#761 1689 Confession God's Covenant

7:1 Though rational creatures are responsible to obey God as their Creator, the distance between God and these creatures is so great that they could never have attained the reward of life except by God's voluntary condescension. He has been pleased to express this through a covenant framework. 

…9 Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told? 10 So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17: 9-10

…7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of men. 9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.… Job 35: 7-9

7:2 Since humanity brought itself under the curse of the law by its fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace. In this covenant He freely offers to sinners life and salvation through Jesus Christ. On their part He requires faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promises to give His Holy Spirit to all who are ordained to eternal life, to make them willing and able to believe. 

…16 And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it,you will surely die.” 18 The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”… Genesis 2: 16-18

9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 All who rely on works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 And it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”… Galatians 3: 9-11

…19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of sin. 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.… Romans 3: 19-21

…2 For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.… Romans 8: 2-4

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16: 15-16

15 that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.… John 3: 15-17

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.… Ezekiel 36: 26-28

…44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father.… John 6: 44-46

…2 The LORD will extend Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” 3 Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth. 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”… Psalm 110: 2-4

This covenant is revealed in the gospel. It was revealed first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation through the seed of the woman. After that, it was revealed step by step until the full revelation of it was completed in the New Testament. This covenant is based on the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of the elect. Only through the grace of this covenant have those saved from among the descendants of fallen Adam obtained life and blessed immortality. Humanity is now utterly incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms on which Adam was accepted in his state of innocence. 

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head,and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3: 14-15

1 On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.… Hebrews 1: 1-2

…8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling,not because of our own works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time eternal.10 And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,… 2 Timothy 1: 8-10

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,promised before time began. 3 In His own time, He has revealed His message in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.… Titus 1: 1-3

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.… Hebrews 11: 5-7

…12 And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised.However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.14 Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own.… Hebrews 11: 12-14

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? 2 If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”… Romans 4: 1-3

…11 He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus.… Acts 4: 11-13

You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see My day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?”… John 8: 55-57