The Adamic Covenant

Adam

In the last post we learned that our father Adam was not only the first man, prototype, and progenitor of our race, but was also the representative head of ‘all mankind’. Adam embodied within himself both physically (seed) and Federally (in representation) all men.

Federal Theology

According to AW Pink, the Adamic Covenant is:

This primordial compact or covenant of works was that agreement into which the Lord God entered with Adam as the federal head and representative of the entire human family. It was made with him in a state of innocency, holiness, and righteousness. The terms of that covenant consisted in perfect and continuous obedience on man’s part, and the promise of confirming him in immutable holiness and happiness on God’s part. A test was given whereby his obedience or disobedience should be evidenced. That test consisted of a single positive ordinance: abstinence from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so named because so long as Adam remained dutiful and faithful, he enjoyed that inestimable “good” which issued from communion with his maker, and because as soon as he disobeyed he tasted the bitter “evil” which followed the loss of communion with Him.

This testing of Adam is referred to, by theologians, as the Covenant of Works (CoW). This is to indicate that man was able to stand in the estate in which he was created by his own effort of will. This nomenclature is to distinguish it from God’s Plan of Grace, by which no man can stand before God based on his own works, because man is already fallen and all his works are corrupt. The CoW contained within it no mediator, no repentance, no grace, no second chance – “the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die”!

Scriptural Support

Romans 5:12-19

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Summary:

Sin entered the world by Adam and sin brings death. As sin passed from Adam to all men, death has conquered all men. This death passed onto all men, even those who didn’t commit the sin of Adam and even before the law was given at Sinai. Why? Because they were the sons of Adam and he was their representative. But, as Adam brought death to all those he represented, so Christ brought life to all those he represented. The fact of the matter is this, all men are born sinners. We sin because we are sinners. We do not become sinners when we sin. We are born sinners, enemies of God (Eph 2:3), and under his just condemnation.

Confer 1 Cor 15:22 – For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

On 1 Cor 15:22, AW Pink says,

“The language of 1 Corinthians 15:22 is unintelligible except on the supposition that both Adam and Christ sustained a representative character, …the one involved the race in guilt and ruin, and the other, by His obedience unto death, secured the justification and salvation of ell who believe in Him.”

Understanding the Federal headship of Adam is of extreme importance for the Bible student. In his work on the Divine Covenants, AW Pink says:

Adam acted not for himself alone, but he transacted for all who were to spring from him. Unless this basic fact be definitely apprehended, much that ought to be relatively clear to us will be shrouded in impenetrable mystery. Yea, we go further, and affirm that, until the federal headship of Adam and God’s covenant with him in that office be actually perceived, we are without the key to God’s dealings with the human race, we are unable to discern man’s relation to the divine law, and we appreciate not the fundamental principles upon which the atonement of Christ proceeded.

The doctrine briefly summarized:

• There are only two representatives – Adam and Christ (the Second Adam)
• Adam represented all men born by natural generation
• Christ represented all those who had been given Him in eternity
• When Adam sinned, all his posterity fell in and with him
• All Adam’s natural posterity are born in, and are slaves to, sin
• When Christ conquered sin and death, He acted on behalf of all those given Him from eternity
• Christ bore away the curse of our sin (1 Cor 5:21, Gal 3:13)
• ALL MEN either stand in Christ or fall in Adam

Adam’s Probation

When theologians refer to the testing of man in our father Adam, they refer to ‘Adam’s Probation’. This is simply another way of referencing the ‘testing/proving’ of mankind in Adam. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, a probation is:

PROBA’TION, n. [L. probatio.] The act of proving; proof.
…

5. In general, trial for proof, or satisfactory evidence, or the time of trial.

Adam’s Obligation

According to Pink, man was originally constituted being subject to a three-fold law: natural, moral, and positive.

