By Wyatt Pruitt
A covenant is a contract in which God enables us to enter into his presence by Him coming down to us (Condescension)
The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him, as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.
-Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) Chapter 7
God made a covenant of works with Adam and Eve in which they failed. Adam’s sin now is a curse on every generation after him and has caused separation between God and man
God made a covenant of works with Adam and Eve in which they failed. Adam’s sin now is a curse on every generation after him and has caused separation between God and man
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19
Because of Adam’s sin we deserve death, but God has not given up on us and sent his Son Jesus to die in our place and was raised to new life so we could have eternal life
In the old testament, God’s people looked forward to the coming of the messiah, now in the new testament we look backwards to the resurrection, and forwards to the coming Glory
This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation, and is called the Old Testament.
-WCF Chapter 7
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
Hebrews 8:8-12 ESV
In the old testament, God’s people entered into Gods covenant through Circumcision and sustained it through the offering of Sacrifices
Now in the new testament we enter into covenant with God through Baptism and it is dispensed in the preaching of the Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist/Communion)
Under the gospel, when Christ the substance was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed, are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity and less outward glory, yet in them it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament. There are not, therefore, two covenants of grace differing in substance, but one and the same under various dispensations.
WCF Chapter 7
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