Adam and the Covenant of Works (Review)
Christian Focus Publications Ltd, (Nov 25, 2021, 536 pages.
J.V.
Fesko, in this flow-on from his The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption,
has once more done the Lord’s church a big favour by writing this book. Like its
predecessor, it is academic in places, but the reader with a general knowledge
of theology should not have too much trouble following the flow of the book’s
discussion.
Fesko
interacts with many theologians pro- and even contra- the covenant of works,
(and many nuances in between), showing from sound Scriptural exegesis that God
made a covenant of works with Adam. He puts to bed many misconceptions and
misunderstandings about the covenant of works.
This is a
‘must-read’ for all who wish to gain a deeper knowledge of what Christ has done
for believers by His perfect life and atoning death on the cross.
The remedy for the broken covenant of works is the work of Christ. Christ’s passive obedience addresses the covenant’s transgression, but his active obedience addresses the fulfillment of the covenant of works.[1]
Without
the clear understanding that Fesko provides through his logical spelling out
and careful explanation of the covenant of works, we are only left to wonder from
whence comes the righteousness that God imputed to believers when their sin was
imputed to Christ. It came from Christ’s (as the last Adam) obedience to the
covenant of works God made with Adam. Says Fesko,
Our redemption is all by God’s grace in Christ, the last Adam, but he accomplished this salvation entirely by his works. Christ fulfilled the covenant of works so that we take a step into the new heavens and earth the moment we believe. We receive a foretaste of the eternal eschatological rest each and every Lord’s Day as we celebrate the completed work of Christ – we first rest – and enter the remainder of the week in the knowledge and hope that the work has been done. We can only begin to enter this eternal rest solely by the completed work of Christ – His obedience alone – not our own. To try to mix our good works with Christ’s as the means by which we enter God’s eternal rest is an alchemy doomed to failure.[2]
No comments:
Post a Comment