THE EXECUTION OF THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT BY CHRIST AS OUR SURETY. He undertook freely to carry out the will of God. He placed Himself under the law, that He might redeem them that were . . . Continue reading →
21. Man being at the beginning created according to the image of God (which consisted especially in the wisdom of his mind and the true holiness of his free will), had the covenant of law engrafted in his heart, whereby God did . . . Continue reading →
The roots of Reformed covenant theology are as deep as the Christian revelation and tradition is old. Its importance to the Reformed faith cannot be overstated. The great Princeton theologian, B. B. Warfield called federal (covenant) theology, “architectonic principle” of the Westminster . . . Continue reading →
Covenant theology is sometimes regarded and presented by American evangelicals as an idiosyncratic, mysterious, even esoteric way to read Scripture. Of course, from a historical and biblical perspective, it is nothing of the sort. Much of what the Reformed began to teach . . . Continue reading →
One of the most persistent temptations Christians face is that of turning the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. As we pray we must always be reminded that we, who trust in Jesus Christ as our substitute and Mediator, are . . . Continue reading →
Some thoughts relative to the current discussion about the nature of conditions in the covenant of grace: First, we cannot get this right unless we distinguish between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Part of the problem in this . . . Continue reading →
When condition is improperly taken, and signifies no more than what particular duties as performed must, in the order of nature, precede the enjoyment of particular promised benefits, many things may be called conditions; for holiness must precede eternal happiness…. True repentance . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed churches have endured discussions and disagreements about salvation (justification, sanctification, and deliverance from the wrath to come) before. Beginning in the late 16th century a Reformed minister in Amsterdam began offering significant revisions of the Reformed understanding of Scripture. Early . . . Continue reading →