"Simply stated, Venema believes the covenant of works is abrogated, and I do not. The promise of the law still Stands and functions, and has been unchanged by the entrance of sin into the world. That is, if you perfectly obey the law of God you will live and have eternal life. The law has not changed, and neither has the promise appended to it. Rather, what has changed is that humanity has fallen and is unable to fulfill the requirements of the law. The defect, therefore, is with man, not with the law (Rom. 7:12; 8:3). To say, then, that the covenant of works is abrogated, fails to consider that its promises and curses still hang over humanity, and the only way to be delivered from them is through faith alone in Christ. Jesus delivers sinners from the moral law as a covenant of works. This State of affairs is true now and was also true for believers in the Old Testament."J.V. Fesko, The Confessional Presbyterian, Volume 9, 2013
[HT - John Fonville]
Are you saying that the covenant of works was made not only with Adam as our representative, but rather that the covenant of works is made with all of us, and is the law which does not change?
ReplyDeleteWere there ever any additions to the unchanging law (which can change--not in substance--from a covenant of works to no longer a covenant of works) given to Adam?
Was Abraham discharged from the covenant of works because of the bond of Abraham's surety or did Abraham have to wait to be justified until after Abraham's surety actually paid the debt by Death?
Or was Abraham taken out from under the covenant of works as soon as Abraham's Surety brought in righteousness by obeying the covenant of works for a long enough time?
I am assuming of course that it was not Christ's death which brought in righteousness. There would be no hope at all if Christ only wiped away iniquity by His death. Wiping away sins is not parallel to bringing in righteousness but another different thing.
Daniel 9 :24 Seventy weeksare decreed
about your people and your holy city—
to bring the rebellion to an end,
to put a stop to sin,
to wipe away iniquity,
to bring in lasting righteousness,
Some other questions: since the Lord Jesus is human, does that show that all humans are born under the covenant of works? Did God the Father first consent to God the Son being born as a Surety? Or was it God the Son who first consented to become human?