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An
Evaluation of Covenant Theology
Covenant
Theology is a theological system based on three covenants that are not
explicitly identified by name in Scripture. These three covenants are
(1) The Covenant of Redemption. (2) The Covenant of Works. (3) The
Covenant of Grace.
(1) The Covenant of Redemption (2) The Covenant of Works A definition
of the Covenant of Works: This was "an agreement in the Garden of Eden
between God and Adam wherein God promises life for perfect obedience
and death for disobedience" (Larry D. Pettegrew, Editor, Forsaking Israel: How it happened and why it matters,
2021, Kress Biblical Resourcees, The Woodlands, Texas, p. 79).
According to The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 1647, "When God had
created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon
condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death" (as found in Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3, ed. Philip Schaff [ Grand Rapids: Baker; repr. 1977], 678).
The biggest weakness of the Covenant of Works is that no such covenant bears that name in the OT. It is non-existent in Scripture. Several points are to be made: 1. No covenant was stated or alluded to in Genesis 2:4-3:23. 2. What existed there was a simple prohibition of God with the natural consequence of death if the prohibition were violated. God told Adam, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you will surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). That prohibition is nowhere in Scripture labeled a covenant. It is a command with a consequence. 3. To do what God does and says is life. To do other than what God does or says is death. For example, God has made this entire universe with a law of gravity. If a man jumps off the top story of a 100-floor building, he will certainly die. That is not a covenant. It is the natural consequence of violating one of God's laws. 4. Ursinus implied that the Covenant of Works continued on perpetually, not only in the Law of Moses, but also in the Law of Christ. 5. Thus, the Covenant of Works implies that man can earn his salvation and eternal life by keeping it. That is not true. Salvation has never been earned by working. It has always been by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-10). For example, when God promised Abraham, whose wife was barren, as many children as the stars of the heavens, Abraham believed God, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:1-6). That is still how salvation is granted. Works are the by-product of faith and salvation, not the cause of either (Eph. 2:8-10). 6. The Tree of Life was not a sacrament attached to the imaginary Covenant of Works. Moreover, the Old Covenant sacraments of circumcision and passover do not replace the imagined sacrament of the Tree of Life. 7. There are a number of Biblical Covenants identified in Scripture. Covenant Theology gives short shrift to these. Why not concentrate on the covenants the Bible does identify? Among these are (1) The Flood Covenant; (2) The Abrahamic Covenant; (3) The Davidic Covenant; (4) The New Covenant, including a) Jeremiah and the Everlasting Covenant; b) Isaiah and the Everlasting Covenant; c) Ezekiel and the Everlasting Covenant. (3) The Covenant of Grace Updated May 31, 2024 May 26, 2024 |
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