Man in Covenant Relation to God

Covenant relationships are based on the representative principle. Adam is the covenant representative, so his actions affect those whom he represents. The Hebrew adam is not only the personal name Adam but also the generic name for mankind (used in Gen. 1:26–28). Adam was created first (1 Tim. 2:13–14), and when God confronted Adam and Eve in the garden because of their sin, He spoke to Adam first even though Eve had first disobeyed God before giving the fruit to her husband. Adam was held responsible for their disobedience. His sin affected himself (Gen. 3:7), his relationship to Eve (v. :16), his relationship to God (v. 8), creation (vv. 17–19), his children (4:1–11), and all who are naturally descended from him, as demonstrated in the refrain “and he died” in the genealogy of Genesis 5 and the spread of wickedness over the earth before the flood (Gen. 6:5).

The Westminster Confession and Catechisms call the covenant with Adam the covenant of works and the covenant of life. Others call it the covenant of creation. The term covenant of creation expresses the broader issues related to the mandate that God gave to mankind in Genesis 1:26–28. The entrance of sin has hindered mankind’s ability to fulfill that mandate, but the mandate is still in force. The name covenant of life emphasizes the blessing of life that would have been the result of Adam’s obedience. The name covenant of works emphasizes what is at the heart of the probationary test that God gave to Adam. Although some react negatively to the term works because it is legal and comes across to them as cold, it is a significant word that expresses our ultimate hope of salvation.

When Adam disobeyed God, the covenant of works came to a formal end. Adam and Eve were prohibited from partaking of the Tree of Life and were expelled from the garden (3:23–24). However, the requirement of the covenant of works to perfectly keep God’s law continues. If the punishment of the broken covenant of works extends to all of Adam’s descendants, then so does the obligation to keep the law perfectly, which sinners are unable to do. There would be no hope of salvation unless God acted to restore His fallen creatures to Himself.

God showed Adam redemptive grace because his sin brought into the world the curse of death. God made for Adam and Eve garments of skin to replace their own efforts to clothe themselves with fig leaves. This provision is a foreshadowing of the need for the shedding of blood, a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for sin. God not only cursed the serpent but promised to send someone from the seed of the woman to defeat the serpent. Until then, there is hostility of warfare between the two seeds. Details about the One who would come from the seed of the woman are developed throughout the Old Testament, leading to the coming of Christ our Mediator. The covenant of grace is the beginning of God’s redemptive grace, to which Adam responded in faith by naming his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living (3:20). Adam expressed faith in the promises and provisions of God that life would continue and that God would do what He had promised.

In the new covenant, Jesus Christ fulfilled all the promises of the covenant of grace that God had revealed throughout the individual covenants of the Old Testament (with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David), and He also fulfilled the obligation of the covenant of works to keep the law of God perfectly. Paul shows in Romans 5:12–21 how Christ fulfilled the covenant of works that Adam had broken. Adam and Christ do not act only for themselves, but their actions have implications for those whom they represent. Paul’s presentation of Adam and Christ as federal (covenant) heads supports the view that God’s relationship with Adam in Genesis 1–3 is a covenant relationship. Adam’s disobedience broke the covenant of works and brought the consequences of sin into God’s good creation, including death. Adam’s trespass led to the condemnation of all who were naturally descended from him (Rom. 5:18) because his sin was counted against them. As Paul says, by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners (v. 19). Adam’s disobedience as our representative affects our legal standing. His sin was counted against us in the sense that it was charged to our account legally (i.e., imputed). But we are also condemned because we are unable to fulfill the continuing obligation to keep the law of God perfectly. Our own works cannot be the basis of salvation.

Faith in our own works leads to despair because we continue to break God’s law. The beauty of the gospel is that God has provided His own Son as the covenant Mediator who has kept all righteousness. He has kept the law perfectly, and based on His obedience we can be declared righteous through faith in Him alone. Paul emphasizes that this is a free gift given by the grace of Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:15) that brings about justification (Rom. 5:16). Where Adam failed, Christ has succeeded. Adam’s sin was imputed to his natural-born descendants; Christ’s righteousness is imputed to all those who have faith in Him. When we contemplate the works of our Savior on our behalf and know the effects of His obedience for our justification, how can our hearts not be warmed by the beauty and glory of what Christ has done for us? We are saved by works—not our own, but Christ’s. Contemplating the works of Christ should give us great comfort both in life and in death.