Covenant Theology, Scripture, and Reformed Confessions — Unit 2: The Covenant of Redemption and the Covenant of Works

Key Verse

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain the covenant of redemption as the Father's and the Son's agreement before time to save a people, and name the Scriptures that support it.

2. State fairly the objections to the covenant of redemption, and answer them.

3. Describe the covenant of works made with Adam, its promise, its command, its penalty and its sign.

4. Explain Adam's headship and how Paul uses it in Romans 5 to teach the work of Christ.

5. State the main objections to the covenant of works, including the historians' debate about its origin, and answer them from Scripture and the confessions.

Where We Stand

This course is written from inside the confessional Reformed and Presbyterian tradition. In Unit 1 we learned that the Bible tells one story of God keeping his promise to his people. In this unit we go to the beginning of that story, and even before it. We study the two covenants that stand behind the covenant of grace: the covenant of redemption, made in eternity, and the covenant of works, made with Adam in the garden.

Reformed teachers have not always used identical words, and believers inside our churches differ on some details. We state these differences fairly, and we state the objections of other Christians and answer them. The history of how these doctrines grew belongs to Course 1, and election and atonement are taught in Course 2.

Part One: The Covenant of Redemption

What it is

The covenant of redemption is the eternal agreement among the persons of the Trinity about the saving of sinners. Its Latin name is pactum salutis, "the counsel of peace" or "the agreement of salvation." Before the world was made, the Father gave a people to the Son to redeem. The Son agreed to become man, to obey the law in their place, and to die for their sins. The Father promised the Son a people, a kingdom and the Spirit's help. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, would apply this redemption to those given.

The Father, Son and Spirit are one God, with one will and one purpose. The covenant of redemption describes how the one God, in three persons, arranged the work of salvation. Each person has his own part, freely and lovingly taken.

The Scripture it rests on

We do not find the phrase "covenant of redemption" in the Bible. We find the pieces from which the doctrine is built.

• The Father gave a people to the Son. Jesus prays about those whom the Father "gave" him (John 17:2, 6, 9). He says that all the Father gives him will come to him, and that he came down from heaven to do the Father's will, not to lose any of those given him (John 6:37-40).

• The Son was sent with a task. He says he has finished the work the Father gave him to do (John 17:4). Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of the Servant who makes his soul an offering for sin and who will be satisfied with the result of his suffering.

• The plan was made before time. Paul says that we were chosen in Christ "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:3-6). Paul speaks of eternal life promised "before time began" (Titus 1:2) and of grace given to us in Christ Jesus "before time began" (2 Timothy 1:9). Since no creature then existed, the promise was made within God himself.

• The Son receives a kingdom from the Father. Psalm 2:7-8 records the Father's word to the Son: ask, and I will give you the nations. Jesus says, in Luke 22:29, that he grants his disciples a kingdom just as the Father granted one to him. Zechariah 6:13 speaks of "the counsel of peace" between two persons.

The pattern of the work points the same way: the Father plans and sends, the Son redeems, the Spirit applies. A pattern in the work implies a pattern in the plan.

Where it appears in our confessions

The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 8, says it pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only Son, to be the Mediator between God and man (8.1). It adds that Christ undertook this office willingly and received a commandment from his Father (8.3), and that he purchased an inheritance for all whom the Father gave him (8.5). The Larger Catechism, Question 31, says that the covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed. The Standards do not use the name "covenant of redemption," but the teaching is there.

Objections and answers

Objection 1: This divides God into three wills, and so threatens the unity of God.

Some modern theologians fear that talk of an agreement between the Father and the Son sounds like two separate persons making a treaty, which would lead toward three gods. Reformed teachers have always seen this danger. God is one in essence and has one will. The three persons are distinct in how they exist and act, but they are not three gods. The covenant of redemption speaks of the economy, the way the persons share the work of salvation. At the baptism of Jesus the Father speaks, the Son is baptized and the Spirit descends (Matthew 3:16-17), and yet there is only one God.

Objection 2: The Bible is silent. This is speculation about what happened before creation.

It is true that the Bible does not use the name. We answer that Scripture speaks plainly about the Father giving a people to the Son, the Son's commission, and the promises made "before time began." The Westminster Confession says that what "by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture" is also binding (1.6). If the Father sent the Son and gave him a people, then there was a plan, and a plan implies an agreement.

Objection 3: Even among Reformed teachers, this doctrine is disputed.

This is correct. Reformed theologians have differed on whether the covenant of redemption is a separate covenant from the covenant of grace, or the eternal side of the one covenant of grace. The Larger Catechism's wording in Question 31, with Christ as the party of the covenant of grace, favors the second reading. Other teachers spoke of two distinct covenants. The Westminster Standards do not settle the question. What every Reformed teacher holds is the substance: the Father, Son and Spirit planned our salvation together before the world was made.

Part Two: The Covenant of Works

What it is

The covenant of works is the covenant God made with Adam in the garden, as the head and representative of all his descendants. The Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.2, says that the first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, in which life was promised to Adam and in him to his offspring, on the condition of perfect and personal obedience. The Shorter Catechism, Question 12, says that when God created man he entered into a covenant of life with him, on condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on pain of death. The Larger Catechism (Question 20) speaks in the same way, so this covenant is also called "the covenant of life."

The parts of the covenant

Genesis 1 and 2 do not use the word "covenant," but they show all the parts of one.

1. The parties. The Creator and Adam, whom God made in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27).

2. The command. Adam was to fill the earth and care for it. God gave him one prohibition: "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat" (Genesis 2:16-17).

3. The penalty. "For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17).

4. The promise. The tree of life stood in the garden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22). Reformed teachers read the tree of life as a sign and seal of the life that obedience would bring.

