14. The Covenant of Grace
8. How does the narrative of the fall in Genesis 3 explain the continued presence of sin in the world and its impact on human relationships and society?
Reflect on the consequences of sin as described in Genesis 3, particularly regarding shame, fear, and the breakdown of relationships.
9. What role does conscience play in human awareness of sin, according to the chapter, and how does this shape our understanding of moral responsibility?
Consider the function of conscience in recognizing sin and its importance in guiding moral behavior and accountability.
10. How does the chapter describe the distinction between different types and degrees of sins, and what are the practical implications for Christian living and ethical decision-making?
Reflect on the various categories of sin—sins of omission and commission, sins against different commandments, and degrees of guilt—and how this understanding informs our daily conduct and pursuit of holiness.
14. The Covenant of Grace
To that profound question, humanity in all ages and places has consistently given the answer that they, as they are, cannot appear before God nor dwell in His presence. Is there anyone who can declare with confidence: "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? (Proverbs 20:9). All feel the weight of guilt and uncleanness, and all acknowledge, if not to others, then at least inwardly to themselves, that they are not as they ought to be. Even the hardened sinner experiences moments when discontent and unrest grip his heart, and the self-righteous harbor a lingering hope that God will overlook their shortcomings and accept their intentions in place of perfect deeds.
It is true that many strive to dismiss these serious thoughts from their minds and live as if there were no God and no commandments.
They deceive themselves with the hope that there is no God (Psalm 14:1), or that He does not concern Himself with the sins of humanity, believing that those who do evil are regarded as good in His eyes
(Malachi 2:17). Yet, the Scriptures call such reasonings foolishness (Psalm 14:1) and even suggest they blaspheme God's holy name
(Psalm 10:13). Those who uphold the moral law and its lofty ideals cannot help but agree. Certainly, God is love, but this profound truth can only be fully appreciated when we understand that divine love is also holy and perfectly aligned with righteousness. God's grace can only find its proper place when His law is firmly established.
Indeed, the entire history of the world bears unequivocal witness to this divine law. We cannot separate the world from the special revelation in Christ, which reveals the love of God, for without it, the general revelation with its blessings and benefits would soon fade.
But even if we momentarily turn our thoughts away from the
revelation in Christ, little ground remains for belief in a God of love.
The history of the world indicates, if anything, that God has a dispute with His creatures. There exists a fundamental disagreement, a separation, a conflict between God and His world. God does not consent to the ways of man, and man does not align with the will of God. Each follows their own paths and harbors their own thoughts and intentions about all things. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8).
Thus, the history of the world is also a history of judgment. It is not, as the poet once suggested, the final world judgment, which will come at the end of days, nor is it merely a series of judgments, for the earth is still filled with the goodness of God (Psalm 104:24).
Nevertheless, the history of the world is a history replete with judgments, a narrative of strife and struggle, of blood and tears, of trials and divine judgments. It is as though the words of Moses, uttered when he witnessed the generation of Israelites dying in the wilderness, are inscribed over it all: "We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation" (Psalm 90:7).
This historical testimony affirms that humanity has continually searched and still searches for a lost paradise, for lasting happiness, for deliverance from all the evils that beset them. Within all people lies a yearning and a quest for redemption, which finds particular expression in religion. The concept of redemption can be so broadly understood that it encompasses all human endeavor on earth. When man strives to provide for his needs through the labor of his hands, when he seeks to defend himself against various hostile forces in nature and society, when he endeavors through science and art to
subdue the earth, all these efforts are directed toward the redemption of some evil and the attainment of some good.
The notion of redemption is never truly associated with human efforts. No matter how much these endeavors enhance the comfort and richness of life, humanity understands that all this progress and civilization cannot address its deepest needs or deliver it from its greatest distress. Salvation is a religious concept and belongs firmly within the realm of religion. All civilizations have been preceded by religion, and even today, religion maintains its unique and irreplaceable position alongside science, art, and technology. It cannot be substituted or compensated for by any human endeavor or the splendid achievements of human labor. Religion addresses a profound and distinct need of humanity and, after the fall, serves to rescue him from a unique and pervasive distress.
Hence, the concept of salvation is present in all religions.
It is true that some categorize religions into those of nature, morality, and salvation, distinguishing the latter as a special type.
However, this classification is rightly contested by others. In a broad sense, the idea of salvation is intrinsic to all religions; every religion of the people aims to be a religion of salvation. Opinions may differ regarding the evil from which salvation is sought, the means by which it is achieved, and the ultimate good that is pursued.
Nonetheless, the pursuit of salvation from evil and the attainment of the highest good are central to all religions. The fundamental question in religion is always: "What must I do to be saved?" What no civilization or development, no mastery over the earth can accomplish, that is precisely what religion seeks: enduring
happiness, eternal peace, perfect bliss. In religion, man is ever concerned with God. In his sinful state, he often misconstrues God's nature, seeks Him with wrong intentions, along the wrong paths, and in the wrong places, but he nevertheless always seeks God, if only he might reach out and find Him.
