Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

and becoming subject to the power of death. The promise of life in the covenant of
works was a promise of the removal of all the limitations of life to which Adam was still
subject, and of the raising of his life to the highest degree of perfection. When Paul says
in Rom. 7:10 that the commandment was unto life, he means life in the fullest sense of
the word. The principle of the covenant of works was: the man that does these things
shall live thereby; and this principle is reiterated time and again in Scripture, Lev. 18:5;
Ezek. 20:11,13,20; Luke 10:28; Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12.
3. THE CONDITION OF THE COVENANT. The promise in the covenant of works was not
unconditional. The condition was that of implicit and perfect obedience. The divine law
can demand nothing less than that, and the positive command not to eat of the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, relating as it did, to a thing indifferent in
itself, was clearly a test of pure obedience in the absolute sense of the word. Man was, of
course, also subject to the moral law of God, which was written on the tablets of his
heart. He knew this by nature, so that it did not have to be revealed supernaturally, as
the special test was. Essentially, the moral law, as Adam knew it, was undoubtedly like
the ten commandments, but the form was different. In its present form the moral law
presupposes a knowledge of sin, and is therefore primarily negative; in Adam’s heart,
however, it must have had a positive character. But just because it was positive, it did
not bring to his consciousness the possibility of sin. Therefore a negative commandment
was added. Moreover, in order that the test of Adam might be a test of pure obedience,
God deemed it necessary to add to the commandments of which Adam perceived the
naturalness and reasonableness, a commandment which was in a certain sense arbitrary
and indifferent. Thus the demands of the law were, so to say, concentrated on a single
point. The great question that had to be settled was, whether man would obey God
implicitly or follow the guidance of his own judgment. Dr. Bavinck says: “Het
proefgebod belichaamde voor hem (Adam) het dilemma: God of de mensch, Zijn gezag
of eigen inzicht, onvoorwaardelijke gehoorzaamheid of zelfstandig onderzoek, geloof of
twijfel.” 31
4. THE PENALTY OF THE COVENANT. The penalty that was threatened was death, and
what this means can best be gathered from the general meaning of the term as it is used
in Scripture, and from the evils that came upon the guilty in the execution of the
penalty. Evidently death in the most inclusive sense of the word is meant, including
physical, spiritual, and eternal death. The fundamental Scriptural idea of death is not
that of extinction of being, but that of separation from the source of life, and the
31 Geref. Dog., II, p. 618.
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