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Covenant of Redemption MEANING OF KEY WORDS COVENANT: Agreement REDEMPTION: To buy back WORKS: merited favor GRACE: unmerited favor COVENANT (meaning) : Basically, a “covenant” is an agreement between two parties to fulfill obligations made one to another. WCF 7:1 The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. David Garner …God acted. He stepped down; he bent over toward us. Since we could in no way get to him, he came to us. He chose to lower himself to our level, and did so out of his own pleasure and wisdom (see Ephesians 1:3–14). His stooping instrument of choice was the covenant. COVENANT (defintion) OT: The Hebrew word for covenant is always BERITH, a word of uncertain derivation. • The most general opinion is that it is derived from the Hebrew verb BARAH, to cut, and therefore contains a reminder of the ceremony mentioned in Genesiis 15:17. • Some, however, prefer to think that it is derived from the Assyrian word BERITU, meaning “to bind.” This would at once point to the covenant as a bond. DIATHEKE: properly, a set-agreement having complete terms determined by the initiating party, which also are fully affirmed by the one entering the agreement. COVENANT OF REDEMPTION THE PARTIES OF THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION The covenant of redemption is the agreement made between the members of the Trinity in order to bring us salvation. THE ROLES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE TRINITY THE FATHER plans redemption and sends the Son in order to save His people. THE SON agrees to be sent and to do the work necessary to save the elect….Christ is our SURETY. Louis Berkhof A surety is one who engages to become responsible for it that the legal obligations of another will be met. In the covenant of redemption Christ undertook to atone for the sins of His people by bearing the necessary punishment, and to meet the demands of the law for them. And by taking the place of delinquent man He became the last Adam, and is as such also the Head of the covenant, the Representative of all those whom the Father has given Him. In the covenant of redemption, then, Christ is both Surety and Head. He took upon Himself the responsibilities of His people. He is also their Surety in the covenant of grace, which develops out of the covenant of redemption. John 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” Ligon Duncan: The covenant of redemption is that eternal covenant--that covenant which is prior to time, in which the Son undertakes to be our surety and our mediator and the Father undertakes to give to the Son all the elect because of the Son’s perfect obedience. In the Covenant of Redemption, the Son buys you by right. You hear that? Last week we said the whole function of Covenant Theology is to do what? Build the assurance of God’s people in His promises. Now the Covenant of Redemption tells you that when Christ dies for you, it makes your salvation absolutely certain. Why? Because the Father has promised the Son, “If you will take that man’s place, I will give him to You.” The whole point is that the Father cannot renege. He has promised the Son in the Covenant. THE SPIRIT agrees to apply the work of Christ to us by sealing us unto salvation Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guaranteed of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. R.C. Sproul The covenant of redemption is one of the greatest examples of God’s grace that we have. The Father, Son, and Spirit did not have to pledge to each other that they would bring to us salvation. But when they did, they guaranteed that it would happen. Remember that the grace of God was working on our behalf long before we were born. THE WORD REDEMPTION APOLYTROSIS: LYO means freeing one from prison, ransom EXAGORAZO: to purchase of the AGORA…the slave market Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. COVENANT OF WORKS David Garner: Like a nanny whispering into the ear of a small child in words the young one could understand,(John Calvin’s terminology) God bends over, speaks to Adam and Eve understandably, warmly, and meaningfully. He gave their moral and personal obligations clearly defined parameters: they knew what he expected, were given what they needed to meet those expectations, and were offered promises according to those covenantal expectations. Covenant defined and bounded the divine-human relationship. It does so to this very day. This divine stooping to issue covenant promise breathed heavenly vitality into man’s purpose, hopes, dreams—his entire life and future. Covenant turned the impossible into the attainable, that is, the achievable sweetness of permanent fellowship with the Creator. In this covenant obligation, God gave explicit command—a command not to eat of a particular tree in the Garden of Eden. Covenant obligation was now explicitly defined; covenant blessing was now explicitly in view. When Adam sinned we all sinned: OUR FEDERAL HEAD Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15“Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16in their paths are ruin and misery, 17and the way of peace they have not known.” 18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell? A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
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