All previous covenants point to Christ; the New Covenant is fulfilled in Christ

Chapter 7:  Of God's Covenant 
(Parts One-Three)

The Confession recognizes the Bible’s teaching that the relationship between God and man must be initiated by God.  Without God’s initiation, man would not even know of God.  Man would have no idea how to obey God, nor would man even desire to do so.  God, therefore, condescends to initiate relationship with man through covenants. 

God’s first covenant with man was the Covenant of Works established in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  In this covenant God gave Adam life, many blessings, and one command: “Do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17).  God wrapped the command in a threat: “In the day you eat, you shall surely die.”

The covenant was initiated by God and included great blessing from God.  It also contained a responsibility of man, and a consequence for failing to uphold that responsibility: death!  We all know what happened.  Man failed to keep his part of the Covenant of Works by breaking God’s one law.  As a result, though Adam and Eve did not die physically on the spot, (a) they  experienced spiritual death;  (b) they began to die physically (and eventually they did die); and (c) all Adam’s offspring have been born spiritually dead ever since (Romans 5:12-21).

The good news will continue in Part 2.

(Part 2)

Last time: The bad news is that when Adam sinned breaking the covenant of works, all of humanity became sinners (Romans 5:12-21).  This time: The good news s that on the very day our first parents sinned, God unveiled the first installment of the Covenant of Grace (Genesis 3:15-16, 21).  God has related Himself to man through the Covenant of Grace ever since.

Though man brought himself under the curse of the law by sinning, God graciously and immediately instituted the Covenant of Grace.  Under this covenant God offers forgiveness of sin and eternal life in Heaven (rather than eternal wrath).  This Covenant of Grace is based on the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He kept the Law for sinful men and He died to pay the penalty for sinful men.

This covenant, though declared to all people, is only applied to those who trust in Jesus Christ as the only way to God (John 3:16-18).

One major problem is that left to ourselves in sin, no one will trust in Christ for salvation, because in our sinful fallen state no one has any desire to trust in Christ and repent of sin (John 5:50).

That brings up the next essential factor of grace in the Covenant of grace.  God elects some (but not all) to be spiritually reborn by the Holy Spirit.  When a person elected to salvation is reborn, God graciously changes that person’s heart, giving him both the faith to trust in Christ and a desire to repent and follow Christ.

Salvation is all of God and all of grace. 

(Part 3)

God’s Covenant of grace was first extended to Adam and Eve immediately after their sin in the Garden of Eden.  There in the Garden of Eden, God foretold of a Deliverer who would come and defeat the devil (Genesis 3:15).  This Deliverer was said to be “the Seed of the Woman.”  From our vantage point on the time line, we can see that this clearly points to the virgin-born Son of God; but if a person had no information beyond what is written in Genesis 3:15, that person would not know that this the coming Deliverer was Jesus. 

Throughout the Old Testament, God continued revealing more information about the Covenant of Grace, making numerous covenants with His people, each time giving promises to His people that progressively pointed more clearly to Jesus as the Deliverer. 

The fullness of the Covenant of Grace was revealed in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus (Matthew 26:28).  All of the preceding covenantal promises were fulfilled in Christ when He lived sinlessly and died vicariously for those He came to save.

Natural Born Sinners? Really?

Chapter 6:  Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
(Parts Three & Four)

Adam and Eve’s sin affected not only them; it affects all their posterity.  Adam was (as explained in Romans 5:12-21) the federal representative for all mankind.  Because all we who, though not yet even conceived, were “in him,” when he sinned, we sinned.  Proof?  Death has reigned ever since, just as God promised.

The cry of the natural man is almost always, “That’s not fair.”  But think about it.  Aren’t their countless decisions made by others, over which we have no control, that affect us?  The president declares war, and whether we are for it or against it, we are at war.  Parents move due to a job change, and whether the children like it or not, they are uprooted and resettled into another town.  Examples could go on and on.  The point is, as our federal representative, Adam’s sin is our sin as well.

For those who insist that they want to be judged for their own lives, not the life of Adam, our sins only confirm our sinfulness and validate God’s just judgment.  So even if we were not guilty in Adam (which we are) we are no less off the hook.

One more thing: If we reject the concept of a federal head standing in the place of those he represents, we must also reject Christ as the Federal Head over all who are saved.  Just as Adam’s sin condemns all who are “in him,” Christ’s righteousness saves all who are “in Him.”  Are people are “in Adam.” The question is, are you “in Christ”?

 (Part 4)

Jesus said we must be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. [1]  We not only do not do anything perfectly, Adam’s sin has corrupted all mankind, rendering us incapable of doing anything (much less everything) perfectly. 

Because we are born into this condition, the Bible says we are by nature children of wrath [2] and servants of sin, the subjects of death. [3]   Because (a) we are sinners by nature, (b) we commit sins, not the other way around.  Stated another way, we are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.

Even after we are born again, given new hearts, and made new people, [4] vestiges of the  corruption of the Adamic nature remains until we are glorified and in Heaven, where there is no more temptation or sin—at all. 

In the mean time, let us put off the old man and put on the new man, growing in sanctification, looking forward longingly to that great day of glorification.

[1] Mat 5:48,   [2] Eph 2:3,   [3] Rom 6:20; 5:12.  [4] 2 Cor 5:17.

Was God in charge of Adam's sin? Did Adam's sin affect all human beings?

