Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED?
A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death.
For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: ‘And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die.’ The subject of our next discourse is this covenant of works.
I. This covenant was made with Adam and all mankind; for Adam was a public person, and the representative of the world.
For what reason did God make a covenant with Adam and his posterity in innocence?
(1.) To show his sovereignty over us. We were his creatures, and as he was the great Monarch of heaven and earth, he might impose upon us terms of a covenant. (2.) God made a covenant with Adam to bind him fast to him: as God bound himself to Adam, so Adam was bound to him by the covenant.
What was the covenant?
God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge; but gave him leave to eat of all the other trees of the garden. God did not envy him any happiness; but said, ‘Meddle not with this tree of knowledge,’ because he would try Adam’s obedience. As King Pharaoh made Joseph chief ruler of his kingdom, and gave him a ring off his finger, and a chain of gold, but said he must not ‘touch his throne.’ Gen 41:40. In like manner God dealt with Adam. He gave him a sparkling jewel, knowledge; and put upon him the garment of original righteousness; only, said he, touch not the tree of knowledge, for that is aspiring after omniscience. Adam had power to keep this law: he had the copy of God’s law written in his heart. This covenant of works had a promise annexed to it, and a threatening. 1. The promise was, ‘Do this and live.’ In case man had stood, it is probable he would not have died, but would have been translated to a better paradise. 2. The threatening, ‘Thou shalt die the death;’ Heb. ‘In dying thou shalt die;’ that is, thou shalt die both a natural death and an eternal, unless some expedient be found out for thy restoration.
Why did God give Adam this law, seeing he foresaw that Adam would transgress it?
(1.) It was Adam’s fault that he did not keep the law. God gave him a stock of grace to trade with, but by his own neglect he failed. (2.) Though God foresaw Adam would transgress, yet that was not a sufficient reason that no law should be given him; for, by the same reason, God should not have given his written Word to men, to be a rule of faith and manners, because he foresaw that some would not believe, and others would be profane. Shall laws not be made in the land, because some will break them? (3.) Though God foresaw Adam would break the law, he knew how to turn it to greater good in sending Christ. The first covenant being broken, he knew how to establish a second, and a better.
II. Concerning the first covenant, consider these four things: -
[1] The form of the first covenant in innocence was working; ‘Do this and live.’ Working was the ground and condition of man’s justification. Gal 3:12. Not but that working is required in the covenant of grace, for we are bid to work out our salvation, and be rich in good works. But works in the covenant of grace are not required under the same notion as in the first covenant with Adam. Works are not required for the justification of our persons, but as an attestation of our love to God; not as the cause of our salvation, but as an evidence of our adoption. Works are required in the covenant of grace, not so much in our own strength as in the strength of another. ‘It is God which worketh in you.’ Phil 2:13. As the teacher guides the child’s hand, and helps him to form his letters, so that it is not so much the child’s writing as the master’s, so our obedience is not so much our working as the Spirit’s co-working.
[2] The covenant of works was very strict. God required of Adam and all mankind, (1.) Perfect obedience. Adam must do all things written in the ‘book of the law,’ and not fail, either in the matter or manner. Gal 3:10. Adam was to live up to the whole breadth of the moral law, and go exactly according to it, as a well-made dial goes with the sun. One sinful thought would have forfeited the covenant. (2.) Personal obedience. Adam must not do his work by a proxy, or have any surety bound for him; but it must be done in his own person. (3.) Perpetual obedience. He must continue in all things written in ‘the book of the law.’ Gal 3:10. Thus it was very strict. There was no mercy in case of failure.
[3] The covenant of works was not built upon a very firm basis; and therefore must needs leave men full of fears and doubts. The covenant of works rested upon the strength of man’s inherent righteousness; which though in innocence was perfect, yet was subject to change. Adam was created holy, but mutable; having a power to stand and a power to fall. He had a stock of original righteousness to begin the world with, but he was not sure he would not break. He was his own pilot, and could steer right in the time of innocence; but he was not so secured but that he might dash against the rock of temptation, and he and his posterity be shipwrecked; so that the covenant of works must needs leave jealousies and doubtings in Adam’s heart, as he had no security given him that he should not fall from that glorious state.