A Critique of the Covenant of Works in Contemporary Controversy

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Protestant Reformed Theological Journal law Adam was placed. With Adam it seemed a little better. It did not seem quite so hopeless with him. The Lord said to Adam, “If you keep My law, I will not kill you.” The Lord did not say, “If you keep My law, I will give you life,” but he said, “If you don’t keep My law, I will kill you.” 71 Leviticus 18:5, which is quoted several times in the New Testament, does not teach either that the law promises eternal, heavenly life, but it teaches the basic equity of the law, in line with Herman Hoeksema’s exegesis of Romans 7:10. If one does what the law requires, he will live and continue to live. There is as such no promise of heavenly life attached to the obedience of the law. Turretin continues with another argument that God promised to Adam a heavenly, glorious life: The threatening of death denounced against the transgressor embraces both temporal and eternal death to be suffered in hell…. Thus also the promise of life (opposed to it) includes the heavenly and eternal life. The reason of the consequence depends on the goodness of God, which is no less than his justice. 72 The argument is that if God’s justice demands that breaking the law incurs the punishment of eternal death in hell, then it stands to reason that His goodness demands that the reward for obedience be heavenly, eternal life. The problem is that this argument does not follow. It does not follow that God must reward obedience with the opposite of His punishment for disobedience. The punishment of disobedience in hell is just, because sin transgresses against the most high majesty of God. But the obedience of Adam would in no way have corresponded to the glory of the reward he would have received, and therefore would not have been either just or good. But the question is: where is the promise in Genesis 2:16–17; where is the agreement between God and Adam? God in the text 71 Herman Hoeksema, Righteous By Faith Alone: A Devotional Commentary on Romans (Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2002), 278. 72 Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 1:584. 38 Vol. 44, No. 2
simply informs Adam of his duty in the covenant and by virtue of the covenant. There is in the passage no pact, but a sovereign command. The idea—elaborately expressed by some—that the passage contains a promise is simply an assumption imposed upon the text. Perhaps most serious is the criticism that the covenant of works teaches that a mere man, a man who is not Jesus Christ, could merit with God. It ensconces the merit of a mere man at the very beginning of the history of God’s covenants and brings with it a host of irreconcilable problems and bad implications. Even if the Reformed tradition on the covenant of works was not always so bold as to speak of Adam’s meriting with God, nevertheless, the idea is embedded within the very structure of the doctrine of a covenant of works. It is the inescapable conclusion of the doctrine, which is why the Reformed, remarkably, used and defended the term merit. Heppe notes that Cocceius said concerning merit in the covenant of works that: God’s debitum here is not to be connected with a dignitas operum in man. God could never become man’s debtor: (1) Man as creature is essentially the “slave of God” and himself owes everything to God; (2) he has nothing which he has not received from God. A debitum on God’s part only exists ex pacto, “and that by the single agreement by which works are exacted as the condition of righteousness.” 73 Witsius defended the concept of meritum ex pacto in similar terms. By obeying perfectly, or by remaining in perfection, man had a right to reward by virtue of the covenant. The idea behind merititum ex pacto is that, while God is not and never can be a debtor to man, nevertheless, He allowed Himself to be a debtor to man by making a covenant with Adam. The Reformed insisted that by virtue of the pact God condescended to Adam and made it possible for Adam to merit with God. God would become indebted to man so that God owed man the higher life that He promised in the covenant, or meritum ex pacto. The Reformed had roundly condemned the Roman Catholic concepts of meritum ex condigno and meritum ex congruo. They de- 73 Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, 288. Critique of the Covenant of Works April 2011 39
