Profound Vos passage, touching on the practical level of pure religion

“Because Reformed theology took hold of the Scriptures in their deepest root idea, it was in a position to work through them more fully from this central point and to let each part of their content come to its own. This root idea which served as the key to unlock the rich treasuries of the Scriptures was the preeminence of God’s glory in the consideration of all that has been created. All other explanations of the difference between the Lutheran and the Reformed traditions in the end again come down to this, that the former begins with man and the latter with God. God does not exist because of man, but man because of God. This is what is written at the entrance of the temple of Reformed theology. When this principle is applied to man and his relationship to God, it immediately divides into three parts:

1. All of man’s work has to rest on an antecedent work of God;

2. In all of his works man has to show forth God’s image and be a means for the revelation of God’s virtues;

3. The latter should not occur unconsciously or passively, but the revelation of God’s virtues must proceed by way of understanding and will and by way of the conscious life, and actively come to external expression.

We hope to show how this threefold demand has been reckoned with precisely in the doctrine of the covenant.”

- Geerhardus Vos, Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology