The Covenant between God and the first Adam
The Covenant
of Works
1)
What is a “covenant”? – “Covenants between
Yahweh and
Examples
of covenants in the Bible:
The Abrahamic
Covenant:
a.
Name of the Great King
– “I am the LORD” Gen. 15:7 ; “I am God Almighty” Gen. 17:1
b.
Historical Prologue -
“who brought you out of
c.
Stipulations (Laws)
i.
Exclusive loyalty (=love) –“ walk before me and be blameless.” Gen. 17:1
ii.
Specific requirements –
“you must keep my covenant” Gen. 17:9 ;
d.
Sanctions (Blessings and Curses) – “to be your God and the God of your descendants after
you” Gen. 17:7 ; “The whole land of
e.
Administration
– “a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the
pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” Gen. 15:17-18 ; “This is my covenant
with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every
male among you shall be circumcised.”
Gen. 17:10
The Mosaic Covenant:
a.
Name of the Great King
– “I am the LORD your God” Ex. 20:2
b.
Historical Prologue -
“who brought you out of
c.
Stipulations (Laws)
i.
Exclusive loyalty (=love) – “. . . no other gods . . .” Ex. 20:3
ii.
Specific requirements –
see the rest of the Decalogue Ex.
20:4-17
d.
Sanctions (Blessings and Curses) – Ex. 20:5-6, 7, 12, etc.
e.
Administration – “. .
. how the covenant is to be administered. Copies of the covenant document are
to be placed in the religious sanctuaries of suzerain and vassal (cf. Deut.
31:26), there is provision for periodic public reading (31:9-13), there are rules of dynastic succession (31:1-8). The
covenant document stands as a witness: not man’s fallible witness concerning
God, but God’s infallible witness against his disobedient people
(31:26). Again, the emphasis is on the divine authority of the document.” (source:
http://tinyurl.com/bkb6n
)
2)
Did God make a covenant with man in the Garden of Eden?
A.
Yes, all of the markings of covenant making are present in
Genesis 2:
The Covenant of Works:
a.
Name of the Great King
– “In the beginning God” Gen. 1:1
b.
Historical Prologue -
“created the heavens and the earth. . .” Gen. 1:1
c.
Stipulations (Laws)
i.
Exclusive loyalty (=love) – implied in Gen. 2:17
ii.
Specific requirements –
“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature
that moves on the ground." Gen.
1:28 ; “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . . .”
Gen. 2:17
d.
Sanctions (Blessings and Curses) – “ . . . for when you eat of it
you will surely die." Gen. 2:17
e.
Administration – The
covenant was administered via the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Covenant keeping was via NOT eating of the
tree’s fruit. Covenant breaking was via
eating the fruit.
B.
The 1st usage of the word “covenant” (Gen. 6:18)
suggests an earlier covenant:
a.
The phrase “establish my covenant“ in Gen. 6:18
and Gen. 9:9 is not the language used for the cutting of a new covenant. Rather, it hearkens back to a pre-existing
covenant. See similar usage in Gen. 17:7,19,21. (See Gen. 15:18 for the language used in a covenant
being newly made.)
b.
Gen. 9:1-2 very
closely mirrors Gen. 1:28.
C.
In fact, God Himself explicitly says that He had a covenant
with Adam:
“Like Adam, they have broken the covenant . .
.” Hosea 6:7
*** Thus, God did make a covenant with man in the
Garden of Eden. God made the covenant
with Adam, and by extension, the covenant was made with all of Adam’s
descendants. Because Adam was a covenant
breaker, we too are born covenant breakers, under the righteous judgment of
God. We are born dead in sin. Our only hope for salvation is in Christ
alone, the “second Adam”. See Romans
5:12-21 and 1 Cor. 15:21-22. -----
Also listen to the excerpt from Craig Nelson’s sermon where he affirms
the Covenant of Works: http://www.mckinneybiblechurch.org/messages/MarriageStudy/ Oct. 5th message – Listen from
13:20 to 22:03.
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