Beginning at least in the 1560s, it was non-controversial for Reformed theologians to teach that God, before the fall, entered into a legal, probationary covenant with Adam, who was the representative of the whole human race, the condition of which was perfect . . . Continue reading →
It will now be asked, what manner of covenant was that at Mount Sinai, which is called the worst covenant? What kind of covenant was it? Sol. In general, it was a covenant of works, as to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, . . . Continue reading →
My friend and colleague Mike Brown published a revision of his excellent MA (Historical Theology) thesis (Westminster Seminary California) in 2012 as Christ and the Condition: The Covenant Theology of Samuel Petto (1624-1711). As part of the background to explaining Petto, Mike . . . Continue reading →
But that the covenant of works was also, for special ends, repeated and delivered to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, I cannot refuse— 1. Because of the apostle’s testimony, ‘These are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to . . . Continue reading →
The Heidelcast is working through The Marrow of Modern Divinity (1645) as a model for how to account for justification and sanctification, how to keep them together, without losing either and without confusing them. The circumstances in which The Marrow first appeared were . . . Continue reading →
XLVIII. Secondly, we more especially remark, that when the law was given from Mount Sinai or Horeb there was a repetition of the covenant of works. For those tremendous signs of thunders and lightnings, of an earthquake, a thick smoke and black . . . Continue reading →
Nom. And do any of our godly and modern writers agree with you on this point? Evan. Yes, indeed. Polanus says, “The covenant of works is that in which God promiseth everlasting life unto a man that in all respects performeth perfect . . . Continue reading →
A Repetition of the Law of the Covenant of Works. In the ministry of Moses, there was a repetition of the doctrine concerning the law of the covenant of works. The Mosaic Covenant, then, seems to be a sort of republication of . . . 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 →
For this cause he, when he was to repeat that covenant of works to the people of Israel, he gave the first law written in tables of stone; Then he made a covenant with his people, saying,”do these things and ye shall live.” Therefore the ground of the covenant of works was not Christ, nor the grace of God in Christ, but the nature of man in the first creation holy and perfect, endued also with the knowledge of the law. Continue reading →
God’s covenant, is his contract with man, concerning the obtaining of life eternal, upon a certain condition. This covenant consists of two parts: God’s promise to man, Man’s promise to God. God’s promise to man, is that, whereby he binds himself to . . . Continue reading →
Touching the subject or persons to whom it is appropriate, faith is the proper and peculiar gift of God’s elect, which only [alone] distinguishes them from the rest of the world; for all other graces, be they never so bright, or shining, . . . Continue reading →
Vers. 1. O Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Because he knew that the minds of the Galatians were prepossessed with a . . . Continue reading →
This communion and fellowship of man with God, was first founded on a covenant of works made with Adam in paradise. If he did obey, and did not eat of the forbidden fruit, he should have life both for himself and his . . . Continue reading →
God having thus entered into covenant with our Surety Christ Jesus, was pleased also to enter into covenant with us in him. Now this covenant we define to be, a free and gratuitous agreement between an offended God and offending man, in . . . Continue reading →
You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am Yahweh. Leviticus 18:4–5
How hath the Moral Law been delivered since the Fall? The Sum thereof was comprised in ten Words, (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 4:13.) commonly called the Decalogue or Ten Commandments; solemnly published and engraved in Table of Stone by God himself, (Deut. 4:14 . . . Continue reading →
Quest. Now, whence comes this rootedness and firm stability of God’s children? Ans. Especially from this, that they are now in the covenant of grace, rooted in Christ, who is God-man, in whom they are firmly rooted. In Adam we had a . . . Continue reading →
The same doctrine Moses repeated in his ministry. For he also inculcated the same precepts upon which the covenant of works had been built: he both repeated the same solemn saying, He who doeth these things shall live in them, Lev. 18:5 . . . Continue reading →
1. This covenant, called “the old covenant,” was never intended to be of itself the absolute rule and law of life and salvation unto the church, but was made with a particular design, and with respect unto particular ends. This the apostle . . . Continue reading →