Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

Scripture. There is the condition of faith, Gen. 15:6, compared with Rom. 4:3 ff., 20 ff.;
Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:14-28; Heb. 11; and there is also the promise of spiritual and eternal
blessings, Gen. 17:7; 12:3; Isa. 43:25; Ezek. 36:27; Rom. 4:5 ff.; Gal. 3:14,18. But it is also
clear that the covenant in its full realization is something more than that, namely, a
communion of life. This may be already symbolically expressed in the act of passing
between the parts of the animals slain at the establishment of the covenant with
Abraham, Gen. 15:9-17. Moreover, it is indicated in such passages as Ps. 25:14; Ps.
89:33,34; 103:17,18; Jer. 31:33,34 (Heb. 8:10-12); Ezek. 36:25-28; II Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:2,3.
Now the question arises as to the relation between the sinner’s being under the
“bond of the covenant” as a legal relationship and his living in the communion of the
covenant. The two cannot be conceived of as existing alongside of each other without
some inner connection, but must be regarded as being most intimately related to each
other, in order to avoid all dualism. When one takes the covenant relation upon himself
voluntarily, the two must naturally go together; if they do not, a false relation ensues.
But in the case of those who are born in the covenant the question is more difficult. Is the
one then possible without the other? Is the covenant in that case a bare legal
relationship, in which that which ought to be — but is not — takes the place of the
glorious realities for which the covenant stands? Is there any reasonable ground to
expect that the covenant relation will issue in a living communion; that for the sinner,
who is of himself unable to believe, the covenant will actually become a living reality?
In answer to this question it may be said that God undoubtedly desires that the
covenant relationship shall issue in a covenant life. And He Himself guarantees by His
promises pertaining to the seed of believers that this will take place, not in the case of
every individual, but in the seed of the covenant collectively. On the basis of the
promise of God we may believe that, under a faithful administration of the covenant,
the covenant relation will, as a rule, be fully realized in a covenant life.
E. MEMBERSHIP IN THE COVENANT AS A LEGAL RELATIONSHIP.
In discussing membership in the covenant as a legal relationship, it should be borne
in mind that the covenant in this sense is not merely a system of demands and
promises, demands that ought to be met, and promises that ought to be realized; but
that it also includes a reasonable expectation that the external legal relationship will
carry with it the glorious reality of a life in intimate communion with the covenant God.
This is the only way in which the idea of the covenant is fully realized.
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