THE COVENANT OF LIFE

Genesis 2: 16-17 & Luke 10: 25-28 & Romans 5: 12-14

The Reformer's Fire
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Exposition by Max A Forsythe

Question 12:

Q: What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?
A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

In our legal system of jurisprudence today, any and all indigent defendants are allowed a public defender at the tax payer's expense. The method of determining who will be the free defendant varies from state to state and even from locality to locality. In some areas, the younger, newer lawyers are financially hungry enough that they willingly snap up the "minimal" fees paid by the county and state. In some places, all of the communities lawyers have their names drawn from a hat to share the burden. In still other areas, the less talented lawyers make their living from such a process. Sometimes, my government students ask me my opinion of the process. I always encourage them to hire their own lawyer rather than take their chances of getting a legal representative whose primary partner is either "Jim Bean" or "Wild Turkey"! Many people are appalled at the intricacies, politics and processes of the current legal system. In our time we can well understand the several biblical injunctions to avoid any legal complications if it is at all possible.

Now we have to remember that all lawyers and judges are perfectly human and like all professions usually only one in ten doctors, plumbers and pastors are seriously competent at their calling! At least we usually have a choice in who will treat our bodies, pipes and souls, even as we have a choice in who will represent us in court. In matters of salvation, those who are spiritually astute may even "choose" their representative before the awesome judgment throne of our Creator God. The choices are clear from both Covenant records: Adam or Jesus Christ? Would you choose Adam as your representative on the basis of his covenant of works? Or would you choose Jesus Christ on the basis of His covenant of grace?

What sane person would choose the first Adam as their representative? He failed to keep the very first legal contract with our Creator God. Now some may argue that it is patently unfair that all of mankind should be judged upon Adam's failure? In the popular movie from the sixties (Camelot) the character Lancelot sang a short song where he earnestly proclaimed that if he had been Adam, mankind would be in Eden still! Of course you know the story of Camelot and how the perfect knight Lancelot fell into imperfection, adultery and if you can stand the word: even into sin! This popular story in the Middle Ages perfectly demonstrated in contemporary fashion the fallibility of all mankind. And unless King Arthur was willing and able to forgive above and beyond his just decrees and laws, there was no hope for any sinful humans. Even today, the British Royals actively demonstrate the treasonable nature of fallen human relationships.

Quite honestly, the first Adam very adequately represented every human who has ever existed from the dawn of creation. Yet, there is an ongoing concern, could it have worked out? Could Adam and Eve kept the paradise relationship for all time? What do you think? Would it really matter which human represented the human race, given the gracious terms of the garden covenant? Now let us be careful in our understanding of this covenant.

Reformed authors have spoken variously of a "Covenant of Works", "Covenant of Creation", "Covenant of Commencement" and a "Covenant of Life". You all know my prejudice against using the term "Covenant of Works" in this regard because of the affliction of works righteousness throughout the history of both Old and New Covenant Churches. I would like to observe that Adam's salvation, like every human's is related to the Covenant of Grace centered in the obedience of the Second Adam: Jesus Christ. Certainly, our focus this morning is on the edenic paradise in which Adam and Eve labored until they made it necessary for the Lord God to institute the Covenant of Grace. I would also like to observe that the very nature of the word Covenant demands the sacrifice of life to cover over human sins. I wonder, do we even dare to use the word Covenant to describe the relationship between Adam and Eve with God before the fall?

Do you see my concern here? After all we are talking about an earthly paradise where God is in the midst of His elect in a way that we will not understand until the reestablishment of that Paradise at the end of the age. At the very least, since so many Doctors of Christ's Church insist upon a covenantal understanding here, let me me follow the Shorter Catechism's choice of words and speak of the Covenant of Life focusing on those signs and institutions which have survived from the garden time unto our own day. By no means should anyone determine that their personal salvation is earned by demonstrating their obedience in these matters. Remember, salvation is under the Covenant of Grace, our common life only is guided by the institutions of the Covenant of Life.

