God created man in His own image; therefore the first two human beings were perfect in every way – particularly in spiritual things: in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. God made a covenant with Adam, as the head of the human race. It is generally known as the covenant of works, “wherein”, says The Westminster Confession of Faith, “life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience” (7:2). Adam’s obedience to the will of God was indeed perfect, in his thoughts and motives as well as outwardly, for some period of time, though it is unlikely that it lasted for long. As long as that obedience continued, there was no death in this world. There was no spiritual death; Adam was spiritually alive, loving God with all his heart. He was in no way liable to eternal death; he had not yet sinned but was serving God perfectly. Nor was he liable to death in the sense of the separation between body and soul, which is the result of sin.
But Adam did not go on in obedience; his works did not continue perfect. He sinned by eating the forbidden fruit and so he broke the covenant of works. According to the warning he had been given, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17), he became subject to death. He was now mortal; the time would come when his soul would be parted from his body. Besides, he was no longer spiritually alive; he had lost his love for God and his willingness to obey and serve his Creator. And as a sinner he was under condemnation, on his way to suffer eternal death in hell. He was still under the covenant of works, but he could no longer keep its terms, for it was now a broken covenant.
If Adam had been obedient to God’s will as expressed in the covenant of works, not only would he have experienced permanent blessing, but so would all his descendants. Correspondingly, not only did he bring death on himself by breaking the covenant, but he brought death on his posterity also. Matthew Henry (on Gen 3:6-8) points out that “the greatest aggravation of [Adam’s] sin was that he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin by it”. And he asks,
“Can we say then that Adam’s sin had but little harm in it?”. Clearly not. He, as the first Adam, represented all mankind of every generation, just as the Lord Jesus, the second Adam, represented His people of every generation. Thus “if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17).
But that “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” presupposes another covenant. The Westminster Confession summarises Scripture teaching on the subject: “Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant [of works], the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace, whereby He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe” (7:3).
In the covenant of grace, the Son of God undertook to come into the world in the fullness of time to do all that was necessary for the salvation of “all those that [were] ordained unto eternal life”, none of whom were in any degree able to save themselves. A divine Saviour was necessary, who would take human nature. In coming into the world, the Son of God was to act as the representative of those who are to be saved; He undertook to be their substitute, and so to suffer the full punishment that was due to them because of their sin and to keep the law on their behalf.
So Paul writes, “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal 4:4,5). Christ came at the time appointed from all eternity; He took human nature; He came under God’s law, both to suffer its penalty and to obey its precepts. This He did perfectly; He fulfilled the prophetic words: “He will magnify the law, and make it honourable”. Accordingly, “the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake” (Is 42:21), so that God is righteously able to give eternal life to all who believe. To say the redeemed will be adopted into His family is to imply the blessings that come to redeemed sinners, who are under the fatherly care of Almighty God. All things will work together for their good while they are in this world, being prepared for eternal glory.
The Confession speaks of the Lord offering life and salvation to sinners, and Robert Shaw insists that “this offer is not restricted . . . to . . . those who are convinced of their sin and their need of the Saviour; for it is addressed to persons sunk in total insensibility as to their own miseries and wants. This offer is made as really to those who eventually reject it, as it is to those who eventually receive it; for, if this were not the case, the former class of gospel-hearers could not be condemned for their unbelief.”1 All this is implied in such a call as this: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Is 45:22).
The Lord Jesus Christ, in the covenant of grace, represented all whom the Father gave to Him – which is equivalent to: all who will ever believe in Him. He has finished the work that He undertook in order to provide redemption for them. As these blessings are the blessings of a covenant – a divine covenant – they are absolutely sure. So, for instance, Christ’s promise to every believer, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5), is absolutely sure. Christ will never forsake any of them; their position within the kingdom of God is absolutely secure. Christ promises, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (Jn 10:28). So they are always safe, whatever troubles and temptations they may experience in this life. And they are to see all the certainty of the covenant in every individual promise made to them.
In spite of the many changes that take place in this world, the mountains and hills are permanent features of the landscape; yet when the world will come to an end, “the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed”. But God’s promise to His Church and to every individual believer is, “My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed” (Is 54:10). The kindness that the Lord shows to His people is regulated by the covenant of grace, within which they have been reconciled to Him; so that kindness is absolutely guaranteed to continue for ever.
The permanence of this covenant of peace is illustrated, in Isaiah 54, by the covenant which God had established with Noah, that the human race would not “be cut off any more by the waters of a flood” (Gen 9:11). While the earth remains in existence, the covenant promises of God remain sure to His people. He will watch over them; He will keep them from falling away; His Spirit will remain in them. And before the earth is destroyed, they will all be brought into that better world of perfect, unending blessedness where there will be no more sin, where Satan can never reach them with his temptations, where they will be able to love God with all their heart, and where sorrow and sighing have no place.
In the original paradise, there was a tree of life, which Adam was never able to eat from because he broke the covenant of works. But “blessed are they that do [Christ’s] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life” (Rev 22:14) in the paradise of heaven – which confirms to us the fact that all true followers of Christ have a right to eternal life, for He was faithful to His undertakings in the covenant of grace.
1Shaw, The Reformed Faith, Christian Focus Publications, 1974 reprint, p 91.