• Natural Law- Being subject to natural law simply means that as a creature, Adam was naturally created subject to his Creator. He was created to live to the honor and glory of his Creator. Adam, in particular, was made in the very image of God, and so was uniquely designed to reproduce the righteousness and holiness of that design.EXAMPLE: Marriage (Gen 2:24). Any infraction of the divine institution of marriage is a violation of the law of nature (Rom 1:26-27).
• Moral Law- By moral law, it is meant that man was created a moral being. It is a part of the basic fabric of every human being. Morally, men are required to love God and to love their fellow men as themselves. This is the law under which every human being is guilty before God (Rom 3:19).EXAMPLE: Violation of any of the Ten Commandments. Every man has a moral conscience and is aware of the sins of idolatry and hate in his own heart, but we suppress our guilt (read Romans 1-3). This is the moral law under which Christ was born, the guilt of which was atoned for by animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant, which were types and shadows which point to Christ who would atone for the guilt of the violation of the moral law – Gal 4:4-6 (note that Paul is writing to Gentiles!).
• Positive Law – Adam was given one single stipulation which could never have occurred to him by the light of nature or by his moral conscience. It was Sovereignly appointed by God as a test of man’s loyalty to his Creator.

These three branches of law teach man: (1) what he owes God, (2) what he owes his fellow man, and (3) what he owes himself. These laws cover every sphere in which man exists: (1) natural, (2) moral, and (3) spiritual.

What was Adam to Gain

The reformed teach that as Adam was to be rewarded with death upon failure to keep his estate (Gen 2:17), he surely must have been given eternal life had he kept it (Gal 3:12). Pink does not disagree with this per se, but he believes the inheritance of Adam would not be the heavenly paradise merited by Christ, but rather the eternal privilege to enjoy God in the Eden paradise. As proof, Pink offers Heb 8:16 which states that Christ brings a ‘new’ covenant which is “established upon better promises.” Says Pink, “The last Adam has secured, both for God and for His people, more than was lost by the defection of the first Adam.”

Objections to the Covenant of Works

The Adamic Covenant is frequently called the ‘Covenant of Works’ by theologians. They call it that because Adam had the capability, in his created nature, to keep his estate of Holiness and fellowship with God based on human effort and will. Unlike us today, Adam was capable of not sinning based on power of will.

Those that object to Federal Theology do primarily on the grounds that that exact phrase is not used in Scripture and that no formal compact between God and Adam is recorded.

Is there a Covenant to be found in Genesis 2?

Objection Stated: – “…since the word covenant is not to be found in the historical account of Genesis, therefore to speak of the Adamic covenant is naught but a theological invention.”

Answer: -
What does it matter if the phrase is used, if the concept is clearly found? So, our work is to see if we can find, not a phrase, but a compact between God and Adam.

AW Pink defines a covenant as “..a mutual agreement entered into by two or more parties, whereby they stand solemnly bound to each other to perform the conditions contracted for.”

In other words, there is an agreement on a stipulation and a penalty for non-compliance. Do we find these components in Genesis?

<code>Genesis 2:15-17</code>

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

1. Contracting parties – God and Man
2. Stipulation – not to eat from the tree
3. Penalty – “thou shalt surely die”

It is, of course, a frequent argument that there can be no Covenant here since Adam never formally gave his consent to any such compact with God. In other words, a covenant must be made between two consenting parties, and we find no consent given by Adam. My answer to this is that not everything that transpired between God and Adam is recorded in Scripture. From Genesis 3:2 we find that Adam clearly understood the stipulation regarding the tree. In Eve’s response to the serpent, we see that she clearly understood her responsibility, also.

Did Adam consent unto God’s law? How could he not? Adam was made in conformance to God’s righteousness and fully compliant with all holiness, how could he not have given his full consent? Besides, had Adam not agreed to this arrangement, he would have sinned ignorantly or he may have pleaded his case before God. Instead, we find him left without any valid excuse other than that he was tempted by the woman whom God made. Finally, to deny Adam’s consent unto God’s law may lead one to impugn the righteousness of God. Would a just God hold Adam accountable for a violation against a prohibition which Adam did not consent to obey?

The most clear evidence that a covenant was made With Adam is the fact that his downfall brought ruin upon the entire race (Rom 5:12). Given this, it MUST be that all men were legally united to Adam in his probation, as of those that are Christ’s are united to Him in his death and resurrection.

But, Is it Fair?

