Covenant Theology
   

The Bible is divided!
 
There is an “Old” and there is a “New.”

 
Why is that?
 
There are many things in this world that are old and very valuable, and conversely some things are old and worth nothing because they are broken, or outdated.
 
Some things are new and valuable because they are rare or “improved”.  Then again, some things are new but really don’t meet a need. (What happened to New Coke anyway?)
 
There are two “testaments” in the Bible, and both are very valuable!  Reformed T
heology has long championed the importance of valuing each testament because, despite a distinction between the two – there is something very important that they share – they both point us to a covenant making (and keeping) God, responsible for electing, calling, redeeming, and preserving a people for His own glory.
 
The following is a very brief treatment of Covenant Theology.  That which follows is the preferred perspective for interpreting the history of salvation presented to us in the Bible.  It is important because ALL of the Bible does in fact inform us about our relationship to God, and beyond that, demonstrates the grace of God in saving a people who are from birth, “covenant breakers.”
 
So what is a Covenant?
 
Simply stated, a covenant is a contract.  Contracts define all of life – they exist at our place of employment, in our marriages, with our neighbors, and with the stranger who stands too close when meeting for the first time.  If you are in a relationship of any kind -- on the sports field or in the home -- rules have been “established”to help us all get along (and we all know when those rules get broken)!
 
So when was the first “contract”made? 

 
Actually, that’s an eternal question, and a little beyond us at this point.  So let’s concentrate on our time frame.  Let’s start with creation.
 
God created the heavens and the earth.  God created them for His own purposes and to display His glory.  God has a relationship with the created order; but for the most part, creation does what God designed the creation to do.  The book of Jeremiah states that God has a covenant with the day and the night – a fixed sequential order to things – these are the rules that God has established.  There is so much more to say about this, but we’ll move on to covenants that have a greater impact upon our lives.
 
The Covenant of Works
 
In the Garden of Eden stood a tree.  God told man to enjoy all the fruit of the garden, but was told not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because it would kill him.
 
That was the first contract!  Life and blessing for obedience – death and misery for disobedience.  God set up the rules to maintain perfect harmony with Him and the creation.  But Adam and Eve decided that “new knowledge” was more precious than peace with God.  The first man, Adam, stood in our place, and broke the contract.  Since he represented us, we are subject to his curse. (You’ll need to hold on to that concept because it will come up again.)
 
In the mire of Adam and Eve’s sin, God surprises us by announcing a message of grace!  One day, a descendant of Adam and Eve would come and crush the curse of death.  That announcement was Good News, but from Adam on, humankind has been hell bent on destroying pretty much everything of value on the planet.  God needs to intervene.
 
God graciously decided to preserve Noah, and made a covenant with him and his family.  “Build a boat, and you will be saved.”  Noah complied, and in so doing, he “saved” his family, he “saved” his lineage, and he “saved” a lot of animals.  But Noah wasn’t a complete covenant keeper, because he was also a sinner – in need of God’s grace to save him from his own fallen nature.
 
God made a Covenant with Abraham and his family.  “Leave your country, and I will give you descendants, a land, and bless all the families on the earth through you.”
Abraham did indeed leave his land, but what God promised him was beyond human belief.  He was old, his wife was barren, and he had no claim to any land to call his own!  All of these promises depended upon God to fulfill.  So the LORD miraculously gave him a son, and through this son (and his sons), came enough people to form a nation.  But Abraham wasn’t a complete covenant keeper either. He never even lived long enough to see the fulfillment of God’s promises to him.
 
God made a Covenant with Israel under the leadership of Moses.  God wrote down the terms of that covenant in all of the laws (especially the 10 Commandments) that they were to obey.  God graciously lead them out of the slavery of Egypt, and over time, brought them to a Promised Land.  But Moses wasn’t a complete covenant keeper either for he didn’t even enter the land promised to Abraham’s descendants.
 
God made a Covenant with King David and his sons – to always have a son to rule upon the throne of God’s people.  King David raised the standard for the nation of Israel.  He was victorious in every battle, except with his own personal trials and temptations.  Although David epitomizes the authority for providing a powerful and secure kingdom, he knew that he was in need of saving, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (A Psalm of David).  Yet none of David’s natural descendants could keep the conditions of God’s covenant.  Some other king would need to fulfill the contract.
 
Even the true prophets and priests of God in the Old Testament, though inspired by a holy zeal, recognized that they did not meet all of God’s expectations.  So they too looked forward to someone like them – but someone better who would lead all of God’s people, “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”(Jeremiah 32:39)
 
From Adam on, no one fulfilled the rules of relationship with God, maintaining perfect harmony with Him and others.  Their level of obedience never permitted them to inherit a land and their commitments never brought them to the place where they would become a blessing to all the families of the earth.  Something “new” needed to happen, "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…”(Jeremiah 31:31)
 
HOLD ON!  Does that mean that no one in the Old Testament was ever saved because everyone failed to live up to the terms of the Covenant?  Perfect question! (And we’ll answer that one later too.)  But let’s not forget the longing of the Old Testament:  Can anyone fully meet the terms of the Covenant of Works?  There is such a one.
 
