01.14. The covenant of grace.

14. The covenant of grace. To that question mankind at all times and in all places has given the answer that they, as they were, should not appear before God nor dwell in His presence. Is there no one who can say or dares say: I have purified my heart and I am free from sin? Proverbs 20:9. All feel guilty and unclean, and all acknowledge, if not to others, at least inwardly to themselves, that they are not what they ought to be; the inveterate sinner experiences moments when discontent and unrest take possession of his heart, and the self-righteous one always hopes in the end that God will turn a blind eye to what is lacking and will take the will for the deed.

It is true that many people try to banish these serious thoughts from their minds and continue to live as if there were no God and no commandment. They flatter themselves with the hope that there is no God, Psalms 14:1, that He does not care about the sins of mankind, so that whoever does evil is good in His eyes, Mal. But the Scriptures say of all these reasonings, that they are foolishness, Psalms 14:1, and even imply a blasphemy of God’s dear name, Psalms 10:13. And he who upholds the demand of the moral law and upholds the moral ideal in its dignity cannot but fully agree with it. God is certainly love, but this glorious profession is only fully appreciated when love in the divine being is understood as holy love and is in perfect harmony with righteousness. There is only room for God’s grace when God’s law is unalterably established beforehand. In fact, the whole history of the world bears unequivocal witness to this law of God. We cannot think away from the world the special revelation in Christ, which makes us acquainted with the love of God, because with it the general revelation with its benefits and blessings would soon lapse. But if, for a moment, we were to turn our thoughts away from the revelation in Christ, little ground would remain for belief in a God of love. For if the history of the world gives us any indication, it is this: that God has a quarrel with His creatures. There is disagreement, separation, conflict between God and his world. God does not agree with man, and man does not agree with God. They each go their own way and have their own thoughts and will about everything. The thoughts of God are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways, Isaiah 55:8.

Therefore, the history of the world is also a world judgment; it is not, according to the word of the poet, the world judgment, for that will only follow at the end of days, nor is it merely a judgment, for the earth is still full of God’s goods, Psalms 104:24. But the history of the world is nevertheless a judgment, a history full of judgments, a history of strife and struggle, blood and tears, rams and judgments. Above it is written the word that Moses once uttered, when he saw the generation of the Israelites in the wilderness dying away before his eyes: We perish because of your wrath, and we are terrified because of your fierceness, Psalms 90:7. This historical testimony confirms that mankind has continually searched and is still searching for a lost paradise, for lasting happiness, for deliverance from all the evils that weigh them down. In all people there is a need and a search for redemption, which is expressed in particular in religion. The idea of redemption can be taken so broadly that all the work mankind does on earth also falls within its sphere. For when man endeavors to provide for the needs of his life by the work of his hands, when he seeks to defend himself against all kinds of hostile forces in nature and in the world of man, when he strives through science and art to subjugate the whole earth, then all this also has as its goal the redemption of some evil and the sharing of some good.

Yet the concept of redemption is never applied to this human work. However much it may serve to make people’s lives more pleasant and richer, humanity is aware that all this progress and civilization cannot provide for its deepest needs and cannot save it from its greatest distress. Salvation is a religious concept and belongs in the realm of religion. All civilization was preceded by religion, and to this day religion continues to occupy its independent place alongside science, art and technology. It cannot be replaced or paid for by any human effort or by the brilliant results of human labor. Religion meets a very special need of mankind, and after the fall it always serves to save him from a special need. That is why the idea of salvation appears in all religions.