A final common, and most un-humble, rejection of the CoW is that the principle of representation is not fair. We may, at times, in our sinful flesh, flatter ourselves into believing that we may have stood where Adam fell. Worse yet, we may be led to believe that we can stand now, even today, like the wicked Pelagians and Papists. In fact, God was gracious in giving us a representative who was eminently fit for the office. In fact Adam was an outstanding representation of mankind. No better person, outside of God Himself, could be supplied.

Adam was:

• Sinless in his original estate
• Bore no sin nature (no disobedient will) and had no example of sinful man about him
• Made in the image of God
• Indued with godly knowledge
• Knew God ‘face-to-face’
• Given dominion over all creation
• Surrounded by beauty and loveliness (no excuse to covet)
• He was made good (Gen 1:31)

I am none of these things. How can I begrudge the All-wise God for giving me such a well supplied representative to stand in my place? If Adam fell after a space of time, I would have fallen much sooner.

The Trees of the Garden

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The prohibition from eating from this tree was a positive command from God. There was nothing inherently immoral in it. Had God not commanded it, it would not be sin. But, God did command it by it He tested man with respect to his loyalty to his Creator, his faith in God’s words, and his obedience. Even though Adam was righteous, he was mutable, and therefore, he was dependent on God’s sustaining grace to continue in that estate. Adams’ probation was a test of whether Adam would continue to depend on God or seek independence.

The Tree of Life – A Seal

The tree of life may be thought of as a seal – a token or symbol of God’s pledge to Adam to sustain him as long as he lives in obedience to God’s command. According to Princeton theologian AA Hodge, a seal (of a covenant) is: ‘an outward visible sign, appointed by God as a pledge of His faithfulness, and as an earnest of the blessings promised…”

Seals are used in conjunction with covenants in several places in the Scriptures:

Covenant	Seal
Abrahamic Covenant	Circumcision; Genesis 17:9-11 – “…it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.” Circumcision was given as a token of God’s promise to make Abraham a father of many nations.
Noahic Covenant	Rainbow; Genesis 9:12-13 – “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you…” The rainbow was given as a token of God’s promise not to destroy the earth with a flood again.
New Covenant	Holy Spirit; Eph 1:13 – “…ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise…” (see also 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit was given to seal us until the day of our redemption.

The Apostle Paul helps us understand the Bible use of seals in Romans 4 -

ROMANS 4:11

“And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircum­cised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.”

Further, Herman Witsius, the great systematizer of Covenant Theology writes as follows concerning seals:

“It hath pleased the blessed and almighty God, in every economy of His covenants, to confirm, by some sacred symbols, the certainty of His promises and at the same time to remind man in covenant with Him of his duty” (H. Witsius).

The seal of the Adamic Covenant was the tree of life. As further proof, consider how that man was refused the tree after he violated the covenant and fell into sin. Perhaps Adam was refused so that he would not presume upon God’s grace, blessing, and continued favor after he fell. Matthew Henry, the great Puritan commentator had the following to say regarding this tree:

“It [the tree] was chiefly intended to be a sign and seal to Adam, assuring him of the continuance of life and happiness, even to immortality and everlasting bliss, through the grace and favor of his Maker, upon condition of his perseverance in his state of innocency and obedience”

(M. Henry).

If the tree of life is a seal of Adam’s covenant with God, then the fruit of this tree was a visible sign or symbol to strengthen faith and bring remembrance to God’s Promise. This is very much akin to the eating of the bread and wine at the Lord’s Table. Ritualists make this to be a means to confer grace, but the Scriptures intend the seal to be a symbol of our faith in God’s promise. See Romans 4:11 above, a seal is given as a token of God’s pledge that He will keep his promise and it is received by faith.

Misconceptions About the Tree of Life

Does Genesis teach that the Tree of Life had the power to impart regeneration? Some modern believers think so. In so doing, they invest the tree with a sort of sacramental power to confer the grace of God and to be a means of works-salvation. Says Pink:

God banished Adam from Eden “lest” the poor, blinded, deceived man—now open to every error—should suppose that by eating of the tree of life, he might regain what he had irrevocably lost. God banished Adam so prevent the exact error of Rome – that of sacramental ritualism.