The Covenant of Grace

 
With every example previously cited from the Old Testament, though they each lived far short of God’s expectations, these individuals (and so many more in the Old Testament!) also had the grace of God proclaimed to them.  (Eg, Adam = Gen. 3:21 = God provides a covering to hide the shame of their guilt; Noah = Gen. 6:8 = Found “favor” in the eyes of God; Abraham = Gen 15:6 = He believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness; etc., etc…)
 
While the Covenant of Works is still in force; God graciously provides “His work” to atone for the damaged relationship of sinners with a righteous God.  We become most familiar with this notion when considering the Old Testament sacrificial system.  An “unblemished”animal could be offered as a substitute in the place of the sinner who acknowledged their sin as an affront before a holy God, but through an appropriate sacrifice, with the accompanying acts of contrition, mercy and restitution, reconciliation with God could be attained.
 
God graciously provided a system of substitution, while still communicating the awful penalty required for sin.  If a contract is broken, some kind of penalty ensues. For those who knew they stood in violation, and wanted to reconcile, an animal sacrifice could cover the price of the penalty.
 
But the “new” covenant is even greater than that! It doesn’t just cover sin – it takes it away!  And it doesn’t just take it away, it replaces it with all of God’s righteous covenant keeping!! 
 
This is the greatest feature of the Covenant of Grace –and answers the questions at the end of our discussion of the Covenant of Works:
           
Were the saints of the Old Testament saved by works or grace? Both! Here's why...

Has anyone ever fulfilled the covenant of works?  YES!  Jesus Christ!  He fulfilled all the Old Testament expectations, and met every term, rule, and expectation that God had of the human race!  Jesus always had, and also rightfully earned the love of a true Son of God because he was from all eternity – the Son of God – always possessing perfect conformity to God’s expectation; and as the Son of Man, fulfilled the Covenant of Works in every thought, word, and deed.  Beyond this, Jesus was also a perfect, unblemished sacrifice, graciously substituting his life upon the cross, to endure the wrath of God against sin, doing so to purchase redemption for those who place their trust in Him.
 
This is the beauty of the Covenant of Grace: It complies with the Covenant of Works!  Are we saved by works?  Yes, but they happen to be the perfect work of Jesus Christ on our behalf!  Are we saved by grace?  Yes, because we did not earn the work, devotion, or love of Christ!  We receive it by faith, by simply believing that our deserved punishment for sin can be forgiven by the work of Christ on our behalf!  This is called “Justification.”  A legal declaration that states that our sins and the penalty for them have been removed from us and imputed to Christ -- punished upon the cross as a substitutionary atonement; FURTHERMORE, the righteousness that Jesus Christ possesses and secured by his perfect covenant keeping, is imputed to repentant sinners, who by faith rest and receive what Christ has done for them!
 
We recall that Adam’s failure brought us all condemnation; but Jesus Christ’s devotion gave us our righteous standing before God, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ?  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.  (Romans 5:1, 17,18)
 
How does all this work out?

 
We need to introduce the final major covenant to this theology:  the Covenant of Redemption.  There is only one God, the true and living God; but He is manifested in three “persons” (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – these three are the one God, the same in essence, and equal in power and glory).  Our Triune God, while one, is also in relationship.  God established a contract within Himself:  to accomplish an eternal purpose and to bring glory to Himself.  He purposed to do this in creation, and in salvation, and in judgment, and in ushering in a new eternal state.
 
The Covenant of Redemption, stated simply, declares that God the Father planned for our salvation (before time, and throughout time, to save a people for His own glory in both the Old and New Testaments).  God the Son, Jesus Christ, in keeping with this Covenant, provides his life as a substitute for the purpose of redeeming God’s elect.  And God the Holy Spirit keeps the terms of this Covenant by graciously applying the work of Christ to sinners (who now through imputation, are seen as Saints!)
 
All of the Trinity has covenanted together to save and restore a remnant of lost humanity.  Due to God’s eternal nature, His work of imputation applies to the Old Testament saints (even though they witnessed it in shadows and types), and to the New Testament saints of today (even though we are 2000 years removed from the crucifixion, and many of us not even physically related to the original people for whom all the covenants were established!)
 
Christ fulfills all the promises made in all the covenants established because he alone has met every expectation of God.  And the fulfillment of these covenants is truly spiritual in nature because they extend beyond nations and a physical lineage, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call."  –(Acts 2:39)
 
Is there another testament?
 
This is just a slight jab at the purveyors of The Book of Mormon which has nothing to do with Covenant Theology!  They Latter Day Saints do not comprehend, or teach in any fashion the implications of the Covenant of Works, Grace, or Redemption; but espouse a religion that is all man-centered.  Each reader of this short work ought to contemplate if they have bought into a theological system that really glorifies human achievement over the work, grace, and redemption of God.
 
More discussion!
 
If we have prompted you to ask us a question regarding this topic, we sincerely invite you to contact us.  We are happy to discuss this and other items on our website for the purposes of understanding and clarifying the faith, “that was once and for all entrusted to the saints.”
 
 
For almost any question about Reformed theology requiring further exploration, we recommend the resources at: www.monergism.com.  Again, if you run into questions while visiting there –please write us.
 
God bless you, and to God ALONE be the Glory!

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...ALL of the Bible does in fact inform us about our relationship to God...













God told man to enjoy all the fruit of the garden, but was told not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because it would kill him.
That was the first contract! 
































Can anyone fully meet the terms of the Covenant of Works?  There is such a one.



















Were the saints of the Old Testament saved by works or grace? Both!
Here's why...











We recall that Adam's failure brought us all condemnation; but Jesus Christ's devotion gave us our righteous standing before God











All of the Trinity has covenanted together to save and restore a remnant of lost humanity.















S.D.G.