Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

nevertheless felt that it was a subordinate place, and that their relation to it was
calculated to be subservient to the full realization of it in a life of friendship with God.
And this is no wonder in view of the following considerations:
1. They who identified the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace, and
considered it un-Scriptural to distinguish the two, naturally thought of it first of all as a
covenant established with Christ as the representative Head of all those whom the
Father had given Him; a covenant in which He became the Surety of the elect and thus
guaranteed their complete redemption. In fact, in the covenant of redemption only the
elect come into consideration. The situation is practically the same in the case of those
who distinguish two covenants, but insist on their close relationship and represent the
covenant of redemption as the eternal basis of the covenant of grace, for in the former
only the grace of God, as it is glorified and perfected in the elect, comes into
consideration.
2. Even in the history of the establishment of the covenant with Abraham,
interpreted in the light of the rest of Scripture, Reformed theologians found abundant
evidence that fundamentally the covenant of grace is a covenant established with those
who are in Christ. The Bible distinguishes a twofold seed of Abraham. The beginning of
this is distinctly found in Gen. 21:12, where we find God saying to Abraham, “In Isaac
shall thy seed be called,” thus ruling out Ishmael. Paul, in interpreting these words
speaks of Isaac as a child of promise, and by “a child of promise” he does not simply
mean a promised child, but a child that was not born in the ordinary way, but, in virtue
of a promise, by a supernatural operation of God. He also connects with it the idea of a
child to whom the promise belongs. According to him the expression, “in Isaac shall thy
seed be called,” indicates that “it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God;
but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.” Rom. 9:8. The same idea is
expressed in Gal. 4:28, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise,” and
as such also heirs of the promised blessings, cf. vs. 30. This is entirely in harmony with
what the apostle says in Gal. 3:16: “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to
his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is
Christ.” But the seed is not limited to Christ, but includes all believers. “And if ye are
Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Gal. 3:29. W. Strong
in his Discourse of the Two Covenants calls attention to the following subordination in the
establishment of the covenant. He says that it was made “(1) first and immediately with
Christ the second Adam: (2) in Him with all the faithful: (3) in them with their seed.” 50
50 p. 193.
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