Tree of Life Was a Foreshadowing of Christ

The tree points toward Christ. The tree was the tree of Life; and Life is only found in Christ (John 1:4, etc.). Just as wicked sinful Adam had no part in the tree of life after he was fallen (Gen 3:24); so wicked fallen men have no place in Christ at the last day, and will be eternally separated “from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thes 1:7-9). Finally, the tree points to Christ, because all seals point to Christ. Only in Christ are all the promises fulfilled – “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen.”

The Tree of Life Foreshadows Heaven

Compare:

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…” (Genesis 2:9)

with

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (Rev 2:7)

and

“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. …Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. “ (Rev 22:2, 14)

What Baptists Believe

What do Baptists historically believe about the Covenant made with Adam? According to the Baptist Confession:

London Baptist Confession

Chapter 6: Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof

• 1. Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof, yet he did not long abide in this honour; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.
• 2. Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
• 3. They being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.
• 4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

1677 Baptist Catechism

Q15. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of works with him, upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.
(Gen. 2:16,17; Gal. 3:12; Rom. 5:12)

Q19. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A. 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.
(1 Cor. 15:21,22; Rom. 5:12,18,19)

Summary

In summary, we turn again to the words to AW Pink:

All the essential elements of a formal covenant between God and Adam are clearly to be seen in the Genesis record. A requirement was made – obedience; a penal sanction was attached—death as the penalty of disobedience; a reward was promised upon his obedience—confirmation in life. Adam con­sented to its terms; the whole was divinely sealed by the tree of life—so called because it was the outward sign of that life promised in the covenant, from which Adam was excluded because of his apostasy, and to which the redeemed are restored by the last Adam (Rev. 2:7). Thus Scripture presents all the prime features of a covenant as co­existing in that constitution under which our first parent was orig­inally placed.

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AW Pink

Marrow of Modern Divinity – Freedom from Law

Introduction

To this point in our study of The Marrow, we’ve learned about the 3 Laws that our author finds in the Bible: (1) The Law of Works (what we must DO in order to be saved – before the Fall), (2) The Law of Faith (We must trust in Christ, our mediator and substitute to rescue us, now that we are fallen in sin, and (3) The Law of Christ (how we live our lives, once we are redeemed by Christ and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

At this point, we are learning, along with gentle Neophytus, that Christ has come into the World to fulfill the requirements of the Law, merit eternal blessing, and satisfy Divine justice on behalf of his own. Believers receive this gift, by trusting in Christ to save them and by repentance (turning from sin to the Saviour). We’ve learned that both faith and repentance are not works to be done in order to merit salvation, but rather are gifts of God’s grace, which he bestows upon His own.

In this lesson, we finish our discussion on the ‘Law of Faith’, by considering how that God’s free gift, received by the ‘Law of Faith’, frees us from the condemning and damning power of the Law of Works.

You can read this section from the Marrow here: Believers Freed.

Believers freed from the condemning power of the Law

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom 6:12-14)

Note: Notice in the passage written by the Apostle Paul above that the ‘ye’ that Paul directs his address to is believers – ‘ye are not under law’. The people who are not under the damning power of the law are believers. Those who have not been redeemed are still fallen in Adam, enemies of God, and have the wrath of God abiding upon them.

This is a contrast to the Dispensational system, which teaches all men are presently living in a dispensation (time period) only characterized by grace, in which there is no condemnation by the moral law of God. See my article on Federal Theology in order to understand the representative nature of the Scriptures.

We pick up our story with Neophytus questioning Evangelist about the deliverance from the law for believers…

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Neophytus But, sir, …I pray you, proceed to show me how far forth I am delivered from the law, as it is the covenant of works.

Evangelist Truly, as it is the covenant of works, you are wholly and altogether delivered and set free from it; you are dead to it, and it is dead to you; and if it be dead to you, then it can do you neither good nor hurt; and if you be dead to it, you can expect neither good nor hurt from it. Consider, man, I pray you, that, as I said before, you are now under another covenant, viz: the covenant of grace [viz, God's Plan of Salvation]; and you cannot be under two covenants at once, neither wholly nor partly; and, therefore, as, before you believed, you were wholly under the covenant of works, as Adam left both you and all his posterity after his fall; so now, since you have believed, you are wholly under the covenant of grace. Assure yourself then, that no minister, or preacher of God’s word has any warrant to say unto you hereafter, “Either do this and this duty contained in the law, and avoid this and this sin forbidden in the law, and God will justify thee and save thy soul: or do it not, and he will condemn thee and damn thee.”… So that [to speak with holy reverence] God cannot, by virtue of the covenant of works, either require of you any obedience, or punish you for any disobedience; no, he cannot, by virtue of that covenant, so much as threaten you, or give you an angry word, or show you an angry look; for indeed he can see no sin in you, as a transgression of that covenant; for, says the apostle, “Where there is no law, there is no transgression,” (Rom 4:15).

