The Covenant of Works
Question 9. I proceed to the next question, What special providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
Answer. When God created man he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge, upon pain of death.
For this, consult with (Genesis 2:16-17). And the Lord commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. The subject then of our next discourse is, the Covenant of Works. This Covenant was made with Adam, and all mankind; for Adam was a public person, and the representative of the world.
Question. For what reason did God make a covenant with Adam and his posterity in innocence?
Answer. 1. To show his sovereignty over us, we were his creatures; and as God was the great monarch of heaven and earth, God might impose upon us terms of a covenant. 2. God made a covenant with Adam to bind him fast to God; as God bound himself to Adam, so Adam was bound to God by the covenant.
Question. What was the covenant?
Answer. God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge; God gave Adam leave to eat of all the other trees of the garden. God did not envy him any happiness, only, meddle not with this tree of knowledge, because God would try Adam's obedience: As King Pharaoh made Joseph chief ruler in his kingdom, and gave him a ring off his finger, and a chain of gold, only he must not touch his throne (Genesis 41:40). In like manner God dealt with Adam, he gave him a sparkling jewel, knowledge, and arrayed him with a fine robe, put upon him the garment of original righteousness, only says God, Touch not the tree of knowledge, for that is aspiring after omniscience. Adam had power to have kept this law; Adam had the copy of God's law written in his heart. This Covenant of Works had a promise annexed to it, and a threatening. 1. The promise, Do this and live. In case man had stood, it is probable he had not died, but had been translated to a better paradise. 2. The threatening, You shall die the death; In Hebrew: in dying you shall die; that is, you shall die both a natural death and an eternal, unless some other expedient be found out for your restoration.
Question. But why did God give Adam this law, seeing God did foresee that Adam would transgress?
Answer. 1. It was Adam's fault he did not keep the law; God gave him a stock of grace to trade with, but he of himself broke. 2. Though God foresaw Adam would transgress, yet that was not a sufficient reason that Adam should have no law given him: for by the same reason, God should not have given his written Word to men, to be a rule of faith and manners, because he foresaw that some would not believe, and others would be profane. Shall not laws be made in the land because some break them? 3. God, though he foresaw Adam would break the law, he knew how to turn it to a greater good, in sending Christ. The first covenant being broken, he knew how to establish a second, and a better. Well, concerning the first covenant, consider these four things.
1. The form of the first covenant in innocence, was working; Do this and live. Working was the ground and condition of our justification (Galatians 3:12). Not but that working is required in the Covenant of Grace: we are bid to work out salvation, and be rich in good works. But works in the Covenant of Grace are not required under the same notion, as in the first covenant with Adam. Works are not required to the justification of our persons, but as a testimony of our love to God, not as a cause of our salvation, but as an evidence of our adoption. Works are required in the Covenant of Grace, not so much in our own strength, as in the strength of another. It is God which works in you (Philippians 2:13). As the scrivener guides the child's hand, and helps him to form his letters, so that it is not so much the child's writing, as the scrivener's that guides his hand; so not our working, as the Spirit's co-working.
2. The Covenant of Works was very strict. God required of Adam, and all mankind, 1. Perfect obedience. Adam must do all things written in the book of the law (Galatians 3:10), and not fail, either in the matter or manner. Adam was to live up to the whole breadth of the Moral Law, and go exactly according to it, as a well-made dial goes with the sun: a sinful thought had forfeited the covenant. 2. Personal obedience. Adam must not do his work by a proxy, or have any surety bound for him; no, it must be done in his own person. 3. Perpetual obedience. He must continue in all things written in the book of the law (Galatians 3:10). Thus it was very strict. There was no mercy in case of failure.
3. The Covenant of Works was not built upon a very firm basis; therefore it must needs leave men full of fears and doubts. The Covenant of Works rested upon the strength of man's inherent righteousness; which though in innocence was perfect, yet was subject to a change. Adam was created holy, but mutable. He had a power to stand, but not a power not to fall. Adam had a stock of original righteousness to begin the world with, but he was not sure he should not break. Adam was his own pilot, and could steer right in the time of innocence; but he was not so secured, but that he might dash against the rock of a temptation, and he and his posterity suffer shipwreck. So that the Covenant of Works must needs leave jealousies and doubts in Adam's heart, he having no security given him, that he should not fall from that glorious state.