This quest for salvation, unique to humanity and seeking fulfillment in the myriad self-made religions of the peoples, holds immense significance for Christianity. For this need is continually awakened and sustained by God Himself in the heart of man. It signifies that God has not yet wholly abandoned the fallen human race to itself. It is an inextinguishable hope that drives humanity to live and labor on its long journey through the world. It serves as a guarantee and prophecy that such salvation exists and that where people search for it in vain, it is granted by God out of pure mercy.
To better understand and appreciate the redemption that God's grace has prepared in Christ, it is useful to reflect on humanity's attempts, apart from special revelation, to deliver itself from evil and attain the highest good. When we do this, we are struck by both the great diversity and the great uniformity characterizing these attempts.
The diversity is evident in the multitude of religions that have existed throughout the ages and continue to exist today, far surpassing the diversity of peoples and languages. Just as thorns and thistles spring forth from the earth, false religions proliferate from human nature into the wild. They are so numerous and varied that they are almost impossible to categorize comprehensively. Since religion occupies a central place in human life, it assumes different characteristics as the relationships between God and the world, nature and spirit, freedom
and necessity, fate and guilt, history and development are variously interpreted. The more definitively or negatively evil is perceived— whether as an independent entity or as a diminishing point in development, whether natural or moral, sensual or spiritual—the more the concept of redemption shifts, and the direction in which redemption is sought changes accordingly.
And yet, when we pierce the essence of all these religions, they reveal traits of similarity and kinship. Each religion harbors a set of ideas about God and the world, spirits and men, soul and body, and the origin, nature, and ultimate purpose of things. Each religion presents a doctrine, a worldview, and dogma. Moreover, no religion is content with merely accepting these ideas rationally; it insists that man, through and with the aid of these ideas, must enter into a relationship and fellowship with the supernatural realm of the Godhead and spirits. Man universally understands that he does not naturally share in the favor of the Godhead; he recognizes that for his eternal happiness and the salvation of his soul, he must possess this favor. Concurrently, he feels deeply that he lacks this favor due to his sin and thus lacks fellowship with God. Therefore, a third component in every religion emerges—an attempt to obtain or secure this favor and fellowship permanently. Every religion brings with it a set of ideas, strives to cultivate certain conditions, and prescribes a series of actions.
These religious acts fall into two categories. The first includes those acts referred to as worship, primarily consisting of religious gatherings, sacrifices, prayers, and hymns. However, religion is never confined to these explicitly religious acts; because it occupies a central place in life and embraces all humanity, it permeates every
aspect of life, seeking to bring it into harmony with itself. Every religion raises a moral ideal and proclaims a moral law to which man must conform in his personal, domestic, civil, and social life. Thus, in every religion, alongside ideas and attitudes, there are actions related to both worship and moral life, distinct in cultural and ethical terms.
There is no religion devoid of these elements. Yet, significant differences exist in the content of each element, their relationship to one another, and the value assigned to each. Paul declares that the essence of paganism is that men have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of some creature (Romans 1:23). This principle of paganism stands firm, and no study of religions can overturn its truth.
However, this principle admits of varied manifestations. The apostle himself notes that the heathens sometimes transformed the glory of God into the likeness of a corruptible man, at other times into that of birds, and yet again into that of four-footed and creeping creatures.
The more the Godhead is identified with the world, with nature, with spirits or souls, with humans or animals, the more religious ideas, emotions, and actions are altered.
Three main forms can be discerned. When the Divine is identified with the mysterious forces of nature, religion degenerates into gross superstition and fearful witchcraft; soothsayers and magicians are sought to grant mankind power over the capricious nature of the invisible, divine beings. If the Divine is equated with the human, then religion adopts a more human character, but it easily descends into ritualistic formalism or dry moralism. When the Divine is conceived as the idea, the soul, or the substance of the world, then
religion retreats from outward appearances into the mysticism of the heart, seeking communion with the Divine through asceticism and ecstasy. In the various religions, one or the other of these main forms predominates, but never in such a way as to entirely exclude the others. Salvation is always pursued through reason and knowledge, will and deed, or heart and feeling.
Philosophy concurs with this; it too grapples with the problem of salvation and seeks a worldview that satisfies both reason and emotion. Philosophy, born from religion, continually integrates elements of religion, and for many, it functions as a quasi-religion.
Yet, despite its reflective endeavors, it does not transcend the fundamental notions of religion. Whenever it derives a rule for life from its worldview, it invariably strives to chart a path to salvation, whether through the knowledge of the state, the moral acts of the will, or the experiences of the heart. Without special revelation, neither man's religion nor the philosophy of thought possesses true knowledge of God, nor of man and the world, sin and salvation. Both search for God, stretching out their hands, but they do not find Him.