It is true that some divide these into nature, morality and salvation religions and distinguish the latter from the others as a special type. But this classification is rightly refuted by others. Taken in a general sense, the idea of salvation is inherent in all religions; all religions of the peoples want to be religions of salvation. Differences of opinion may exist about the evil from which salvation is sought, about the way in which it is obtained, and about the highest good which is sought. But salvation from evil and the attainment of the highest good is what all religions are about. The big question in religion is always: what must I do to be saved? What no civilization or development, no subjection to and control of the earth, can achieve, that is precisely what religion seeks: lasting happiness, eternal peace, perfect bliss. In religion, man is always concerned about God. In his sinful state he always imagines God to be something completely different than He really is, he seeks Him with the wrong intention, along the wrong road and in the wrong place, but he nevertheless always seeks God, if he may reach out and find Him. This need for salvation, which is peculiar to mankind and seeks satisfaction in the many self-willed religions of the peoples, is in itself and for Christianity of very great significance. For this need is continually awakened and kept alive by God Himself in the heart of mankind. It shows that God has not yet completely given the fallen human race over to Himself. It is an inextinguishable hope, which makes mankind live and work on its long, long journey through the world. And it serves as a guarantee and a prophecy that there is such a salvation and that, where people search for it in vain, it is given by God out of pure admiration. For a better understanding and appreciation of the redemption that God’s grace has prepared in Christ, it is therefore useful to dwell for a few moments on the attempts made by mankind, apart from special revelation, to be delivered from evil and partake of the highest good. As soon as we do so, we are struck by the great diversity and at the same time by the great uniformity which characterizes all these attempts. The great diversity is already manifest in the large number of religions that have existed in mankind throughout the ages and that still exist today, and which far outnumber the diversity of peoples and languages. Just as the thorns and thistles grow from the earth, the false religions grow from human nature into the wild. They are so numerous and so diverse that they are almost impossible to survey and cannot be satisfactorily classified. Since religion occupies a central place, it assumes a different character as the relationship between God and the world, nature and spirit, freedom and necessity, fate and guilt, history and development, are interpreted differently. The more evil is considered definite or negative, as an independent entity or as a vanishing point in development, natural or moral, sensual or spiritual, the more the concept of redemption changes and the more the direction in which redemption is sought changes. And yet, when we try to penetrate the essence of all these religions, they appear to have all kinds of traits of similarity and kinship. First of all, each religion contains a body of ideas about God and the world, spirits and men, soul and body, the origin, nature and final purpose of things; each religion brings with it a doctrine, a world view and a dogma. Secondly, no religion is satisfied with merely accepting these ideas rationally, but always insists that man should, by means of and with the help of these ideas, enter into relationship and fellowship with the supernatural world of Godhead and spirits. But now man knows everywhere and at all times that he does not automatically or naturally share this favour of Godhead; on the one hand he has an awareness that for his eternal happiness, for the salvation of his soul, he must possess this favour, and on the other hand he feels just as deeply that he lacks this favour, that because of his sin he lacks fellowship with God. That is why there is a third component to every religion, namely, an attempt in one way or another to obtain or permanently secure that favour and fellowship; every religion brings with it a set of ideas, tries to cultivate certain conditions, and also prescribes a series of actions.

These religious acts are of two types. The first type includes those which are referred to as worship and consist mainly of religious meetings, sacrifices, prayers and songs. But religion is never limited to these directly religious acts; because it occupies a central place in life and embraces all mankind, it penetrates all life and tries to bring it into harmony with itself. Every religion raises up a moral ideal and proclaims a moral law, to which man must also conform in his personal, domestic, civil and social life. In every religion, in addition to ideas and attitudes, there are also actions which are partly related to worship and partly to moral life, and which are therefore culturally and ethically distinct.

There is no religion that does not contain all of these elements. But there is a great difference in the content contained in each of these elements, in their relationship to one another, and in the value assigned to each of them. Paul says that the essence of paganism is that men have changed the glory of the immortal God into the likeness of some creature (Romans 1:23). Thus the principle of Paganism is defined, and no study of religions can overthrow the truth of this principle. But this principle admits of different effects; the apostle himself says that the heathen sometimes changed the glory of God into the likeness of a corruptible man, and then again into that of fowl, and then again into that of four-footed and creeping animals. The more the Godhead is identified with the whole world, with nature, with spirits or souls, with human beings or animals, the more the religious ideas, but also the religious emotions and actions change.

Three main forms can be distinguished. When the Divine is identified with the mysterious forces of nature, religion degenerates into gross superstition and fearful witchcraft; soothsayers and magicians are employed to provide mankind with power over the arbitrary nature of the invisible, divine beings. If the Divine is thought to be the same as the human, then religion takes on a more human character, but it also easily falls into ritualistic formalism or sober moralism. And when the Divine is conceived as the idea, the soul or the substance of the world, then religion retreats from the appearance of things into the mysticism of the heart, and seeks communion with the Divine in the way of asceticism (abstinence) and ecstasy (soul-searching). In the various religions, one or the other of these main forms comes to the fore, but never in such a way as to completely exclude the others. Salvation is always sought in the way of reason and knowledge, of will and deed, or of heart and feeling.

Philosophy concurs with this; it too is concerned with the problem of salvation and always seeks a view of the world that satisfies both reason and emotion. It also grew out of religion, it constantly incorporates elements of religion, and for many it serves as a kind of religion. With all its reflection, however, it does not rise above the basic ideas of religion. As soon as she derives a rule for life from her world view, she always tries to open up a way to salvation in the knowledge of the state, in the moral acts of the will, or in the experiences of the heart. Without special revelation, neither man’s religion nor the philosophy of thought has a true knowledge of God, nor of man and the world, of sin and salvation. Both seek God, if they can reach out and find Him, but they do not find Him.

