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1.16.2007

How to see the Mosaic Covenant


On certain sites on the internet the Mosaic Covenant is being discussed as to whether it is a republication of the Covenant of Works in the Garden, and what that means in terms of it being a covenant of works itself and how that squares with the Covenant of Grace, etc., etc.

I find it interesting (and I don't say that sarcastically) that the first and second Adam parallel isn't pulled into the discussion. The Mosaic Covenant (the laws given on Sinai) were a republication of the Covenant of Works because Jesus (the second Adam) needed something to follow and accomplish to fulfill what the first Adam failed to fulfill. That the laws on Sinai were given to national Israel simply means this: national Israel is a type of the Messiah Himself. Jesus' very life mirrors the history of the nation of Israel. National Israel's very reason for being was to bring the Messiah in the fulness of times.

So the Mosaic Covenant - the laws given on Sinai, i.e. the Ten Commandments and the cermonial and judicial laws - WERE a covenant of works, and were in fact a republication of the Covenant of Works made with the first Adam in the Garden. The Second Adam - Jesus Christ - came to fulfill what the first Adam failed to fulfill. But Jesus needed those laws given on Mt. Sinai to have something to fulfill. Was Jesus supposed to fulfill the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Anyway, the Covenant of Works was still in effect - as a curse - after the fall. The laws on Sinai made them known to the nation of Israel and gave the Second Adam - Jesus - the actual laws of the Covenant of Works He had to fulfill.

When Jesus fulfilled the Covenant of Works - a covenant of WORKS for Jesus - it becomes a covenant of grace for us. It is PART of the Covenant of Grace.

I may be missing something obvious, but why is this so difficult?

The parallel between the two Adams (the first and second Adam: Adam in the Garden, and Jesus Christ) is the spine, so to speak, of Federal Theology. Federal Theology is classical covenant theology systematized. This is how best to explain it. If you stay in the organic, biblical theology realm of Covenant Theology to explain it everything is always mushy (the way doctrinal mischief-makers like it to be, by the way). When you explain these things explain it using the language of Federal Theology.

There is only ONE way to be saved: WORKS. Either your own, or Jesus'. (Good luck if you try to rely on your own.) And Jesus' accomplishment - or fulfilling - of the Covenant of Works becomes our own if we appropriate it by faith in Jesus. This effects all that needs to be effected within us regarding being born again and outside of us regarding being justified in the eyes and judgment of God. (It also is the only way a human being can develop, or recover, or just have the image of God in a real way, and not just in a fiat, or robotic way. It's a brilliant Plan, but it's God's Plan, so that would follow...)

2 Comments:

Blogger Matthew Morizio said...

“On certain sites on the internet the Mosaic Covenant is being discussed…”

Hey CT, I’d be most interested in these discussions you mentioned. Addresses?

“…the first and second Adam parallel isn't pulled into the discussion”

Appreciate what you’re saying here, man. I too understand the Two-Adam dynamic to be so crucial. As you mentioned this generally doesn’t factor in, and I’m left asking myself if possibly I’ve missed something by my finding the T-A-D (federalism) to be nuclear to both understanding Scripture and deriving a sound theology from it?

Gotta another question…

Often the assumption seems to be that, the Reprobate are yet to be condemned for something committed by them individually. Wouldn’t Scripture answer this in its revealing the fact that all the wicked were/are condemned by ADAM’s one transgression, not by failing to keep some aspect of the moral will of God revealed after the Original Sin? No doubt individuals can/do sin against the will of God, but this would be the fruit of ONE transgression, Adam's.

Thoughts?

If you don't mind...I'd like to quote some of your comments over on my own blog (http://mjmorizio.blogspot.com)?

February 13, 2007 at 4:29 PM  
Blogger c.t. said...

Hi,

I responded to your comment in a new post above...

- ct

February 15, 2007 at 1:25 PM  

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