…And therefore, though hereafter you shall hear such a voice as this, “If thou wilt be saved, keep the commandments”; or “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”; nay, though you hear the voice of thunder and …threatening hell and damnation to sinners and transgressors of the law; though these be the words of God, yet are you not to think that they are spoken to you. No, no; the apostle assures you that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, (Rom 8:1). Believe it, God never threatens eternal death, after he has given to a man eternal life.

LAW: “Herein and herein thou hast transgressed, and broken me, and therefore thou owest so much and so much to divine justice, which must be satisfied, or else I will take hold on thee”

BELIEVER: “O law! be it known unto thee, that I am now married unto Christ, and so I am under covert; and therefore if thou charge me with any debt, thou must enter thine action against my husband, Christ…”

LAW: “Aye, but good works must be done and the commandments must be kept, if thou wilt obtain salvation”

BELIEVER: “…in Christ [I lack nothing] that is necessary to salvation. He is my righteousness, my treasure, and work; I confess, O law! that I am neither godly nor righteous, but yet this I am sure of, that he is godly and righteous for me.”

What Baptists Believe

The London Baptist Confession, Chap 21, Begins…

The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the Gospel consists of their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, and the severity and curse of the law…”

(John 3:36, Rom 8:33, Gal 3:13)

Conclusion

Evangelist concludes thusly…

And thus have I also declared unto you how Christ, in the fullness of time, performed that which God before all time purposed, and in time promised, touching the helping and delivering of fallen mankind.

Amen

Law Established by Gospel

“Do we then make void the law through faith?

God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” (Rom 3:31)

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matt 5:17-19)

JM has a great post today with quotes from a sermon by John Gill on how the law is established by the gospel – Gill’s sermon is HERE.

Brother Gill rightly understood our utter fallen-ness in our father Adam and how that Christ bore away our deserved curse and became for us, in his Plan of Redemption (Covenant of Grace) our legal obedience. We are no longer under the law as a condemnation (as a Covenant of Works), bur rather stand secure in our substitute, our surety, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14)

See JM’s post HERE

For more on the Works/Grace distinction in Scripture, see:

“Federal Theology: Works vs Grace”

John Gill Sermon

Federal Theology: Works vs Grace

Concerning God’s Plan of Salvation

The historic reformed faith, in contradiction to some more modern religious innovations, held that God has had a single unified plan of redemption for his elect people from all time. This plan has been revealed by greater and fuller measures from age to age (Heb 1:1) in the narrative of the Bible. This Plan of Salvation is commonly called, by theologians, the Covenant of Grace. This term ‘covenant’ is used to describe the representative nature of God’s Plan, in which all men are either fallen in their representative head – Adam; or they stand in their representative head – Christ Jesus.

Disobedience of Adam; Obedience of Christ

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (…) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom 5:12,18-19)

The Heavenly Man and the Earthly Man

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (I Cor 15:45-49)

The Latin term for an arrangement or agreement between two parties is ‘foedus’, from which we get our English word Federal. From the Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary, we have the following definition:

Foedus: a league, treaty, compact, alliance

From Webster’s 1928 American Dictionary, we have the following definition of Federal:

FEDERAL: [from L. faedus...]

1. Pertaining to a league or contract; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between nations.

2. Consisting in a compact between parties, particularly and chiefly between states or nations; founded on alliance by contract or mutual agreement; as a federal government, such as that of the United States.