Therefore, to the general revelation now comes the special revelation; and it is this, on the other hand, by which God comes out of His hiddenness and makes Himself known to and takes up residence in man. Between the self-invented and self-willed religions of the nations and the religion based on the special revelation to Israel and in Christ, there is a fundamental difference. In the latter, it is always man who seeks God, but always forms a false conception of Him, and therefore never gains a proper insight into the nature of sin and the way of salvation; but in the religion of the Holy Scriptures it is always God who seeks man, who reveals to him his guilt and impurity, but in return also makes Himself known in His grace and mercy. There the sigh rises from the depths of man’s heart: "If only God would tear the heavens asunder and come down to earth; here the heavens open and God Himself comes down to earth. Here we always see man at work, whether, by acquiring knowledge, by keeping all kinds of commandments, or by withdrawing from the world into the secrecy of his own mind, he can partake of redemption from evil and fellowship with God; here all man’s work falls away, and it is God Himself who acts, intervenes in history, paves the way of redemption in Christ, and by the power of His grace leads man therein and makes him walk. The special revelation is the answer which God Himself gives in word and deed to the questions which arise in the human heart through His own guidance.

Immediately after the fall we see that God comes to man. At that very moment man, having sinned, is seized with shame and fear; he flees from his creator and hides in the dense trees of the garden. But God does not forget man; He does not let him go, comes down to him, seeks him out, talks to him, and leads him back to His community, Genesis 3:7-15. And what thus took place immediately after the fall, continues in history from generation to generation; as it happened there, so we see it always happening; in the whole work of redemption it is God and God alone, who acts as the seeking and calling, as the speaking and acting; the whole redemption proceeds from Him and returns to Him. It is He who substitutes Seth for Abel, Genesis 4:25, who makes Noah share in His favor, Genesis 6:8, and preserves in the judgment of the flood, Genesis 6:12 ff, who calls Abram and includes him in his covenant, Genesis 12:1, Genesis 17:1, who elects the people of Israel to inheritance by sheer grace, Deuteronomy 4:20, Deuteronomy 7:6-8, who in the fullness of time sends his only begotten Son into the world, Galatians 4:4, and now in this dispensation is gathering out of all mankind a congregation, which He has chosen for eternal life and preserves for the heavenly inheritance to the end, Ephesians 1:10, 1 Peter 1:5. As in the work of creation and of providence, so also in that of re-creation God is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 22:13. He cannot be anything else and nothing less, because He is God; from and through and to Him are all things, Romans 11:36. That God is first in the work of salvation, is not only evident from the fact that the special revelation emanates entirely from Him, but is also clearly shown in the fact that all that work rests on an eternal counsel of redemption. Earlier we showed that God’s whole creation and providence proceed from such a counsel; but, if possible, in still clearer language and stronger terms, we are taught by Scripture that such an eternal and unchangeable counsel also underlies the whole work of re-creation. For in Scripture we read several times of a counsel that precedes all things, Isaiah 46:10, works all things, Ephesians 1:11, and especially has the work of redemption as its object, Luke 7:30, Acts 20:27, Hebrews 6:17; which furthermore, as the counsel of God, is the foundation of the whole work of creation. Hebrews 6:17; which furthermore, as the counsel, not only of God’s understanding but also of his omnipotent will, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:11, is indissoluble, Isaiah 14:27, Isaiah 46:10, and unchangeable, Hebrews 6:17, and will endure forever, Psalms 33:11,
Proverbs 19:21. Other names clarify this idea: we not only find mention of a counsel of God, but also of a pleasure, which God has revealed in Christ towards men, Luke 2:14, and delights in their attainment and adoption as children, Matthew 11:26, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9; of a purpose, which works electively, Romans 9:11, Ephesians 1:9, is made in Christ, Ephesians 3:11, and realizes itself in the calling, Romans 8:28; of a predestination and foreknowledge, which has in grace its origin, Romans 11:5, and Christ its center, Ephesians 1:4, certain persons as its object, Romans 8:29, and their salvation as its goal, Ephesians 1:4; finally, of a predestination which, by means of the preaching of the wisdom of God, 1 Corinthians 2:7, leads to adoption as children, the conformation of Christ, and eternal life, Acts 13:48, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:5. When we summarize all these data of Holy Scripture, it appears that the counsel of God has three main contents.

Firstly, it includes election, that is, God’s gracious intention, according to which He has predestined those whom He has known in love to be conformed to the image of His Son, Romans 8:29. One may also speak of an election of the peoples, because in the days of the Old Testament Israel alone out of all peoples was accepted by the Lord for his inheritance; and in the New Testament dispensation one people is made acquainted with the Gospel much earlier than the other. But the election of Scripture does not stop at the acceptance of the peoples. It continues in humanity to the nations and in the nations to the persons, so that an Esau is rejected and a Jacob accepted, Romans 9:13, and the same persons, who were known beforehand, are also called, justified and glorified in time, Romans 8:30. But even if the election has certain persons as its object, it is not grounded in those persons, but only in God’s grace; the Lord has mercy on whom He has mercy, and He is merciful toward whom He is merciful, so that it is not the will of the one who wills, nor the will of the one who runs, but the mercy of God, Romans 9: 15, 16. Faith is a gift of God, Ephesians 2:8; the faithful were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that in time they might come to faith and through that faith be holy and blameless before God, Eph. 1: 4; so that there are always as many believers as God has predestined to eternal life, Acts 13:45. The will of God is for us the ultimate ground of all that exists and happens, and so is His good pleasure, the deepest cause to which the distinction in the eternal destiny of mankind can be reduced.

