Chapter XXVII.
Of the covenant between the Father and the Son, the ground and foundation of this dispensation of Christ’s being punished for us and in our stead.
The fourth thing considerable is the ground of this dispensation of Christ’s being punished for us, which also hath influence into his whole mediation on our behalf. This is that compact, covenant, convention, or agreement, that was between the Father and the Son, for the accomplishment of the work of our redemption by the mediation of Christ, to the praise of the glorious grace of God.
The will of the Father appointing and designing the Son to be the head, husband, deliverer, and redeemer of his elect, his church, his people, whom he did foreknow, with the will of the Son voluntarily, freely undertaking that work and all that was required thereunto, is that compact (for in that form it is proposed in the Scripture) that we treat of.
It being so proposed, so we call it, though there be difficulty in its explication. Rabbi Ruben, in Galatinus, says of Isa. lxvi. 16, that if the Scripture had not said it, it had not been lawful to have said it, but being written, it may be spoken, “In fire, or by fire, is the Lord judged:” for it is not שׁוֹפַט, that is, “judging;” but נִשְׁפָּט, that is, “is judged;”1— which by some is applied to Christ and the fire he underwent in his suffering. However, the rule is safe, That which is written may be spoken, for for that end was it written, God in his word teaching us how we should speak of him. So it is in this matter.
It is true, the will of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is but one. It is a natural property, and where there is but one nature there is but one will: but in respect of their distinct personal actings, this will is appropriated to them respectively, so that the will of the Father and the will of the Son may be considered [distinctly] in this business; which though essentially one and the same, yet in their distinct personality it is distinctly considered, as the will of the Father and the will of the Son. Notwithstanding the unity of essence that is between the Father and the Son, yet is the work distinctly carried on by them; so that the same God judges and becomes surety, satisfieth and is satisfied, in these distinct persons.
Thus, though this covenant be eternal, and the object of it be that which might not have been, and so it hath the nature of the residue of God’s decrees in these regards, yet because of this distinct acting of the will of the Father and the will of the Son with regard to each other, it is more than a decree, and hath the proper nature of a covenant or compact. Hence, from the moment of it (I speak not of time), there is a new habitude of will in the Father and Son towards each other that is not in them essentially; I call it new, as being in God freely, not naturally. And hence was the salvation of men before the incarnation, by the undertaking, mediation, and death of Christ. That the saints under the old testament were saved by Christ at present I take for granted; that they were saved by virtue of a mere decree will not be said. From hence was Christ esteemed to be incarnate and to have suffered, or the fruits of his incarnation and suffering could not have been imputed to any; for the thing itself being denied, the effects of it are not.
The revelation of this covenant is in the Scripture; not that it was then constituted when it is first mentioned in the promises and prophecies of Christ, but [it was] then first declared or revealed. Christ was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, but he was so from eternity. As in other places, as shall be evinced, so in Isa. liii. is this covenant mentioned: in which chapter there is this prophetical scheme, — The covenant between Father and Son, which was past, is spoken of as to come; and the sufferings of Christ, which were to come, are spoken of as past; as appears to every one that but reads the chapter. It is also signally ascribed to Christ’s coming into the world; not constitutively, but declaratively. It is the greatest folly about such things as these, to suppose them then done when revealed, though revealed in expressions of doing them. These things being premised, I proceed to manifest how this covenant is in the Scripture declared.
Now, this convention or agreement, as elsewhere, so it is most clearly expressed Heb. x. 7, from Ps. xl. 7, 8, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” And what will? Verse 10, “The will by which we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The will of God was that Jesus should be offered; and to this end, that we might be sanctified and saved. It is called “The offering of the body of Jesus Christ,” in answer to what was said before, “A body hast thou prepared me,” or a human nature, by a synecdoche. “My will,” says God the Father, “is, that thou have a body, and that that body be offered up; and that to this end, that the children, the elect, might be sanctified.” Says the Son to this, “Lo, I come to do thy will;” — “I accept of the condition, and give up myself to the performance of thy will.”