The Covenant of Grace

Knowing God, by knowing Christ, is our salvation. Ambassadors for Christ must be able to explain our claim to salvation in a way for others to understand our message. It must be clear, concise, and yet, comprehensive. There are different ways to frame the picture we are communicating to people in the world. One of the ways is to explain the concept of a covenant.

We begin our investigation by going back to the Garden of Eden (Gen 2–3). Adam, the first man, was in covenant with God to perform works designed for him by God. His labors were perfectly enjoyable. This is hard to grasp for many people, today. Our work is toil and a burden. Our hard labor is the result of Adam breaking the covenant of works with God, by sinning against God.

In the fall from Eden, the earth was cursed, and man was no longer in covenant with God. Man, without God in the world is hopeless (Eph 2:12). Fortunately, there is another covenant, established in the heavens, which preceded the broken covenant of works. In the eternal council between God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, an agreement was established called, “the eternal covenant (Heb 13:20).” For us, it is a covenant of grace.

In this covenant, God the Son agreed to represent humanity in a predetermined plan of redemption (Acts 2:23). Adam was responsible for the separation between God and man, but God planned to reconcile man to Himself, by making a way for people to enter the covenant through a Second Adam. This Second Adam would be a faithful covenant partner.

Grace is the provision of God for the reconciliation of people fallen from grace in Eden. In this covenant of grace, God does all of the work. We can say, “God wills it; God works it; and God gets all of the glory for it.” If man wills anything, works anything, or has any reason to glory in something he did, then it is not a covenant of grace. This is an area of false teaching, so it is vital for us to understand “grace” and “covenant.”

A covenant is a solemn, legally binding agreement. It has terms. These explain what each party agrees to do. It has consequences. These explain what happens if one of the bound parties breaks the covenant. If the parties maintain the terms of agreement, then the consequences are positively attained. A covenant is “cut.” This is a ceremony in which the parties inaugurate the relationship and mark the commencement of the contract. The parties enter the covenant and formally bind themselves to it (Gen 15).

In eternity past, God the Father specifically chose a people out of fallen humanity for Himself. He predestined them to salvation by election. He chose His elect people, positioned them in Christ (Eph 1:4), from all eternity (2 Tim 1:9), and He wrote their names in a book, called, “the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8; 17:8).” Thus, the blessed assurance of salvation (1 Jn 5:11–13), for those adopted into God’s family (Eph 1:5), was established before God created anything in the physical universe (Heb 4:3).

In eternity past, God the Son agreed to become enfleshed (Jn 1:14). The eternal Son of God became the Son of man. He was named, “Jesus.” His title is, “Christ or Messiah.” His mission, in being sent by God the Father, was to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). He would lay down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11, 15). He would give Himself up to death, even death on a Cross (Phil 2:8), for His bride, the church (Eph 5:25).

The church are the elect people who are also called, “the redeemed of the Lord.” Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out (Jn 6:37).” Can anyone come to Jesus? Jesus answers our inquiry, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me drags him; and I will raise him up on the last day (Jn 6:44).”

In His incarnate mission, the Son of God and Son of Man would be conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin girl (Mt 1:20). This was to avoid the inherited sin of Adam (Rom 5:12–21). People are conceived as sinners by pedigree (Ps 51:5). Even before they can practice sinning against God, they already carry the identity of being an heir of Adam, the sinner.

The mission required a perfect sinless life (Heb 4:15; 7:26). Original sin and practiced sin were avoided to maintain the terms of the covenant. Only God in the flesh could be impeccable. This means it was impossible for Jesus Christ to sin. He was unblemished, despite being tempted in every way.

The turning point in the mission was the place in which the covenant was cut. Cutting the covenant was the execution of the agreed upon terms. The Father chose a people, and the Son would pay the penalty for their sins through His death. Jesus’ blood of the eternal covenant is called, “precious” because absolutely no one else could redeem God’s people according to the covenant terms (1 Pet 1:19).

God is just (Gen 18:25; Jn 5:30). He is the judge of those in rebellion against His righteousness. He communicated this by giving the Law of God and the Law of Moses. These were not given with any anticipation of perfect compliance by any son of Adam. The Law simply helped sinners to see how sinful they really were in the presence of Almighty God, who is Holy. They saw it and sinned even more (Rom 5:20).

Man has demonstrated his rejection of God’s covenant of grace, by establishing his own covenants of religion. The world is filled with religions. These are man-made alternatives to God’s unique way of right standing with God. They require men to work for justification with God. God has not agreed to any of these man-made religions, and He has judged the works of men to be as, “filthy rags (Is 64:6).” God’s righteous judgment deems all man-made schemes, leading to eternity in heaven with God, to be false (Mt 7:13–14).

According to the terms of the covenant of grace (Mt 26:28), God the Father accepts sinners who are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus (Eph 1:7; 1 Pet 1:18–19), shed on the Cross of Calvary (Heb 9:22). Reconciled sinners are forgiven their debt of sin owed to God (Col 2:14). God the Father accepted the one-time payment, made by Jesus, as every sin of His people laid on Him was punished under the just wrath of God’s judgment. The Law was fulfilled, and justice was satisfied (Mt 5:17).

The death of Christ was a substitutionary atonement for our sins (Lev 14). In other words, Jesus bore our sins in His body on the Cross (1 Pet 2:24). The only other way for a man to pay for his own sins is to pay for them himself. There is no other acceptable form of payment, and there is no other acceptable substitute.