Early Latin-writing Protestant theologians adopted the term ‘foedus’ to describe the representative nature of God’s Plan of Salvation as found in Scripture and this has been passed down to English-speaking churches as ‘Federal’ or ‘Covenant’ theology. Again, the emphasis of this system of theology is on the fallen nature of man into a state of sin and misery; and on the substitutionary nature of our Redeemer who lived a holy and sinless life, and suffered the full measure of God’s wrath in order to merit eternal life on behalf of his covenanted party – the elect of God (2 Tim 1:9). In this role, Christ stood as a Federal head, a ‘Public Person’, or a ‘surety’ (Heb 7:22) of all those that the Father had given Him, in eternity past.

That this system of interpretation of the Scriptures is the right and true one is beyond dispute. That this right and true system is the historic belief of Baptists can be proved from the first Baptists themselves; for Section 7.3 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Declares:

This covenant [God's Plan of Salvation by Grace] is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament; and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect; and 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, man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocency.

( Genesis 3:15; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 11:6, 13; Romans 4:1-2; John 8:56 )

Two Ways of Salvation?

The Federal system of theology then sees two ways of salvation in the Bible – that of works and that of grace. Every man born into the world is made accountable to His Creator for perfect obedience and Holiness to His moral law, which is given us in the Scriptures and is stamped into our being. But, we have rejected the Kingship of God, we have cast off his righteousness, and we have made ourselves to rule in place of God. Now that we are fallen rebels, there remains no hope for us – except that we put our whole faith and trust in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf and to suffer and die and to bear away our penalty for sin.

So then, there are two ‘laws’ unto salvation found in the Holy Scriptures: 1) to live lives of sinless perfection, loving God and our fellow man with all our hearts (law of sin and death, Rom 8:2), or 2) repent of your sin and wickedness and trust in Jesus Christ as your righteousness (‘law’ of faith, Rom 3:28).

Law of Works

• For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:20)
• And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Luke 10:25-28)
• And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he [Jesus] said unto him, …but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matt 19:16-19)

Law of Faith

• But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:4-5)

‘Law of Works’ and ‘Law of Faith’

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Rom 3:19-28)

Sinner, do you stand condemned under the moral law of God, fallen in your father Adam and without hope? Or, have you turned from slavery to sin and taken hold of the Covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ as offered in the Gospel?

Marrow of Modern Divinity – Covenant of Works, part 3

The Fall of Man – Recap

In the prior installments of this series on the Marrow of Modern Divinity, we looked at the testing of man under what theologians call the Covenant of Works. We’ve learned that the first man Adam was made the representative head of all the human race and that he was made Holy and conformable to all holiness and righteousness. Adam was also made mutable, meaning that he had free will and that his nature, unlike God’s nature, was subject to change. In fact, Adam chose to rebel against his Creator and in so doing he died a Spiritual death. Not only did he separate himself from his God, but he fundamentally changed his nature and standing before God. No longer was he Holy and Righteous, but he now became dead to all Spiritual light, separated from having a Holy communion with his Creator; he became the enemy of God and initiated a rebellion against God, not only for himself, but for all his descendants who he represented.

Can Man Be Recovered?

Now that Adam failed in keeping his part of this arrangement of life and peace, what is to become of him? Can the Covenant simply be discarded with and a new arrangement created as the naive dispensationalists believe? If in fact the Covenant cannot be discarded, cannot Adam simply obey it from this point on in order to inherit the blessings of obedience? CIf not Adam, what about Adam’s posterity? Can Adam and his posterity earn enough merit with God to overbalance the damage he has done, thereby wiping out the curse and earning his own salvation as the naive Romanists believe? The Marrow answers these questions in the last sections of chapter 1.

Abrogation of the Covenant? Righteousness No Longer Required?

Nomista, the legalists, who has great confidence in man and man’s ability to do for himself in order to merit favor with God, questions Evangelista regarding the lastingness of the Covenant. If in fact the covenant is broken, should not God simply throw it away and make a new arrangement with man – a new dispensation, or a new testing of obedience in order to merit salvation?

Evangelista answers this question by reminding Nomista that an agreement (or contract) is in force regardless of the ability of either party to deliver what he owes. If a debtor cannot pay his debt, is he thereby released from debt? If a criminal were to commit such a heinous crime that he were sentenced to 20 life-times in prison, should he be loosed from his sentence because it is more than he can pay?