Secondly, in the council of redemption the acquisition of that entire salvation which God wants to give to His elect is established. The plan of redemption not only includes the persons who will inherit eternal salvation, but also designates the Mediator who will prepare them for it. In this sense Christ Himself can be called the object of God’s election; of course not in the sense that He, like the members of His congregation, was elected from a state of sin and misery to a state of redemption of salvation; but certainly in this other sense, that He, who was the mediator of creation, should also be the mediator of the re-creation and should bring it about entirely through His suffering and death, Matthew 12:18, as Mediator subject and obedient to the Father, Matthew 26:42, John 4:34, Php 2:8, Hebrews 5:8, has a commandment and a work to accomplish, which the Father has commissioned him, Isaiah 53:10, John 6:38-40, John 10:18, John 12:49, John 17:4, and receives as a reward for his accomplished work his own glory, the salvation of his people, and the highest power in heaven and earth, Psalms 2:8, Isaiah 53:10, John 17:4, John 17:24, Php 2:9.

Like the counsel of creation and providence, that of the re-creation does not go beyond the Son. In fact, we read explicitly that the eternal purpose was made in Christ, Ephesians 3:11, and that those who come to faith in time were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. This, of course, does not mean that Christ is the foundation or cause of election, for He is Himself the object of the Father’s election in the sense described above, and therefore cannot act as foundation and cause in the re-creation any more than He does in the creation and providence. Like all things, the counsel of God has its starting point and basis in the Father. But just as creation and providence both come about in decision and reality from the Father through the Son, so the plan of redemption is also made by the Father in and with the Son. With the Father, He designates Himself as the Mediator of salvation and as the Head of His congregation. From this we may deduce that the election, although it has certain persons as its object, nevertheless excludes all chance and arbitrariness. For the purpose of election is not to bring a few people to salvation at random and let them stand apart from one another as individuals; but God’s intention is nothing less than to appoint Christ the Mediator as the Head of the congregation, and to form the congregation into the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 4:16. In the church, humanity is organically preserved, and the world is restored in the new heaven and earth.

Therefore, in the third place, the effect and application of the salvation acquired by Christ is also determined in the counsel of God. The plan of redemption was determined by the Father in the Son, but also in the fellowship of the Spirit. Just as the creation is providentially brought about by the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit, so too the re-creation takes place only through the appropriate activity of the Holy Spirit. It is he who is acquired, promised and given through Christ, John 16:7, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:17, who testifies of Christ and takes everything from Christ, John 15:26, John 16:13-14, and who now works in the congregation through regeneration, John 3:3, faith, 1 Corinthians 12:3, childhood, Romans 8:15, renewal, Titus 3:5, the sealing until the day of redemption, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30. And all this the Holy Spirit can work and bring about, because He with the Father and the Son is the only true God, who lives and reigns forever. The love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are fixed for the people of the Lord in the eternal and unchangeable counsel of God. This counsel of God is therefore also unspeakably rich in consolation. Often it is seen in a completely different light and presented as a cause of discouragement and despair. It is then objected that, when everything is determined from eternity, man becomes a plaything in the hands of divine arbitrariness. What does it profit a man if he exerts himself and devotes himself to a virtuous life; if he is rejected, he is nevertheless lost; and conversely, what does it profit a man if he lives in sin and gives himself over to the most abominable godlessness and immorality; if he is elected, he is nevertheless saved! Such a counsel of God leaves not the least room for man’s freedom and responsibility; that he then lives according to the will of his heart and commits sin, that grace may be increased! That the confession of the counsel of God has often been abused in this way, can be wholeheartedly agreed upon. And such an abuse was not only made of it since Augustine and Calvin, but also occurred in the days of Jesus and the apostles. For it is recorded of the Pharisees and the lawgivers, that they rejected the counsel of God manifested in the baptism of John with respect to themselves, so that what should have been a means of conversion was turned by them into an instrument of their destruction, Luke 7:30. And the apostle Paul calls it blasphemy when he is reproached for recommending the doing of evil, that good may come from it, Romans 3:8, and lays hands on the mouth of the ignorant man who dares to accuse God, Romans 9:19-20. He has a perfect right to do so; for the counsel of God establishes not only the outcome, but also the means; it records not only the effects, but also the causes, and establishes between the two such a connection as the reality of life itself reveals. It does not destroy the rational and moral nature of man, but rather creates and safeguards it, always to the same extent that history makes it known to us. The abuse that is made of this confession is all the more serious, because the counsel of God is revealed and preached in Scripture, not so that we should deny its reality and become hardened against it, but, on the contrary, so that, feeling our guilt and powerlessness, we should trust in the counsel of God with childlike faith and put all our trust in it with full assurance of our hearts in all our need and death. For if salvation, to a greater or lesser extent, depended on man’s faith and good works, it would be lost to him forever. But now the counsel of God teaches us that salvation is God’s work from beginning to end, the divine work par excellence. The re-creation, as well as the creation in providence, is a work of God alone; no man has been his counsellor, or has first given him that it might be repaid to him, Romans 11:34-35. Father, Son and Spirit together have conceived and established the whole work of salvation, and it is they who carry it out and bring it to completion. Nothing comes from man. All things are of, through and to God. And that is why our soul can rest in this with unshakable certainty; it is His will, His eternal, independent and unchanging will, that in the church mankind will be restored and saved.