By foreknowledge God certainly knew that the means of Grace must be made available to all of His elect and yet for the ordering of all of society, the creation covenant has shaped the world for all time. The ongoing signs of this life covenant commenced in the garden include at least four items:

In that order let us focus our attention then. The Sabbath institution is the oldest continuing religious observance anywhere in the world. All humanistic myths aside, we may well note that this observance was instituted by God Himself in the creation process. Certainly we understand that the Christian Church well understood the necessity to change that day from the end of the week to the beginning. Symbolically, under the garden covenant, work preceded rest. Under the terms of Christ's Covenant of Grace, labor follows rest. In this reordering we may better appreciate that all we do for our Sovereign King Jesus is done gladly for the grace given to us and celebrated week by week until the end of the world!

Second, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. Sadly in our day there are many who are alone who would like to be together and then there are those who are together who would rather be alone. Sadder still are the many humanistic pagans who would prefer companionship apart from God's ordering of creation. Man and woman, God created us for each other and to fill the earth. Certainly as my several commentators point out, some people do choose to remain single, and this is within their liberty to exercise. How many times I have heard of Churches pressuring singles to marry? There is one cult in this city that even arranges marriages after some time has gone by with no movement in the proper direction by their variously aged singles.

Our media today have purposely attacked this marriage institution which dates back to the ordering of creation. More so than in years past, we hear of things that should not even be named or spoken in public. It seems that the new definition for marriage and family is any group of people who agree to share the same roof, table and bathtub! Just look at the strange concoctions paraded before us week by week on television. The Lord God of creation really didn't need the adultery commandment to clarify what he intended from the day of Adam. Even a thousand years before Moses, he destroyed the Sodomites who disobeyed God's wiser ordering of human relationships.

Third, even in paradise, Adam had meaningful work to please our God and Creator. I am reminded of a movie some decades ago where a gardner's son in a walled estate in the suburbs of Washington D.C. suddenly learned that there was life outside of the garden and that his late, older, friendly overseer had kept him in virtual slavery. The movie then went on to explore the social implications of the gardner's innocence. Such innocence only Adam can understand. His labor was gladly given to His God and King, and only after the fall, was labor turned to a chore. Our calling in life as Christians is to reflect the greater glory of our Father in our diligence and enjoyment of our life's calling. Certainly worldly institutions more and more make this calling difficult, but as I once told a supervisor, "I work for the Lord God Creator first last and always!" And His standards for behavior in this regard are much greater than even the toughest slave driver! Even a fallen world where work we must to earn our daily bread, we ought to turn this drudgery into an opportunity to give God the glory.

Fourth and finally, there is the matter of God's utter sovereignty and his earnest charge that we would honor and glorify Him with our daily obedience. As Adam and Eve well demonstrated, even one sin can separate us from the presence of our almighty, righteous and holy God. Death is the just penalty for any disobedience! Why is it that so many people believe that they can earn salvation by living a life of obedience? We have only to consider the teacher of the law that Luke records in our gospel text for today. He spoke for a generation that believed there was indeed salvation in obeying all of the minute details of the Law of God and the traditions of men. Immediately on getting the answer that he wanted, he hedged his bet by asking who his neighbor was. If like the majority of the Jews in his day he despised the Samaritans, he fell short of obeying the strict demands of the law. One sin, like Adam and condemnation and death are ours.

Well does Paul quote Moses on the righteousness that is by the law. Do all of these things and live. Adam had one tree of "delights" that tempted him and his family, do we really think that in a wide world of many more temptations that we can obey the laws and regulations of our heavenly Father? As a society we cannot even keep any minimal regulations regarding the Sabbath, or the marriage covenant, or a holding to earning our own way by the fruits of our labor. Only in paradise will King Jesus be honored by our perfect obedience and that after a gracious working out of His sanctification day by day so that we better appreciate the absolute necessity of His Sovereign Covenant of Grace. May we learn from Adam's experience that any Covenant of life depends wholly on the grace and mercy of our Sovereign God in heaven.

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