Therefore, to general revelation must come the special revelation; and it is through this that God emerges from His hiddenness, reveals
Himself to man, and takes residence within him. Between the selfinvented, self-willed religions of the nations and the religion founded on the special revelation to Israel and in Christ, there exists a profound difference. In the former, man seeks God, yet forms a false conception of Him, never gaining a proper understanding of the nature of sin and the way of salvation. But in the religion of the Holy
Scriptures, it is always God who seeks man, revealing to him his guilt and impurity, yet also making Himself known in grace and mercy.
There, the longing cry rises from the depths of man's heart: "Oh, that God would rend the heavens and come down!" Here, the heavens part, and God Himself descends. There, man toils, striving through knowledge, adherence to commandments, or seclusion within his own mind, to achieve redemption from evil and fellowship with God.
Here, all human effort falls away, and it is God who acts, intervenes in history, paves the path of redemption in Christ, and by His grace leads man along it. Special revelation is the response God Himself provides in word and deed to the questions that arise in the human heart through His guidance.
Immediately after the fall, we witness God coming to man. At that moment, man, having sinned, is seized with shame and fear; he flees from his Creator and hides among the trees of the garden. But God does not abandon man; He does not let him go. He descends to him, seeks him out, speaks to him, and leads him back to His fellowship,
Gen. 3:7-15.
What transpired immediately after the fall continues through history, generation after generation; as it happened then, so it always occurs. In the entire work of redemption, it is God and God alone who acts as the seeker and caller, the speaker and doer; the entire redemption flows from Him and returns to Him. It is He who substitutes Seth for Abel, Gen. 4:25, who grants favor to Noah, Gen.
6:8, and preserves him through the flood, Gen. 6:12 ff, who calls Abram and covenants with him, Gen. 12:1, 17:1, who elects Israel as His inheritance by sheer grace, Deut. 4:20, 7:6-8, who, in the fullness of time, sends His only begotten Son into the world, Gal. 4:4, and who now gathers from all nations a congregation chosen for eternal life, preserving them for the heavenly inheritance to the end, Eph.
1:10, 1 Pet. 1:5. As in creation and providence, so also in re-creation, God is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, Isa. 44:6, Rev. 22:13. He can be nothing else, for He is
God; from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things, Rom. 11:36.
That God is first in the work of salvation is manifest not only by the fact that the special revelation springs solely from Him, but also by the clear testimony that the entirety of this work is founded upon an eternal counsel of redemption. We have previously shown that all of God's creation and providence stem from such counsel; but, if possible, in even clearer and more forceful language, Scripture teaches us that this same eternal and unchangeable counsel also underpins the whole work of re-creation.
For Scripture often speaks of a counsel that precedes all things (Isa.
46:10), works all things (Eph. 1:11), and particularly aims at the work of redemption (Luke 7:30; Acts 20:27; Heb. 6:17); this counsel of God is the foundation of the entire work of creation (Heb. 6:17).
Moreover, this counsel, which belongs not only to God's understanding but also to His omnipotent will (Eph. 1:5, 11), is indissoluble (Isa. 14:27; 46:10) and unchangeable (Heb. 6:17), and will endure forever (Ps. 33:11; Prov. 19:21). Other names clarify this idea: not only do we find mention of a counsel of God, but also of a pleasure which God has revealed in Christ towards men (Luke 2:14), and delights in their attainment and adoption as children (Matt.
11:26; Eph. 1:5, 9); of a purpose which works electively (Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:9), made in Christ (Eph. 3:11), and realizes itself in the calling
(Rom. 8:28); of a predestination and foreknowledge that have grace as their origin (Rom. 11:5) and Christ as their center (Eph. 1:4), specific persons as their object (Rom. 8:29), and their salvation as
their goal (Eph. 1:4); finally, of a predestination which, through the preaching of God's wisdom (1 Cor. 2:7), leads to adoption as children, conformity to Christ, and eternal life (Acts 13:48; Rom.
8:29; Eph. 1:5).
Summarizing all these scriptural data, it appears that God's counsel has three main contents.
Firstly, it includes election, which is God's gracious intention, according to which He has predestined those whom He has known in love to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). One might also speak of an election of the peoples, because in the days of the Old Testament, Israel alone out of all peoples was accepted by the Lord for His inheritance; and in the New Testament dispensation, one people is acquainted with the Gospel much earlier than another. But the election of Scripture does not stop at the acceptance of the peoples; it continues in humanity to the nations, and in the nations to individuals, so that an Esau is rejected and a Jacob accepted (Rom. 9:13), and the same individuals, who were known beforehand, are also called, justified, and glorified in time
(Rom. 8:30).
Even though the election has certain individuals as its object, it is not grounded in those individuals but only in God's grace; the Lord has mercy on whom He has mercy, and He is merciful towards whom He is merciful, so that it is not the will of the one who wills, nor the will of the one who runs, but the mercy of God (Rom. 9:15, 16). Faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8); the faithful were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that in time they might come to faith and through that faith be holy and blameless before God (Eph. 1:4); so
that there are always as many believers as God has predestined to eternal life (Acts 13:48). The will of God is for us the ultimate ground of all that exists and happens, and His good pleasure is the deepest cause to which the distinction in the eternal destiny of mankind can be traced.