We are even more convinced of the comfort of this election when we consider that God’s counsel is not only a work of his mind, but also a work of his will, not only a thought that belongs to eternity, but also an omnipotent power that realizes itself in time. And so it is with all God’s virtues and perfections; they are not idle, silent, inoperative qualities, but omnipotent forces, full of life and action; every quality is His essence. When God is called the Just and the Holy, it means that He reveals Himself in this way, and that He bears and maintains His right in the world, in the history of the world and in the conscience of every human being. When He is called Love, this does not only mean that He thinks of us in Christ with benevolence, but that He also demonstrates this love and pours it into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. When He calls Himself our Father, this also means that He resurrects us, accepts us as His children and through His Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are His children. When He makes Himself known as the Merciful One, He not only says this, but He also shows it in the fact that He actually forgives our sins and comforts us in all our woes. And likewise, when Scripture speaks to us of the counsel of God, it proclaims that God Himself fulfills and fully realizes that counsel. The counsel of redemption is itself a decree, a work of God in eternity, but as such it is also the principle, the driving force, and the guarantee of the work of salvation in time. Therefore, whatever may happen to the world and to mankind, and also to our own person, the ever-wise counsel of the Lord endures forever, has everlasting power. Nothing can ever reverse His High Decree; it remains from generation to generation. There is not the slightest reason for despondency and doubt. Everything is certain to come, as God in His wisdom and love has determined. His almighty and merciful will is the guarantee of the redemption of mankind and the salvation of the world. In the greatest of sorrows our hearts remain at rest in the Lord. As soon as mankind has fallen, the counsel of salvation begins to work. Entirely of His own accord God comes down, seeks mankind and calls him back to Himself. And then there is an interrogation and an interrogation, a declaration of guilt and a denunciation of punishment. But the punishment pronounced on the snake, the woman and the man is at the same time a blessing and a means of preservation. After all, in the mother’s promise, Genesis 3:14-15, not only is the serpent humiliated and the evil power, whose instrument it was, condemned. But it also announces that from now on enmity will reign between the serpent seed and the female seed; that it is God Himself who will bring this enmity into being and confirm it; and that this enmity and struggle will end in the serpent seed crushing the legs of the female seed, but vice versa, the female seed crushing the head of the serpent seed. This is nothing less than the announcement and the institution of the covenant of grace. It is true that the word covenant is not yet used here; it cannot be used until later, with Noah, Abraham, etc., when mankind, in their many and varied struggles against nature, against animals and also among themselves, has learned the necessity and usefulness of covenants and agreements through practical life experience. But in principle and essence, the mother promise contains everything that constitutes the content of the covenant of grace. Because of his transgression mankind has ceased to obey God, has forsaken his fellowship and, on the contrary, has sought friendship with Satan and entered into an alliance with him. And now God, in His grace, comes to break this alliance between mankind and Satan and to put enmity in their place. God brings the female seed, which in the woman had surrendered to Satan, over to His side again by an almighty act of His merciful will and adds the promise that, despite all kinds of resistance and tribulation, it will one day certainly gain complete victory over the serpent seed. There is nothing conditional or uncertain here. God Himself comes to mankind, He puts up an enmity, He opens the battle, He promises victory; man has nothing else to do but to hear this and to accept it in childlike faith. Promise and faith are the contents of the covenant of grace, which is now established with mankind and which opens the way to the Father’s house and the entrance to eternal salvation for him, the fallen one and the one who has been lost.