No. The requirement for a just standing before God is Righteousness. It always has been and it always will be. In each economy of God’s unfolding drama of revelation, man has moral obligation of perfect, perpetual, and pristine obedience.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:20)

In fact, it is not the message of the gospel that righteousness is NOT required for salvation, but rather that THAT very righteousness is supplied by a substitute – the second Adam. We will discuss the second Adam in the next chapter.

Recovery of Man by Works Righteousness?

Can Adam’s Descendants Restore Themselves?

OK, so Adam failed in his requirement to be holy before God. But what about his descendants? Don’t we each have the power within us to live a perfect life?

According to the Word of God, the answer is NO!

• All men are fallen in our father Adam – I Cor 15:22
• Every man is born a sinner – Ps 51:5
• This sin nature makes us unable to live righteously – Rom 6:20, 7:12
• This darkness in us makes us unable to even grasp or accept any Spiritual truth whatsoever – John 3:3, 1 Cor 2:14, Eph 2:1-3

According to the Bible, in fact, the reason we sin is because we are born sinners. We are born the very enemies of God and without being reconciled to him, nothing we do pleases him. Because we are unclean, everything we do is unclean and cannot save.

Evangelista replied to Nomista this way: ‘Yea, indeed, it is impossible for any mere man in the time of this life to keep it perfectly; yea, though he be a regenerate man; for the law requireth of man that he “love the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might”; and there is not the holiest man that lives, but he is flesh as well as spirit in all parts and faculties of his soul, and therefore cannot love the Lord perfectly. Yea, and the law forbiddeth all habitual concupiscence, not only saying, “thou shalt not consent to lust,” but, “thou shalt not lust”: it doth not only command the binding of lust, but forbids also the being of lust: and who in this case can say, “My heart is clean”?’

Is There a Works-Based Satisfaction for Sin?

As Nomista is a carnal and unregenerate man, he wonders why man cannot simply work to restore what he has lost with God. Much like modern Roman Catholics, Nomista is well-intentioned, but his doctrine smells of hell and Satan and has none the savour of Christ and his grace. Evangelista answers Nomista’s objection this way:

Evan Because his sin, in eating the forbidden fruit [Rom 5:15] was committed against an infinite and eternal God, and therefore merited an infinite and eternal satisfaction; which was to be either some temporal punishment, equivalent to eternal damnation, or eternal damnation itself. Now Adam was a finite creature, therefore, between finite and infinite there could be no proportion; so that it was impossible for Adam to have made satisfaction by any temporal punishment; and if he had undertaken to have satisfied by an eternal punishment, he should always have been satisfying, and never have satisfied, as is the case of the damned in hell.

Nom. And why was he unable to pay the debt of perfect and perpetual obedience for the time to come?

Evan. Because his former power to obey was by his fall utterly impaired; for thereby his understanding was both enfeebled and drowned in darkness; and his will was made perverse, and utterly deprived of all power to will well; and his affections were quite set out of order; and all things belonging to the blessed life of the soul were extinguished, both in him and us; so that he was become impotent, yea, dead, and therefore not able to stand in the lowest terms to perform the meanest condition. The very truth is, our father Adam falling from God, did, by his fall, so dash him and us all in pieces, that there was no whole part left, either in him or us, fit to ground such a covenant upon. And this the apostle witnesseth, both when he says, “We are of no strength”; and, “The law was made weak, because of the flesh,” (Rom 5:6, 8:3).

Next Time…

In the next installment (and final part regarding the Covenant between God and man), we will look at the necessary satisfaction demanded by Adam’s sin. Beyond that, we will begin to examine what the Marrow teaches regarding God’s plan for redemption of fallen mankind.

Marrow of Modern Divinity – Covenant of Works

How Sin Came Into the World

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:  …Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  (Romans 5:12-19)

Federal Theology

The passage from Romans 5 teaches us that in Adam’s sin, we all fell. The perfect image of God stamped onto man’s soul was marred and man became an enemy of God. Our representative failed us, BUT, by the grace of God, God’s chosen One, the surety of our salvation, performed the righteousness demanded by God on our behalf and merited our salvation for us.