Secondly, in the counsel of redemption, the entire plan of salvation that God intends to bestow upon His elect is firmly established. This divine decree encompasses not only the individuals who are destined to inherit eternal life but also appoints the Mediator who will secure this redemption for them. Thus, Christ Himself may be regarded as the object of God's election; not in the manner that He, like the members of His Church, was elected from a state of sin and misery to a state of salvation, but in this other sense: that He, who was the Mediator of creation, should also serve as the Mediator of re-creation and achieve this through His suffering and death (Matt. 12:18). As a Mediator, subject and obedient to the Father (Matt. 26:42; John
4:34; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 5:8), Christ has a command and a work to fulfill, which the Father has appointed Him (Isa. 53:10; John 6:3840; 10:18; 12:49; 17:4). In return for His accomplished work, He receives His own glory, the salvation of His people, and the highest authority in heaven and earth (Ps. 2:8; Isa. 53:10; John 17:4, 24;
Phil. 2:9).
Like the counsel of creation and providence, that of re-creation does not extend beyond the Son. Indeed, we read explicitly that the eternal purpose was purposed in Christ (Eph. 3:11), and that those who come to faith in time were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). This does not imply that Christ is the foundation or cause of election, for He is Himself the object of
the Father's election in the sense previously described and therefore cannot act as the foundation or cause in re-creation any more than
He does in creation and providence. As with all things, the counsel of God finds its starting point and basis in the Father. But just as creation and providence come into being through the decision and agency of the Father through the Son, so the plan of redemption is also established by the Father in and with the Son. With the Father, the Son designates Himself as the Mediator of salvation and the Head of His Church. From this, we may deduce that election, although it has certain persons as its object, nevertheless excludes all chance and arbitrariness. For the purpose of election is not to bring a random few to salvation and leave them isolated as individuals; rather, God's intent is to appoint Christ the Mediator as the Head of the Church and to form the Church into the body of Christ (1 Cor.
12:12, 27; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16). In the Church, humanity is organically preserved, and the world is restored in the new heavens and earth.
Therefore, in the third place, the effect and application of the salvation acquired by Christ is also determined in the counsel of God.
The plan of redemption is established by the Father in the Son, but also in the fellowship of the Spirit. Just as creation is providentially brought about by the Father through the Son and in the Spirit, so too does re-creation occur solely through the appropriate work of the Holy Spirit. It is He who is acquired, promised, and given through Christ (John 16:7; Acts 2:4, 17), who testifies of Christ and takes everything from Christ (John 15:26; 16:13-14), and who now works in the Church through regeneration (John 3:3), faith (1 Cor. 12:3), adoption (Rom. 8:15), renewal (Tit. 3:5), and sealing until the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30).
And all this the Holy Spirit can effect and accomplish because He, with the Father and the Son, is the one true God, who lives and reigns forever. The love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are established for the people of the Lord in the eternal and unchangeable counsel of God.
This counsel of God is therefore unspeakably rich in consolation.
Often, it is misconstrued and presented as a cause of discouragement and despair. It is then argued that, with everything determined from eternity, man becomes a mere plaything in the hands of divine arbitrariness. What benefit is there for a man to strive for a virtuous life if, being rejected, he is nevertheless lost? Conversely, what does it profit a man to live in sin and surrender to the most abominable godlessness if, being elected, he is nevertheless saved? Such a counsel of God seemingly leaves no room for man's freedom and responsibility, and thus he lives according to the will of his heart and commits sin so that grace may abound.
It is true that the confession of the counsel of God has often been abused in this manner. Such an abuse was not only made since
Augustine and Calvin, but also occurred in the days of Jesus and the apostles. The Pharisees and the lawgivers rejected the counsel of God manifested in the baptism of John, thus turning what should have been a means of conversion into an instrument of their destruction
(Luke 7:30). The apostle Paul calls it blasphemy when accused of recommending the doing of evil that good may come (Romans 3:8) and silences the ignorant who dare to accuse God (Romans 9:19-20).
He has every right to do so; for the counsel of God establishes not only the outcome but also the means; it records not only the effects but also the causes, and it establishes a connection between the two
as reality itself reveals. It does not destroy man's rational and moral nature but rather creates and safeguards it, as history consistently reveals.
The misuse of this confession is particularly grievous because the counsel of God is revealed and preached in Scripture, not to harden our hearts against its reality, but to move us to trust in God's counsel with childlike faith and full assurance in all our need and distress. If salvation depended to any extent on man's faith and good works, it would be lost to him forever. But now, the counsel of God teaches us that salvation is entirely God's work, from beginning to end. Recreation, like creation and providence, is solely a divine work; no man has been His counselor, nor has anyone given Him anything that might be repaid (Rom. 11:34-35). Father, Son, and Spirit together have conceived, established, and carry out the entire work of salvation. Nothing originates from man. All things are of, through, and to God. Therefore, our soul can rest in this with unshakable certainty; it is His will—His eternal, independent, and unchanging will—that in the Church, humanity will be restored and saved.