Thus there is a great difference in the way in which man was to inherit eternal life before the fall, and the way in which he can only acquire it after the fall. Then the rule was: Do this and you will live; in the way of perfect obedience to God’s commandment he had to try to inherit eternal life. That in itself was a good way, which, if man had walked it to the end, would also have led him infallibly to heavenly salvation. God, for His part, has not broken His rule either, He still keeps it; if there could be a man who kept God’s commandment completely, he would still receive eternal life as his reward, Leviticus 18:5, Ezekiel 20:11, Ezekiel 20:13, Matthew 19:16 ff, Romans 10:5, Galatians 3:12. But man has made that way of life impossible for himself; he can no longer keep the law, because he has broken his fellowship with God and no longer loves but hates His law, Romans 8:7. And now the covenant of grace opens to him a different and safer way, in which man no longer has to work in order to enter into life, but in which he first, at the very moment of entering, receives eternal life, accepts it through filial faith, and now produces good works through that faith. The order is thus reversed: before the fall, through works to eternal life; now, after the fall and in the covenant of grace, first eternal life and from that life the good works as fruits of faith. Then man had to ascend to God, to His full communion; now God comes down to man and seeks to dwell in his heart. Then workdays preceded the Sabbath; now the week is opened with the Sabbath, and all its days are sanctified by the Sabbath. That there is now for fallen mankind such a separate or newly established and such a living, or infallibly certain, way into the heavenly sanctuary, Hebrews 10:20, is due only to God’s grace and to the counsel of redemption. The counsel of salvation, which lies in eternity, and the covenant of grace, which is made known to man immediately after the fall and established with him, are both closely related to each other. They are so closely related that the one stands and falls with the other. There are many who hold a different opinion; taking their stand in the covenant of grace, they deny and combat the counsel of salvation; in the name of the purity of the Gospel they reject the confession of election. But in fact they destroy the covenant of grace and change the Gospel again into a new law.

After all, if the covenant of grace is severed from election, it ceases to be a covenant of grace and turns once again into a covenant of works. Election implies that God nevertheless grants salvation, which mankind has forfeited and can never again acquire by his own efforts, freely and by grace. But when that salvation is not a mere gift of grace but depends in some way on the behavior of mankind, the covenant of grace is again transformed into a covenant of works; man must then first fulfill some condition in order to share eternal life. Grace and works are here opposed to each other and mutually exclusive. If it is by grace, it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. And if it is by works, then it is no longer grace, otherwise the work is no longer work. The Christian religion has the peculiar characteristic of being the religion of salvation, pure grace, pure religion. But it can only be recognized and maintained as such if it is only a gift and arises wholly from the counsel of God. Election and covenant of grace are thus so little in conflict that election is much more the basis and guarantee of the heart and core of the covenant of grace. And so much is it important to hold on to this intimate connection that the slightest weakening of it not only deprives the believer of a proper understanding of the acquisition and application of salvation, but also robs him of his one and only consolation in the practice of his spiritual life. An even richer light falls on this connection when the covenant of grace is not exclusively related to election, but to the entire counsel of salvation. Election is not the whole counsel of redemption, but is a part of it, the first and fundamental part; that counsel also includes and determines the way in which that election shall be realized, the whole acquisition and application of salvation. After all, the election was made in Christ, and the counsel of God is not only a work of the Father, but also a work of the Son and the Holy Spirit, a divine work of the entire Trinity. In other words, the counsel of redemption is itself a covenant; a covenant in which each of the three persons, so to speak, receives his own task and performs his own work. And the covenant of grace, which is established in time and propagated from generation to generation, is nothing but the effect and the imprint of that covenant, which is fixed in the Eternal Being. As in the counsel of God’, so in history each of the persons acts. The Father is the origin, the Son is the Acquirer and the Holy Spirit is the Provider of our salvation. That is why each one immediately and to the same degree undermines the work of the Father, the Son or the Spirit, if he shifts the basis of eternity away from time and separates history from the gracious and omnipotent divine will.

Nevertheless, although time cannot do without eternity and history is most closely related to God’s thought and will, the two are not the same in all respects. There is this great difference between them, that in the history of time the eternal thought of God comes to revelation and realization. And likewise, the counsel of redemption and the covenant of grace cannot and must not be separated, but they differ in this respect, in that the latter is realized. The plan of redemption is not enough, it must also be carried out; and as a decree it carries that execution within itself and brings it about by itself. It would lose its very character as a counsel and a decree if it were not revealed and realized in time. Thus we also see it happen that the covenant of grace is made known to man immediately after the fall and is established with him, and then continued in history from generation to generation. What is one in decision, unfolds itself in the width of the world and develops itself in the length of the centuries. When we now turn our attention to this historical development of the covenant of grace, we notice three peculiarities.

Firstly, the covenant of grace is everywhere and at all times one in its essence, yet it constantly appears in new forms and goes through different dispensations. Essentially and objectively it remains one, before and under and after the Law. It is always a covenant of grace; it is called such because it flows from the grace of God, has grace as its content, and finds its ultimate goal in the glorification of God’s grace.