Page 1 and 2: P R O T E S T A N T R E F O R M E D
Page 3 and 4: Editor’s Notes Welcome once again
Page 5 and 6: Critique of the Covenant of Works A
Page 7 and 8: Critique of the Covenant of Works H
Page 9 and 10: Critique of the Covenant of Works w
Page 11 and 12: Critique of the Covenant of Works A
Page 13 and 14: ights,” so that “this covenant
Page 17 and 18: there is a successor) (WCF 34 7.2).
Page 19 and 20: Critique of the Covenant of Works s
Page 21 and 22: Critique of the Covenant of Works T
Page 23 and 24: the tree of the knowledge of good a
Page 25 and 26: Critique of the Covenant of Works n
Page 27 and 28: ness to believers is the most obvio
Page 29 and 30: Critique of the Covenant of Works i
Page 31 and 32: Critique of the Covenant of Works c
Page 33 and 34: Critique of the Covenant of Works B
Page 37 and 38: Critique of the Covenant of Works a
Page 39: The later tradition consistently fo
Page 43 and 44: another. Merit in the covenant of w
Page 45 and 46: Critique of the Covenant of Works m
Page 47 and 48: Critique of the Covenant of Works f
Page 49 and 50: as pleasing to Him, and like to, an
Page 51 and 52: Critique of the Covenant of Works u
Page 57 and 58: Herman Bavinck on Covenant and Elec
Page 59 and 60: eral.” He does not mean that a co
Page 61 and 62: Bavinck thinks so. “Into that ent
Page 65 and 66: tration of the covenant: “In its
Page 71 and 72: On the Way to Calvary: Isaac Does N
Page 73 and 74: On the Way to Calvary 7:3). The exp
Page 75 and 76: On the Way to Calvary The writer of
Page 77 and 78: On the Way to Calvary trial of Abra
Page 79 and 80: On the Way to Calvary (James 2:14).
Page 81 and 82: On the Way to Calvary insignificant
Page 83 and 84: On the Way to Calvary this in the s
Page 85 and 86: On the Way to Calvary Also, the fac
Page 87 and 88: On the Way to Calvary Actually, thi
Page 89 and 90: On the Way to Calvary that we must
Page 91 and 92:
Review Article 3-4). Back on the su
Page 93 and 94:
Review Article Admittedly, the “C
Page 95 and 96:
Review Article But as for communica
Page 97 and 98:
Review Article during the time they
Page 99 and 100:
Review Article Zacharias Ursinus (1
Page 101 and 102:
Review Article with any particular,
Page 103 and 104:
Review Article are exceptional. The
Page 105 and 106:
Review Article Turning to the Presb
Page 107 and 108:
Review Article Keith Mathison summa
Page 109 and 110:
Review Article mation and Romanism
Page 111 and 112:
Review Article teaching—and that
Page 113 and 114:
Review Article tack on justificatio
Page 115 and 116:
Review Article Engelsma is no stran
Page 117 and 118:
Review Article Fifth, Engelsma turn
Page 119 and 120:
Review Article Hodge—“there is
Page 121 and 122:
Review Article On average, people m
Page 123 and 124:
Book Reviews Book Reviews God’s T
Page 125 and 126:
Book Reviews bation (which was, of
Page 127 and 128:
Book Reviews of unconditional elect
Page 129 and 130:
Book Reviews the will cannot choose
Page 131 and 132:
Book Reviews Arminius teaches the e
Page 133 and 134:
Book Reviews Although the love of G
Page 135 and 136:
Book Reviews condition; that is, Go
Page 137 and 138:
Book Reviews the shedding of Roman
Page 139 and 140:
Book Reviews to the defeat of Bar K
Page 141 and 142:
Book Reviews church lived her life
Page 143 and 144:
Book Reviews is only one heresy: or
Page 145 and 146:
Book Reviews tianity was not as uni
Page 147 and 148:
Book Reviews Worship are to be comm
Page 149 and 150:
Book Reviews this matter in James H
Page 151 and 152:
Book Reviews Today, virtually all o
Page 153 and 154:
Book Reviews Opponent of National S
Page 155 and 156:
Book Reviews account Metaxas takes
Page 157 and 158:
Book Reviews and Begg each give a p
Page 159 and 160:
Book Reviews tributors to A Faith T
Page 161 and 162:
Book Reviews the apostle Paul’s d
Page 163 and 164:
Book Reviews heart of the gospel!
Page 165 and 166:
Book Reviews by grace and if he is
Page 167 and 168:
Book Reviews ing an unconditional c
Page 169 and 170:
Book Reviews much for the “five p
Page 171 and 172:
Book Reviews heresy of justificatio
Page 173 and 174:
Book Reviews there is only one king
Page 175 and 176:
Book Reviews of his own contributio
Page 177 and 178:
Book Reviews Christ, alive with the
Page 179 and 180:
1611-2011 Celebrating the 400th Ann
show all

A Critique of the Covenant of Works in Contemporary Controversy

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?