We are even more convinced of the comfort of this election when we consider that God's counsel is not merely a work of His mind but also a work of His will. It is not only a thought belonging to eternity but also an omnipotent power realized in time. Thus, all of God's virtues and perfections are not idle, silent, inoperative qualities but omnipotent forces, full of life and action. Each quality is His essence.
When God is called the Just and the Holy, it means that He reveals Himself in this way and upholds His right in the world, in history, and in every human conscience. When He is called Love, it means that He not only thinks of us benevolently in Christ but also
demonstrates this love and pours it into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. When He calls Himself our Father, it means that He resurrects us, accepts us as His children, and through His Spirit, bears witness with our spirit that we are His children. When He makes Himself known as the Merciful One, He not only declares this but also shows it by actually forgiving our sins and comforting us in all our woes. Likewise, when Scripture speaks to us of the counsel of God, it proclaims that God Himself fulfills and fully realizes that counsel. The counsel of redemption is itself a decree, a work of God in eternity, but as such, it is also the principle, the driving force, and the guarantee of the work of salvation in time. Therefore, whatever may happen to the world, to mankind, and to our own person, the ever-wise counsel of the Lord endures forever with everlasting power. Nothing can ever reverse His high decree; it remains from generation to generation. There is not the slightest reason for despondency and doubt. Everything is certain to come as God in His wisdom and love has determined. His almighty and merciful will is the guarantee of mankind's redemption and the world's salvation. In the greatest of sorrows, our hearts remain at rest in the Lord.
As soon as mankind has fallen, the counsel of salvation begins to work. Entirely of His own accord, God descends, seeks mankind, and calls him back to Himself. There follows an interrogation, a declaration of guilt, and a denunciation of punishment. Yet the punishment pronounced upon the serpent, the woman, and the man is simultaneously a blessing and a means of preservation. In the mother promise, Genesis 3:14-15, not only is the serpent humiliated, and the evil power, whose instrument it was, condemned, but it also announces that enmity will henceforth exist between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. It is God Himself who will
establish and maintain this enmity, culminating in the seed of the serpent bruising the heel of the woman's seed, but ultimately, the woman's seed crushing the head of the serpent's seed.
This is nothing less than the proclamation and institution of the covenant of grace. Though the word "covenant" is not explicitly used here, it will emerge later with Noah, Abraham, and others, as mankind learns through experience the necessity and utility of covenants and agreements. But in essence, the mother promise encapsulates all that constitutes the covenant of grace. Due to his transgression, mankind ceased to obey God, forsook His fellowship, and instead sought friendship with Satan, entering into an alliance with him. Now, in His grace, God breaks this alliance and instills enmity between mankind and Satan. God brings the woman's seed, which had surrendered to Satan, back to His side by an almighty act of His merciful will and adds the promise that, despite resistance and tribulation, it will ultimately triumph over the serpent's seed. There is nothing conditional or uncertain here. God Himself comes to mankind, initiates enmity, opens the battle, and promises victory.
Man has only to hear this and accept it with childlike faith. Promise and faith are the core of the covenant of grace, which now established with mankind, opens the way to the Father's house and the entrance to eternal salvation for the fallen and lost.
Thus, there is a great difference in the manner in which man was to inherit eternal life before the fall and the way in which he can only acquire it after the fall. Before the fall, the rule was: Do this and you will live. In the path of perfect obedience to God's commandment, man was to strive for eternal life. This was a good way, and if man had walked it to the end, it would have led him infallibly to heavenly
salvation. God, for His part, has not broken His rule either. He still upholds it; if there were a man who could keep God's commandment perfectly, he would receive eternal life as his reward (Lev. 18:5; Ezek.
20:11, 13; Matt. 19:16ff; Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12).
But man has rendered that way of life impossible for himself; he can no longer keep the law because he has broken his fellowship with God and now hates rather than loves His law (Rom. 8:7). Therefore, the covenant of grace opens to him a different and safer way, wherein man no longer has to work to enter into life. Instead, he first receives eternal life at the very moment of entering, accepts it through filial faith, and then produces good works through that faith. The order is thus reversed: before the fall, works led to eternal life; now, after the fall and in the covenant of grace, eternal life precedes and produces good works as the fruits of faith. Then, man had to ascend to God and His full communion; now, God descends to man and seeks to dwell in his heart. Then, workdays preceded the Sabbath; now, the week begins with the Sabbath, sanctifying all its days.
