Covenants are God's way of dealing with mankind. The Hebrew word for covenant, berith, was translated into the LXX by diatheke, meaning last will and testament, in order to emphasize that God alone makes the terms of his covenants. The two great covenants of God with man are the Covenants of Works and Covenant of Grace. Although the term Covenant of Works is not used in Genesis 1-3, the substance of a covenant is present. It was renewed after the Flood with modifications, as is indicated by the absence of the Hebrews word for “cut” which is used consistently for all new covenant undertakings. The curse of the Covenant of Works, death, likewise comes on all men, and the Covenant with Adam is referenced in Hosea 6:7. All people innately understand the terms of the Covenant of Works: keep the commandments of God and you will live, break them and you will die. That is why all men naturally want and expect to be saved by their good works. But God's demands are absolute; he insists on complete obedience. All men disobeyed God in Adam, all men are born with corrupt natures, all men sin. Only Christ has fully obeyed God. Only those who are united to him by faith, so that their sins are imputed to Christ who died for them, and Christ's righteousness is imputed to them, can ever stand before God. Christ, the Second Adam, is our Savior by the Covenant of Grace.
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Bill Edgar has been the pastor of the Broomall Reformed Presbyterian Church since 1981 and a teacher of mathematics at East High School in West Chester, Pennsylvania since 1980. He was graduated from Swarthmore College in 1968, attended the Reformed Presbyterian Theological...