Just as it was God in his very first announcement who put up enmity, who offered battle and promised victory, so God remains the first and the last in all the different expressions of the covenant of grace, with Noah and Abraham, with Israel and the New Testament congregation. Promise, gift, grace is and remains the content of it. In the course of time it will be unfolded much more clearly, what is included in that promise and what rich content that grace contains. But in principle, all this is already included in the mother promise. The one great, all-encompassing promise of the covenant of grace is this: I will be your God and the God of your seed, Genesis 7:8, and in it everything is included, the whole acquisition and application of salvation, Christ and all His benefits, the Holy Spirit with all His gifts. From the mother’s promise in Genesis 3:15 to the apostolic prayer of blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:13 there is one straight line: all salvation for the sinner is contained in the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore we must pay attention to the fact that this promise is not conditional, but as definite and as firm as possible. God does not say that He wants to be our God if we do this or that. But He says that He will put down enmity, and that He will be our God, and that in Christ He will give us all things. The covenant of grace can remain the same in its essence throughout all ages, because it depends only on God and God is the Unchangeable and the Faithful. The covenant of works, which was established with mankind before the fall, was fragile and was broken because it depended on a changeable man. But the covenant of grace is fixed solely in God’s mercy. People may become unfaithful, but God does not forget His promise. He cannot and must not break His covenant; He has committed Himself to it voluntarily, with a lasting oath; His name, His fame, His honor depend on it. It is for His own sake that He pardons the transgressions of His people and does not remember their sins, Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 48:9, Jeremiah 14:7, Jeremiah 14:21. And therefore the mountains may give way and the hills may falter, but his mercy will not depart from us, nor will the covenant of his peace falter, says the Lord our Saviour, Isaiah 54:10.

Nevertheless, however unchanging its nature, it changes in its forms, and appears in different manifestations in the various administrations. In the time before the flood there was also a separation between Sethites and Cainites, but the promise was not yet limited to one person and generation, but extended to all people; a formal separation did not yet come about, general and special revelation still flowed on in one bed. But when in this way the promise threatened to expire, the Flood became necessary and Noah took the promise with him in the Ark. Then, too, for a time the promise was still general, but when after the flood a new danger arose for the continuation of the covenant of grace, God no longer expelled the people, but let the nations wander in their own ways, and isolated Abraham as a bearer of the promise. The covenant of grace then finds its realization in the families of the patriarchs, who are separated from other peoples by circumcision as a sign of the righteousness of faith and as a sign of the circumcision of the heart. The covenant of grace is established at Sinai with Israel as the seed of Abraham; but since Israel is a people and must walk as a holy nation before God, the covenant of grace assumes a national character and makes use of the law, not only moral laws, but also all kinds of civil and ceremonial laws, to lead the people as a disciplinarian to Christ. The promise was older than the law, and the law did not take the place of the promise, but was added to the promise in order to develop it further and prepare for its fulfillment in the fullness of time. In Christ, the promise passes into fulfilment, the shadow into the body, the letter into the spirit, servitude into freedom. As such, it frees itself from all external, national bonds and, as in the beginning, extends itself to all mankind again. But in whatever forms the covenant of grace appears, it always has the same essential content. It is always the same Gospel, Romans 1:2, Galatians 3:8, the same Christ, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, the same faith, Acts 15:11, Romans 4:11, Hebrews 11:1-40, the same benefits of forgiveness and eternal life, Acts 10:43, Romans 4:3. The light differs in which believers walk, but it is always the same path which they tread. The second peculiarity of the covenant of grace consists in the fact that it has an organic character in all its dispensations.

Election draws attention to particular, individual persons, who have been known by God beforehand and who are therefore called, justified and glorified in time, but it does not in itself imply what relationship these persons have with one another. But now Scripture tells us further that the election took place in Christ, Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 3:11, and thus worked in such a way that Christ could act as the Head of His congregation, and the congregation could form the body of Christ. The elect are thus not separate from one another, but are one in Christ. Just as in the days of the Old Testament the people of Israel were one holy people of God, so the congregation of the New Testament is a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a nation obtained. Christ is the Bridegroom, and the congregation is His bride; He is the vine and they are the branches; He is the cornerstone, and they are the living stones of the building of God; He is the King and they are the subjects. So intimate is this unity between Christ and his church that Paul summarizes them both under the name of Christ: as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of this one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12. It is a community that preserves the unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace; one body and one spirit, just as they are called to the one hope of their calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all of them, Ephesians 4:3-6.

