NOV 11

Romans 5:12-21
Memorise Romans 10:5
“…through the offence of one many be dead…”

WHAT IS COVENANT THEOLOGY? (I)

God equipped John Calvin with a brilliant mind and a deep love for God. Through a brilliant and exhaustive study of the Bible, and also the writings of the Church Fathers like Irenaeus and Augustine, he established many doctrines for our benefit today. One of them is Covenant Theology. In this doctrine, we learn that God set up two covenants with mankind. The first covenant is known as the Covenant of Works. This covenant was made between God and Adam. If Adam kept God’s commandments, then the promise was eternal life with God. Romans 10:5 describes it simply, that the man that can keep the law perfectly will be deemed righteous, and thus by the justification of the law, he can live. In other words, Adam, being made sinless, had a chance to gain salvation through good works, which is why this is called a covenant of works. However, as we know, Adam failed and in the process so did the whole of mankind. (Romans 5:12-21). He failed to keep his end of the “deal”, and in so doing broke the covenant of works. However, his failure was not just his own to bear. Adam was unique in that God placed him as the representative of all mankind. His failure condemned all man into an eternity of judgment. If, however, had he been obedient, through him would all mankind also enjoy the benefits of the Covenant of Works. In other words, if Adam had kept the deal, all of mankind would have received salvation and become only capable of good as compared to now where mankind is capable only of evil. Hence, if God will judge mankind based on the covenant of works, we are condemned. There is no hope left for us all because none of us can keep the law perfectly and because sin is so heinous, it takes only one sin to alienate us from a holy God. Do we have hope? Are we hopeless? Enter the Covenant of Grace. More in tomorrow’s reading!

We should recall that the ideas that we share here are not invented by the imaginations of John Calvin. Instead, Calvin studied God’s Word and with the help of the Holy Spirit discerned all from the Word of God. It is somewhat like piecing the puzzles together and in the process we have a view of the big picture from his efforts. We can learn from this. God’s Word is living and infinite, ready for us to discover great truths from out of it. How sad when we neglect the study of His Word.

Thought: Why does God make covenants with man?
Prayer: Father, remind me of the great immeasurable beauty of Your Word.