5. The sign. The two trees served as the sacramental signs of the covenant, the tree of life for the promise and the tree of knowledge for the test.

Adam was created good and upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29), but not yet confirmed in that state. He was on probation. If he obeyed, he and his people would enter confirmed life. If he disobeyed, death would come to them all.

Adam as head

The center of the covenant of works is the headship of Adam. Paul teaches in Romans 5:12-19 that sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all. He says that "through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation" (5:18) and that through the obedience of one man, many will be made righteous (5:19). In 1 Corinthians 15:22 he writes that in Adam all die, and in Christ all will be made alive. Verse 45 calls Christ "the last Adam."

Adam therefore acted for those he represented. His fall was counted as theirs. This is called the imputation of Adam's sin. It explains why every child is born with a sinful nature and under condemnation (see total depravity, Course 2).

Christ, the last Adam

Paul's point in Romans 5 is to show the glory of Christ. What Adam failed to do, Christ did. He was "born under the law" (Galatians 4:4-5), obeyed it perfectly, and paid the penalty of death in the place of his people. His obedience is counted to them for righteousness (Romans 5:19). The demand of the covenant of works has been met by the Mediator, and for believers the question is answered not by their own record but by his. This is why the doctrine matters for the gospel. If no perfect obedience was required, then none was supplied, and justification by faith alone loses its ground.

Objections to the Covenant of Works and Our Answers

Objection 1: There is no covenant in Genesis 1 to 3. The word is not used.

This is true of the word and not of the thing. We have seen that Genesis 2 contains parties, a command, a penalty and a promise. Hosea 6:7 may say that Adam transgressed a covenant, but it can be translated "like men" or "like Adam," so we do not build on it alone. The firmest support is Romans 5, where Paul sets Adam and Christ side by side as two heads. If Christ acts as head under a covenant, then Adam, whom Paul calls "a type of Him who was to come" (Romans 5:14), was head under a covenant too.

Objection 2: A covenant of "works" before the fall contradicts salvation by grace.

Some say a covenant based on obedience teaches earning favor. We answer in three steps. First, the covenant itself is God's kindness. Westminster 7.1 says people could have no enjoyment of God as their blessing and reward unless he came down to them by covenant. Second, Adam had nothing to earn from a Creator who already owed him nothing; the reward of life was a gift beyond what his created nature required. Reformed teachers speak of "covenant merit," a reward promised by God's generosity, and not strict merit between equals. Third, the covenant of works is not how sinners are now saved. After the fall, no one but Christ can keep it. Fallen people are saved by grace through faith, in the covenant of grace.

Objection 3: It is unjust for one man's sin to be counted against others.

Arminian teachers, and many outside the Reformed church, have raised this objection. Some say people inherit only a weakness from Adam and are guilty only of their own sins. We reply that Paul himself teaches that "through one man's offense judgment came to all men" (Romans 5:18). Further, the principle that one may act for many is the principle on which the gospel stands. If we reject representation in Adam, we have no ground for rejoicing in representation in Christ. And God dealt kindly with Adam, who was created upright, in a garden, with one command to test him.

Objection 4: The doctrine is a late invention. Calvin did not teach it.

Historians have debated this. Calvin did not use the term "covenant of works," and he did not build the scheme in the way later writers did. But Calvin did teach that Adam was created upright and was given a command with a promise and a penalty, and that Christ restores what Adam lost. In the later sixteenth century, writers such as Zacharias Ursinus spoke of a covenant made with Adam in creation, and other Reformed teachers used covenant language for the first relationship between God and man. By the time of the Westminster Assembly (1643-49) the doctrine was widely held in Reformed churches. Some historians call this a hardening of Reformation thought. We answer that the question is whether it is biblical, not when the terms were chosen. The doctrine states, with new words, what Genesis 2 and Romans 5 teach.

Pastoral Application

A teacher in your Sunday school brings you a problem. A boy in her class asked, "If Adam sinned, why do I have to be punished? That is not fair!" She did not know what to say, and she is afraid the boy will walk away from the faith.

A wise pastor first praises the teacher for taking the question seriously and for not brushing it aside. He then gives her three points. First, Romans 5 does not end with Adam but with Christ. The same teaching that says we fell in Adam says that we can rise in Christ, who obeyed where Adam failed. Second, God did not treat Adam harshly: Adam had everything he needed and only one command. Third, bring the child to Christ and do not stop with the argument. Answer honestly, then say, "Here is the good news: there is a second Adam." He offers to visit the class and answer the boy's questions himself, kindly and without hurry.

Summary

The covenant of redemption is the eternal agreement of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to save a people, supported by Scriptures such as John 6 and 17, Ephesians 1 and Titus 1:2. Objections that it divides God, that it is speculation, or that Reformed teachers themselves differ over it are answered by the unity of God's will, by good and necessary consequence from Scripture, and by the recognition that the substance is agreed. The covenant of works was made with Adam as the head of humanity; it had a command, a penalty, a promise and a sign, and the confessions call it a covenant of life. Adam's disobedience brought condemnation on those he represented, and Christ, the last Adam, obeyed in their place. The objections that the covenant has no biblical word, contradicts grace, is unjust, or is a late invention are answered from Genesis 2, Romans 5 and the confessions. Our hope rests on the second Adam.

Further Reading

• The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 7 and 8 (1646).

• The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 12 and 20, and the Larger Catechism, Questions 20 and 31 (1647).

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Questions 6 to 11 on creation and the fall.

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, chapters 1 to 3 (Beveridge translation, 1845).

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), on the covenant of works and the imputation of sin.

• Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man (1677).

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