4. The Covenant of Works being broken by sin, man's condition was very deplorable and desperate. He was left in himself helpless; there was no place for repentance: the Justice of God being offended, sets all the other attributes against mankind. When Adam lost his righteousness, he lost his anchor of hope, and his crown: there was no way for man's relief, unless God would find out such a way that neither man nor angels could devise.
Use 1. See the condescension of God, who was pleased to stoop so low, as to make a covenant with us. For the God of Glory to make a covenant with dust and ashes; for God to bind himself to us, to give us life in case of obedience: entering into covenant was a sign of God's friendship with us, and a royal act of his favor.
2. See what a glorious condition man was in, when God entered into covenant with him: 1. He was placed in the garden of God, which for the pleasure of it, was called Paradise (Genesis 2:8). He had his choice of all the trees, (one only excepted) he had all kind of precious stones, pure metals, rich cedars; he was a king upon the throne, and all the creation did obeisance to him, as in Joseph's dream, all his brethren's sheaves did bow to his sheaf. Man in innocency had all kind of pleasure that might ravish his senses with delight, and be as baits to allure him to serve and worship his Maker. 2. Besides, he was full of holiness; Paradise was not more adorned with fruit, than Adam's soul was with grace. He was the coin on which God had stamped his lively image; light sparkled in his understanding, he was like an earthly angel, his will and affections were full of order, tuning harmoniously to the will of God. Adam was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a perfect pattern of sanctity. 3. Adam had intimacy of communion with God, and conversed with him, as a favorite with his prince. Adam knew God's mind, and had his heart. He not only enjoyed the light of the sun in Paradise, but the light of God's countenance. This condition was Adam in when God entered into covenant with him. But this did not long continue; man being in honor abides not (Psalm 49, last verse), lodged not for a night; his teeth watered at the apple, and ever since it has made our eyes water.
3. Learn from Adam's fall, how unable we are to stand in our own strength. If Adam in the state of integrity did not stand, how unable are we now, when the lock of our original righteousness is cut? If purified nature did not stand, how then shall corrupt nature? We need more strength to uphold us than our own.
4. See in what a sad condition all unbelievers and impenitent persons are: so long as they continue in their sins, they continue under the curse of the first covenant. Faith entitles us to the mercy of the second covenant: but while men are under the power of their sins, they are under the curse of the first covenant, and if they die in this condition, they are damned to eternity.
5. See the wonderful goodness of God, who was pleased, when we had forfeited the first covenant, to enter into a new covenant with us. Well may it be called Foedus Gratiae, a covenant of grace; it is bespangled with promises, as the heaven with stars. When the angels, those glorious spirits fell, God did not enter into a new covenant with them to be their God, but let those golden vessels lie broken; but has entered into a second covenant with us, better than the first (Hebrews 8:6). It is better, because it is surer; it is made in Christ, and cannot be reversed; Christ has engaged his strength to keep every believer. In the first covenant we had à posse stare, a power of standing: in the second we have à non posse cadere, an impossibility of falling finally (1 Peter 1:5).
6. Whoever they are that look for righteousness and salvation by the power of their free will, or the inherent goodness of their nature, or by virtue of their merit, as the Socinians and Papists, these are all under the covenant of works; they do not submit to the righteousness of faith, therefore they are bound to keep the whole law, and in case of failure they are condemned. The covenant of grace is like a court of chancery, to relieve the sinner, and help him who is cast by the first covenant. It says, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and be saved; but such as will stand upon their own inherent righteousness, free will, and merit, they fall under the first covenant of works, and are in a perishing estate.
Use 2. Let us labor by faith to get into the second covenant of grace, and then the curse of the first covenant is taken away by Christ. If once we get to be heirs of the covenant of grace, we are in a better state than before. Adam stood on his own legs, therefore fell; we stand in the strength of Christ. Under the first covenant the justice of God, as an avenger of blood, pursues you; but if you get into the second covenant, you are got into the city of refuge, you are safe, and the justice of God is pacified towards you.