That there is now for fallen mankind a distinct and newly established, as well as a living and infallibly certain, way into the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 10:20), is solely due to God's grace and the counsel of redemption. The counsel of salvation, which lies in eternity, and the covenant of grace, which is revealed to man immediately after the fall and established with him, are intimately connected. They are so closely intertwined that the existence of one depends on the other. Many hold a contrary opinion; standing on the covenant of grace, they deny and contest the counsel of salvation; in the name of the purity of the Gospel, they reject the doctrine of
election. Yet, in doing so, they undermine the covenant of grace and revert the Gospel into a new law.
If the covenant of grace is severed from election, it ceases to be a covenant of grace and reverts into a covenant of works. Election signifies that God freely grants salvation, which mankind has forfeited and can never regain through his own efforts. When salvation is not purely a gift of grace but depends in any way on human behavior, the covenant of grace is transformed back into a covenant of works; man must then fulfill certain conditions to partake in eternal life. Grace and works are opposed and mutually exclusive. If it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. And if it is by works, it is no longer by grace, otherwise work is no longer work. The Christian religion is uniquely characterized as the religion of salvation by pure grace. It can only be recognized and maintained as such if it is entirely a gift arising wholly from God's counsel. Election and the covenant of grace are not in conflict; rather, election is the basis and guarantee of the covenant's heart and core. The intimate connection between them is so crucial that any weakening of it not only deprives the believer of a proper understanding of salvation's acquisition and application but also robs him of his sole consolation in his spiritual life.
An even richer light falls on this connection when the covenant of grace is not exclusively related to election but to the entire counsel of salvation. Election is not the whole counsel of redemption but is its first and fundamental part. That counsel also includes and determines how election will be realized, the entire acquisition and application of salvation. The election was made in Christ, and the counsel of God is not only a work of the Father but also a work of the
Son and the Holy Spirit, a divine work of the entire Trinity. The counsel of redemption is itself a covenant; a covenant in which each of the three persons, so to speak, receives His task and performs His work. The covenant of grace, established in time and propagated from generation to generation, is the effect and imprint of that covenant fixed in the Eternal Being. As in the counsel of God, so in history, each of the persons acts: the Father is the origin, the Son is the Acquirer, and the Holy Spirit is the Provider of our salvation.
Therefore, anyone who shifts the basis of eternity away from time and separates history from the gracious and omnipotent divine will undermines the work of the Father, the Son, or the Spirit.
Although time cannot do without eternity and history is closely related to God's thought and will, the two are not identical in all respects. In the history of time, the eternal thought of God is revealed and realized. Similarly, the counsel of redemption and the covenant of grace cannot and must not be separated, but they differ in that the latter is realized. The plan of redemption must also be executed; as a decree, it carries its execution within itself and brings it about. It would lose its character as a counsel and decree if it were not revealed and realized in time. Thus, the covenant of grace is made known to man immediately after the fall, established with him, and continued in history from generation to generation. What is one in decision unfolds in the breadth of the world and develops over the centuries.
When we turn our attention to the historical unfolding of the covenant of grace, we observe three notable peculiarities.
Firstly, the covenant of grace, in its essence, remains unaltered throughout all ages, though it manifests in varied forms and dispensations. Essentially and objectively, it remains one covenant before, under, and after the Law. It is consistently a covenant of grace, named thus because it emanates from God's grace, contains grace as its essence, and aims ultimately at the glorification of God's grace.
Just as it was God who, in His initial proclamation, established enmity, declared war, and promised victory, so God remains the Alpha and the Omega in every expression of the covenant of grace, be it with Noah, Abraham, Israel, or the New Testament congregation.
Promise, gift, grace—these are the constants. Over time, the promise's content and the richness of the grace it contains are made clearer, yet all is encapsulated in the mother promise. The central, all-encompassing promise of the covenant of grace is this: "I will be your God and the God of your seed" (Gen. 17:7). Within this promise is everything—the entire acquisition and application of salvation,
Christ and all His benefits, the Holy Spirit with all His gifts. From the mother promise in Genesis 3:15 to the apostolic benediction in 2
Corinthians 13:14, there is a direct line: all salvation for the sinner is found in the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, we must recognize that this promise is not conditional but as definite and firm as possible. God does not say He will be our God if we do this or that; rather, He declares that He will establish enmity, that He will be our God, and that in Christ He will give us all things. The covenant of grace can remain unchanged in essence throughout all ages because it depends solely on God, who is
unchangeable and faithful. The covenant of works, established with mankind before the fall, was fragile and broken because it depended on changeable man. But the covenant of grace is grounded solely in God's mercy. People may become unfaithful, but God does not forget
His promise. He cannot and will not break His covenant; He has committed Himself to it voluntarily, with an everlasting oath. His name, His fame, His honor depend on it. For His own sake, He pardons the transgressions of His people and remembers their sins no more (Isa. 43:25; 48:9; Jer. 14:7, 21). Thus, the mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but His steadfast love shall not depart from us, nor shall the covenant of His peace be removed, says the Lord, our Savior (Isa. 54:10).