Thus the election cannot have been an arbitrary or accidental act. If it is guided by the intention to make Christ the Head and to form the congregation into His body, then it carries an organic character and already contains the idea of a covenant. But in the testimony that election is made in Christ, something else is indicated. After all, the organic unity of the human race under one head does not occur for the first time in Christ, but in Adam. Paul calls Adam explicitly an example of the one who was to come, Romans 5:14, and Christ is called the last Adam by him, 1 Corinthians 15:45. The covenant of grace thus appears to be after the basic ideas and lines of the work covenant; it is not the abolishment of it, but rather the fulfillment of it, just as faith does not annul the law, but confirms it, Romans 3:21. Thus, on the one hand, as was remarked earlier, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace are very sharply distinct; but, on the other hand, they are very intimately related. The great difference consists of the fact that Adam has forfeited and lost his place as head of the human race, and has now been replaced by Christ. But he takes upon himself the fulfillment of what the first man did, as well as of what he should have done; he fulfills for us the demands to which the moral law obliges us; and he now assembles his entire congregation as a renewed human race under his leadership. In the dispensation of the fullness of time, all things are again gathered together by God into one in Christ, both those in heaven and those on earth (Ephesians 1:10). This gathering can therefore only take place in an organic way. If the covenant of grace itself has been organically conceived in Christ, then it must also be established and continued accordingly. Thus we see that in history it is never established with a single, loose, isolated individual, but always with a human being and his family, with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Israel, with the church and their seed. Never does the promise apply to a single believer in isolation, but always in him also his house. God does not realize His covenant of grace by subtly reading out a few people from among mankind and then assembling them outside of the world; but He inserts it into mankind, makes it a part of the world, and now ensures that it is preserved from evil in that world. As the Resurrector, He walks in the path that He has laid as Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of all things. Grace is something different and higher than nature, but it nevertheless joins nature, and does not destroy it but restores it. It is not an inheritance that is passed on by natural birth, but it flows on in the bed that has been dug out in the natural relations of the human race. The covenant of grace does not jump from one branch to another, but continues in the families, generations and peoples in a historical and organic manner. With this goes a third and last peculiarity, and that is that the covenant of grace materializes in a way that fully respects man’s reasonable and moral nature. It does rest on the counsel of God, and this must not be underestimated in any respect. Behind the covenant of grace lies the sovereign and omnipotent will of God, which proceeds with divine energy and therefore assures the triumph of the Kingdom of God over all violence of sin. But this will is not a destiny that falls upon mankind from above, but the will of the Creator of heaven and earth, who does not deny His own work in creation and providence and cannot treat man, whom He created as a rational and moral being, as a stick and a block. That will is, moreover, the will of a merciful and benevolent Father, who never coerces with brute force, but always, by the spiritual power of His love, conquers all our opposition. The will of God is not a blind, unreasonable force, but a will that is wise, merciful, loving and at the same time free and omnipotent. And that is why it works, contrary to our darkened understanding and to our sinful will, so that Paul can say of the Gospel that it is not according to man, not in accordance with the foolish insights and wrong desires of fallen man (Galatians 1:11). This explains why the covenant of grace, which actually knows no demands or conditions, yet again acts for us in the form of a commandment and exhorts us to faith and repentance, Mark 1:15. Seen by itself, the covenant of grace is only grace and excludes all work. It gives what it demands, and it fulfills what it prescribes. The Gospel is pure glad tidings, not a demand but a promise, not a duty but a gift. But in order that it may be manifested in us as a promise and a gift, it assumes, in accordance with our nature, the character of a moral exhortation. It does not want to force us, but merely requires that we freely and willingly accept in faith what God wishes to give us. God’s will is realized only through our intellect and our will. That is why it is rightly said that mankind, through the grace it receives, believes and repents of its own accord.

Because the covenant of grace enters the human race historically and organically in this way, it cannot appear here on earth in a form that fully corresponds to its nature. Not only is there much in true believers that is in direct conflict with a life according to the demand of the covenant: walk before Me and be sincere, be holy, for I am holy. But there can also be persons, who have been accepted in the covenant of grace, as it appears to our eyes, and yet because of their unbelieving and unrepentant heart are still deprived of all spiritual blessings of that covenant. This is not only the case today, but such a situation has existed throughout the ages. In the days of the Old Testament not all who were descended from Israel were Israel, Romans 9:6, for not the children of the flesh, but the children of the redeemed are counted as the seed, Romans 9:8, Romans 2:29; and in the New Testament congregation there is chaff among the wheat, there are evil tendrils on the vine, and there are not only golden but also earthen vessels, Matthew 3:12, Matthew 13:29, John 15:2, 2 Timothy 2:20. On the basis of this contradiction between nature and appearance, some have made a distinction and separation between an inner covenant, which was established only with the true believers, and an outer covenant, which only included the external professors. But such a separation cannot exist with the teaching of Scripture; what God unites, man may not separate. There must not be any departure from the requirement that nature and appearance should correspond to one another, that confession with the mouth and belief with the heart should correspond to one another (Romans 10:9). But even though there are not two covenants that exist separately, there are two sides to the one covenant of grace, one of which is only visible to us, the other, however, is also completely visible to God. We have to keep to the rule that we cannot judge the heart, but only the outward act, and even then imperfectly. Those who walk in the way of the covenant before the eyes of mankind should, in the judgment of love, be regarded and treated by us as allies. But in the end it is not us, but God’s judgment that decides. He is the Knower of hearts and the Searcher of kidneys; with Him there is no acceptance of persons; man sees what is before his eyes, but the Lord sees the heart, 1 Samuel 16:7. So let everyone examine himself, whether he has faith, whether Jesus Christ is in him.