 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:4-5)

In this passage we have two Federal Heads – Adam and Christ. Adam, the first head of all mankind rebelled against God and plunged all those that were ‘in him’ into damnation. The second Federal head, Christ, redeemed all those that had fallen by taking on himself the nature of man and bearing away the curse of the law on their behalf. So, in God’s Providence, all men are fallen in their representative Adam or stand in their representative Christ.

So, there are two primary arrangements in Scripture related to man’s standing before God – (1) man’s initial testing before God in our father Adam, and (2) our standing before God, based upon his plan of redemption for mankind through Christ.

Testing of Man

Chapter 1 of the Marrow of Modern Divinity tackles the first relationship – the arrangement between God and man in the Garden of Eden, whereby man could and was enabled and advantaged to, if he so chose, to stand before God on the basis of his own works, by obedience to God’s revealed will. In The Marrow, Fisher refers to this as the ‘Law of Works’ (as against the ‘Law of Faith’ later to be revealed).

Summary of the Covenant of Works between God and Man

• Adam representative of all humanity – As Adam stood/fell all humanity stood/fell
• Adam was created perfect in his Holiness and Righteousness – Adam was made morally perfect and was created in perfect harmony with God’s Holiness

The perfect Holiness demanded by God’s just character is referred to by theologians as the moral law. Boston quotes the Westminster Larger Catechism’s definition of the moral law thus:

Thus the moral law is described to be, “the declaration of the will of God to mankind, directing and binding every one to personal, perfect, and perpetual conformity and obedience thereunto, in the frame and disposition of the whole man, soul and body, and in performance of all these duties of holiness and righteousness, which he oweth to God and man, promising life upon the fulfilling, and threatening death upon the breach of it.” Larger Catech. Quest. 93

Regarding the initial state of man after creation, we have from Scripture:
Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Matthew 5:48 – Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Ephesians 4:24 – And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

From Scripture, we have it that God created man morally upright and perfect and we know that God requires a perfect moral obedience. Adam was created this way and the man that is renewed by Christ is restored (buy only partially in this life) to righteousness and true holiness.

Covenant of Works

This moral obedience, or moral conformity to God’s perfect standard of Holiness, is called by Fisher and Boston in the Marrow the ‘law of works’ (after Romans 3:27) and is often called the Covenant of Works by reformed Covenant theologians to emphasize the particular arrangement between God and Adam in the testing of man. But is this arrangement between God and Adam as our representative actually in the form of a Covenant? From the Marrow, we have:

Nomista But, sir, you know there is no mention made in the book of Genesis of this covenant of works, which, you say, was made with man at first.

Evangelist Though we read not the word “covenant” betwixt God and man, yet have we there recorded what may amount to as much; for God provided and promised to Adam eternal happiness, and called for perfect obedience, which appears from God’s threatening, (Gen 2:17); for if man must die if he disobeyed, it implies strongly, that God’s covenant was with him for life, if he obeyed.

Nom But, sir, you know the word “covenant” signifies a mutual promise, bargain, and obligation betwixt two parties. Now, though it is implied that God promised man to give him life if he obeyed, yet we read not, that man promised to be obedient.

Evan I pray take notice, that God does not always tie man to verbal expressions, but doth often contract the covenant in real impressions in the heart and frame of the creature, and this was the manner of covenanting with man at the first; for God had furnished his soul with an understanding mind, whereby he might discern good from evil, and right from wrong: and not only so, but also in his will was most great uprightness, (Eccl 7:29); and his instrumental parts were orderly framed to obedience. The truth is, God did engrave in man’s soul wisdom and knowledge of his will and works, and integrity in the whole soul, and such a fitness in all the powers thereof, that neither the mind did conceive, nor the heart desire, nor the body put in execution, anything but that which was acceptable to God; so that man, endued with these qualities, was able to serve God perfectly.

Commenting on this exchange, Boston observes:

The covenant being revealed to man created after God’s own image, he could not but perceive the equity and benefit of it; and so heartily approve, embrace, accept, and consent to it. And this accepting is plainly intimated in Eve’s words to the serpent, (Gen 3:2,3), “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

More on the Covenant of Works (what Fisher calls the ‘Law of Works’) in the next installment…