However, despite its unchanging nature, the covenant manifests in different forms across various administrations. Before the flood, a separation existed between the Sethites and the Cainites, yet the promise extended to all people and no formal separation occurred.
General and special revelation still flowed together. When this promise seemed at risk of expiring, the Flood became necessary, and Noah carried the promise in the Ark. For a time, the promise remained general, but as a new danger arose post-flood, threatening the continuation of the covenant of grace, God did not expel the people but allowed the nations to walk in their own ways, isolating
Abraham as the bearer of the promise. The covenant of grace found realization in the families of the patriarchs, marked by circumcision as a sign of the righteousness of faith and the circumcision of the heart.
The covenant of grace, established at Sinai with Israel as the seed of Abraham, assumes a national character, requiring Israel to walk as a
holy nation before God. It employs not only moral laws but also civil and ceremonial laws to guide the people as a disciplinarian to Christ.
The promise predates the law, and the law does not replace the promise but is added to develop and prepare for its fulfillment in the fullness of time. In Christ, the promise reaches fulfillment, the shadow becomes substance, the letter transforms into spirit, and servitude turns into freedom. Thus, it liberates itself from all external, national bonds and, as in the beginning, extends itself to all mankind.
Regardless of the forms the covenant of grace takes, it consistently maintains the same essential content. It is always the same Gospel
(Rom. 1:2; Gal. 3:8), the same Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), the same faith (Acts 15:11; Rom. 4:11; Heb. 11), and the same benefits of forgiveness and eternal life (Acts 10:43; Rom. 4:3). The light in which believers walk may differ, but they tread the same path.
The second peculiarity of the covenant of grace is its organic character in all its dispensations.
Election focuses on particular, individual persons, known by God beforehand, who are therefore called, justified, and glorified in time.
However, it does not inherently imply the relationship between these individuals. Scripture further reveals that election occurred in Christ
(Eph. 1:4; 3:11), enabling Christ to act as the Head of His congregation, with the congregation forming the body of Christ. The elect are not isolated from one another but are united in Christ. Just as the people of Israel in the Old Testament were one holy people of God, the New Testament congregation is a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's possession. Christ is the
Bridegroom, and the congregation is His bride; He is the vine, and they are the branches; He is the cornerstone, and they are the living stones of God's building; He is the King, and they are His subjects.
The unity between Christ and His church is so intimate that Paul summarizes them both under the name of Christ: as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of this one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). It is a community preserving the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace; one body and one Spirit, just as they are called to the one hope of their calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all (Eph. 4:3-6).
Thus, election cannot be an arbitrary or accidental act. If it is guided by the intention to make Christ the Head and to form the congregation into His body, it possesses an organic character and inherently contains the idea of a covenant.
In affirming that election is made in Christ, a further truth is indicated. The organic unity of the human race under a single head does not commence with Christ, but with Adam. Paul explicitly refers to Adam as a type of the one who was to come (Rom. 5:14), and he designates Christ as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Thus, the covenant of grace aligns with the fundamental ideas and outlines of the covenant of works; it is not the abolition but the fulfillment of it, just as faith does not nullify the law but upholds it (Rom. 3:31). Hence, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace are sharply distinct on one hand, yet intimately related on the other. The great difference lies in that Adam, having forfeited and lost his position as the head of the human race, is now replaced by Christ. Christ undertakes the fulfillment of what the first man failed to do, as well as what he ought
to have done; He fulfills for us the demands imposed by the moral law and gathers His entire congregation as a renewed human race under His headship. In the dispensation of the fullness of time, God brings together all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth
(Eph. 1:10).
This gathering must, therefore, occur organically. If the covenant of grace is organically conceived in Christ, it must also be established and continued accordingly. Thus, we see that it is never made with a single, isolated individual, but always with a person and his family: with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, the church, and their seed. The promise never applies to a solitary believer in isolation, but always to him and his house. God does not realize His covenant of grace by selecting a few individuals from mankind and assembling them outside the world; instead, He integrates it into humanity, making it part of the world while ensuring its preservation from evil within that world. As the Resurrector, He follows the path He has laid as Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of all things. Grace is distinct and higher than nature, yet it joins nature and does not destroy it but restores it. It is not an inheritance passed on by natural birth, but it flows within the channels established by natural human relations.
The covenant of grace does not leap from one branch to another but continues historically and organically through families, generations, and peoples.
This brings us to a third and final peculiarity: the covenant of grace materializes in a manner that fully respects man's rational and moral nature. It rests on God's counsel, a truth that must not be underestimated. Behind the covenant of grace lies the sovereign and
omnipotent will of God, which proceeds with divine energy, ensuring the triumph of the Kingdom of God over all sin's violence.
However, this will is not a destiny imposed upon mankind from above but the will of the Creator of heaven and earth, who does not deny His own work in creation and providence and cannot treat man, whom He created as a rational and moral being, as a mere stick or block. This will is the will of a merciful and benevolent Father, who never coerces with brute force but always conquers our opposition through the spiritual power of His love. The will of God is not a blind, unreasonable force but a will that is wise, merciful, loving, and simultaneously free and omnipotent. Therefore, it works against our darkened understanding and sinful will, so that Paul can declare that the Gospel is not according to man, not in accordance with the foolish insights and wrong desires of fallen humanity (Gal. 1:11).