Man sins in time and in eternity. Therefore, his sins are an eternal offense against the eternal God. If a man dies without God’s salvation, all of his sins remain without atonement for all eternity. This means the punishment for sins is eternal hell (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15).

God the Father demonstrated His approval of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29). This was shown by raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:31). On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), on the Jewish calendar, and in the typological Jewish system of atoning sacrifice, the high priest would enter the holiest place in the Temple of Yahweh.

The high priest wore bells on his priestly garments to demonstrate he had not died, being in the presence of God. He offered the blood of the unblemished sacrificial animal for the sins of the people of Israel. He had to be ceremonially clean, and the blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat must be acceptable. Otherwise, he was a dead man. He would wear a rope tied around his ankle so other priests could retrieve him if God killed him. In case of death, they would pull his body out from inside the veil of holy separation. The point: God is serious about sin and the requirement for forgiveness and right standing.

Our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ (Heb 4:14; 9:11), emerged from the tomb alive. The veil of separation at the holiest place in the Temple was rent from top to bottom (Mt 27:51). The typological old covenant had ended in perfect fulfillment. The new covenant in Christ’s blood was manifested, retroactive and proactive for all time. The writer of Hebrews emphasized the new covenant was better (Heb 7:22; 8:6; 12:24).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that our Great High Priest had gone to the holiest place of heaven, into the presence of God, and re-emerged alive and glorified. His promise to raise His people from the dead on the last day is our resurrection hope (Jn 5:28–29; 1 Cor 15). He lives because of the power of God (2 Cor 13:4), and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that will also raise us up (1 Cor 6:14).

In eternity past, God the Holy Spirit agreed to be sent by the Father and the Son to apply salvation to the people of God’s own choosing (Jn 14:26; 15:26; Rom 8:29–30). The covenant work of the Holy Spirit, in the salvation of sinners, is manifold. First, He brings the benefits of the cut covenant with Him from heaven. These are called, “spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3).”

Second, the application of all the spiritual blessings upon God’s chosen people is personal. The Holy Spirit baptizes each elect soul with Himself (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38; 10:44). He indwells the person, so the life of God is now in her (Rom 8:9, 11). This is called, “regeneration” or “being born of God.” As a result, she believes in Jesus Christ with a faith given to her, which is common to all believers (Phil 1:29; 2 Pet 1:1).

Third, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a mutual indwelling. There is a spiritual union between Christ and His church. We are in Him, and He is in us, by His Spirit. Therefore, everything that is true of Christ, today, is true of every believer, born again of the Spirit (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). We were baptized into His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement (Rom 6). We will always be with Him and in Him.

Fourth, the work of the Spirit is to lead, guide, teach, help, and comfort each regenerate soul. This life of God in the soul of man is new life (Rom 6:4), abundant life (Jn 10:10), and eternal life (Jn 17:2–3). The goal is conformity to the image of the Second Adam, who is Christ, the Lord (Rom 8:29). Therefore, the covenant of grace is a renovation project of God. This work is called, “sanctification,” which means, “to make holy.”

Fifth, the eternal covenant, the covenant of grace, cannot be broken because the covenant parties are perfectly faithful. God the Father, who is faithful (1 Cor 1:9), has done His work. God the Son, who is faithful and true (Rev 19:11), has done His work. God the Holy Spirit is faithfully doing His work, and He who began a good work in us will surely bring it to completion (Phil 1:6).

Sixth, the covenant of grace is forever. There is a full number of elect people (Rev 6:11), appointed by God to believe (Acts 13:48). When the Gospel of covenant peace with God has been heralded to whole world (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15), then the end will come, on the appointed day, only known to God (Mt 24:36). The whole world includes God’s people from every tongue, tribe, and nation (Rev 5:9).

We must acknowledge that Christians are not any more faithful to God than the Israelites. People are sinners, even if they have been made to be saints (Rom 7). God is not partial to male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free (Gal 3:28). Our unity is found in Christ alone, who was faithful to uphold the terms of the covenant with perfection. Old Testament Israel failed, but Christ, the true Israel (Is 49:3), did not fail. He is the head of the church, His body (Col 1:18), who is also called, “the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).” For this reason, He is our salvation.

Therefore, we must agree, there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12). There is only one name, under heaven, given among men, where a man must be saved. This is the name, “Jesus Christ.” He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). He was, is, and always will be faithful and true to the covenant of grace. He is the only mediator of the covenant of grace between God and man (1 Tim 2:5); and therefore, He is always making intercession for us, while refraining from praying for the world (Jn 17:9).

For the beneficiaries of the covenant of grace, graciously dragged into the position of right standing “in Christ,” we are witnesses to God’s merciful transfer of our status (Jn 6:44; Col 1:13). This is depicted by our being transferred from darkness to light, from orphans to adoption into the family of God, from child of wrath to child of God, from old self to new self, from flesh to spirit, from death to eternal life, etc.

This life is in His Son, who loved us, and gave Himself for us. The living Spirit has brought us the gift of His life, and He testifies to the fact of our adoption as children of God (Rom 8:15, 23; Eph 1:5). We are beneficiaries of an eternal inheritance, pure and undefiled, reserved for us in heaven, under the guaranteed, unchangeable terms of the covenant of grace.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

March 26, 2021