Chapter 6: Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof (Parts One & Two)

God graciously created man upright and sinless.  God gave man His righteous law, which at that point contained only one prohibition: “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:16-17)  Had man keep, instead of broken that law, he would have continued to live forever in perfect harmony with God in the garden.  But God was so serious about man’s obedience that He wrapped the law in a threat.  “In the day you eat of it [the fruit from the forbidden tree] you shall surely die.”

Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) and the master of subtlety (Genesis 3:1), used a serpent to tempt and overcome Eve, who then tempted and overcame her husband, Adam.

“Life or death?”  Our first father Adam, without compulsion, willingly broke God’s law, choosing disobedience and the promised subsequent death over obedience and life.

None of this was beyond God’s sovereign control.  God permissively decreed it in order to show His grace to mankind for His greater glory. (Ephesians 2:7)

(Part Two)

 When Adam and Eve sinned, they not only fell from their original state of righteous communion with God, their sin became “spiritually genetic.”  Because they are the original parents of the entire human race, all of their posterity are also ruined by their sin (Romans 5:12).  When Adam and Eve died spiritually, all of us who were “in them” and would ever come from them, also died spiritually.  All human beings since are born in sin and are spiritually slaves to sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:16-17). 

People usually do not think this is fair and therefore often reject this biblical teaching.  Yet we have no problem accepting (even if we do not like it) that we genetically inherit from our parents everything else we are.  We have nothing to say about our height, or our hair and eye color, do we?  Neither do we have any say in the fact that we are natural born sinners—like it or not!

Application?  This is why Jesus said “unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Our first birth is in sin and leads to judgment.  It is the second birth of which Jesus spoke that leads to righteousness and entrance into the kingdom of God (Romans 5:15-19).

Does God actually decree ALL things?

CHAPTER 5: Of Divine Providence  (Parts Three & Four)

In His providence, the Lord accomplishes His will either by working through people and circumstances, apart from people and circumstances, or even in opposition to people and circumstances.  As Psalm 115:3 clearly states, “Our God is in Heaven; He does as He pleases.”  The accomplishment of God’s pleasure, not people or circumstances, is what determines all things.

The question is often asked, why does God allow evil, pain, and suffering in the world?  The answer is that according to His wisdom and goodness, God providentially brings about His purposes, the sins of men notwithstanding.  Though God does not endorse sin, nor is He responsible for sin in any way (God is not tempted by evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone to do evil, James 1:13), God providentially decreed that Adam and Eve would sin, and that that sin would result in the fall of humanity.  God did not merely permit sin (of man and angels) He determined it to bring about His ultimate purpose: to show grace in saving sinful people for His own glory.  He decreed that they would do according to their desires so that He could achieve His most holy and benevolent ends.  It is because of their sin that He most brilliantly reveals His grace to forgive sinners.

When we do not understand God, it is because He is beyond us, never because there is any contradiction in Him.  There is only one reason to have a problem with this: our view of God is small.  Is anything too hard for God?

(Part Four)

At times God providentially decrees even His beloved children to face temptations and sin to bring about in us greater holiness and dependence on Him.  Would we not all agree that our greatest times of spiritual growth are the result of trials, even if those trials are the consequences of our own sin?

As the Confession states it: “Whatsoever befalls any of His elect is by His appointment, for His glory, and their good.”

Why are the wicked and ungodly as they are?  This also is God’s providence.  As the righteous Judge (He cannot do evil), God blinds the eyes of some, withholding His grace.  Someone objects, “That’s not fair!”  Isn’t it?  Let us not forget that God makes no man evil, nor is He in any way responsible for the evil anyone does.  Evil resides in man due to his own sin and rebellion.  God owes no one grace.  If He did, it would not be grace but a debt owed by God.

When people persist in their sin and rebellion, suppressing the truth about God in unrighteousness, God sometimes turns them over to their sinful desires, withholding even the restraining grace that previously kept them from being as bad as they would otherwise be if it were not for God’s intervention on their behalf.

Lastly, regarding God’s providence, He cares for all creatures as a benevolent Creator, but He cares especially, and in special ways, for His people, those saved by His grace.

Yes, God uses even sinful acts by human beings to accomplish His purposes

CHAPTER 5: Of Divine Providence  (Part s One & Two)

God graciously created man upright and sinless.  God gave man His righteous law, which at that point contained only one prohibition: “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  Had man kept instead of broken that law, he would have continued to live forever in perfect harmony with God in the Garden.  But God was so serious about man’s obedience that He wrapped the law in a threat:  “In the day you eat of it [the fruit from the forbidden tree] you shall surely die.”

Satan, the master of subtlety, used a serpent to tempt and overcome Eve, who then tempted and overcame her husband, Adam.

“Life or death?”  Our first father Adam, without compulsion, willingly broke God’s law, choosing disobedience and the promised subsequent death over obedience and life.

None of this was beyond God’s sovereign control.  God permissively decreed it in order to show His grace to mankind for His greater glory. (Ephesians 2:7)

 (Part Two)

The doctrine of God’s Providence instructs us that while God is the first cause of all things, and that all things He decrees will necessarily come to pass, leaving nothing to chance, God also providentially works through secondary causes.  Secondary causes include decisions and acts of sinful people—including sinful decisions and acts.  Almighty God is able, however, to even use these even these secondary causes to bring His will to pass, without being responsible for sin committed by those He created. 

A classic example is Christ’s crucifixion.  This greatest of all injustices ever committed was carried out by the hands of sinful people.  But according to Acts 2:23, it was also clearly the providential will of God by which He would forgive the elect of their sins.  What a comfort to know that God is in control of all things—including the sinful acts of people, for the purposes of His perfect will.