This explains why the covenant of grace, which intrinsically knows no demands or conditions, yet operates for us in the form of a commandment, exhorting us to faith and repentance (Mark 1:15). In its essence, the covenant of grace is purely grace, excluding all works.
It grants what it demands and fulfills what it prescribes. The Gospel is sheer glad tidings, not a demand but a promise, not a duty but a gift. However, to manifest itself in us as a promise and a gift, it assumes the character of a moral exhortation in accordance with our nature. It does not compel us but merely requires that we freely and willingly accept in faith what God wishes to bestow. God's will is realized only through our intellect and will. Thus, it is rightly said that mankind, through the grace it receives, believes and repents of its own accord.
Since the covenant of grace enters the human race historically and organically, it cannot appear on earth in a form that fully corresponds to its nature. True believers possess much that is in direct conflict with a life according to the covenant's demand: walk before Me and be blameless; be holy, for I am holy. Moreover, there can be individuals who are outwardly accepted into the covenant of grace yet remain deprived of all its spiritual blessings due to their unbelieving and unrepentant hearts. This situation is not only contemporary but has existed throughout the ages. In the Old
Testament, not all who were descended from Israel were truly Israel (Rom. 9:6), for it is not the children of the flesh but the children of the promise who are counted as the seed (Rom. 9:8, 2:29). Similarly, in the New Testament congregation, there is chaff among the wheat, there are evil branches on the vine, and there are not only vessels of gold but also of clay (Matt. 3:12, 13:29; John 15:2; 2 Tim. 2:20).
Based on this contradiction between nature and appearance, some have posited a distinction and separation between an inner covenant, established only with true believers, and an outer covenant, which includes only external professors. However, such a separation cannot align with the teaching of Scripture; what God has united, man must not separate. There must be no departure from the requirement that nature and appearance should correspond, that confession with the mouth and belief with the heart should align (Rom. 10:9). While there are not two separate covenants, there are two aspects to the one covenant of grace: one visible to us and the other fully visible to God. We must adhere to the rule that we cannot judge the heart, only the outward actions, and even then imperfectly. Those who walk in the way of the covenant before the eyes of mankind should, in the judgment of love, be regarded and treated by us as fellow heirs.
Ultimately, however, it is not our judgment but God's that decides.
He is the Knower of hearts and the Searcher of reins; with Him, there is no respect of persons. Man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).
Therefore, let everyone examine himself to see whether he has faith, whether Jesus Christ is in him (2 Cor. 13:5).
Study Questions for Reflection 1. How does the universal sense of guilt and uncleanness among humanity highlight the need for the covenant of grace?
Reflect on why humans universally acknowledge their sinfulness and how this understanding emphasizes the necessity of God's grace for redemption.
2. In what ways does God's law establish the foundation for understanding His grace?
Consider how the recognition of God's holy and righteous law helps us appreciate the depth and significance of His grace.
3. How does the history of the world serve as a testament to both God's judgments and His ongoing grace?
Reflect on the dual nature of world history as a record of divine judgment and continuous grace, and how this perspective informs our understanding of God's interaction with humanity.
4. What role does the quest for redemption play in all human religions, and how is this quest uniquely fulfilled in Christianity?
Discuss the universal human pursuit of salvation and how Christianity uniquely answers this quest through the revelation of God's grace in Christ.
5. How does the concept of general revelation differ from special revelation, and why is special revelation necessary for understanding
God's grace?
Reflect on the limitations of general revelation and the essential role of special revelation in fully comprehending the nature and work of God's grace.
6. How does the doctrine of election relate to the covenant of grace, and what comfort does this connection provide to believers?
Consider the theological relationship between God's eternal counsel of election and the covenant of grace, and how this provides assurance of salvation.
7. In what ways does the covenant of grace demonstrate God's initiative in seeking and redeeming humanity?
Reflect on the narrative of God's pursuit of fallen humanity, beginning with the promise in Genesis 3:15, and how this shapes our understanding of divine grace.
8. How does the transition from the covenant of works to the covenant of grace represent a fundamental shift in humanity's relationship with God?
Discuss the differences between the covenant of works, based on human obedience, and the covenant of grace, founded on God's initiative and promise.
9. What are the various forms and dispensations of the covenant of grace throughout biblical history, and how do they maintain the same essential content?
Reflect on the continuity and development of the covenant of grace from the Old Testament to the New Testament, focusing on its unchanging promise and grace.
10. How should the knowledge of God's eternal counsel and unchangeable will impact our trust in His promises and our response to His grace?
Consider the practical implications of believing in God's sovereign plan and faithful execution of His covenant of grace for our daily lives and spiritual assurance.