Principles and Practices of the Regular Baptists

Chapter VI: Various Covenants Considered

"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" - Heb.8:8. The real nature of this covenant, it is my object in this article to inquire after. I am aware that it is the foundation of the gospel system. In approaching it I realize the need of wisdom from above to rightly understand and present this subject. The Savior refers to this covenant, Matt. 26:28: "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (The words testament and covenant are from the same word in the original, "Diatheekee.") Also Mark 14:24: "This is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many." Also Luke 22:20, and many other places, the blood of Christ is mentioned as the "blood of the everlasting covenant." The blessings secured to us by an interest in this covenant are of an eternal kind. In the covenant made with the fathers, eternal life was not promised. God made a covenant with Adam, and, I may say, to us all in him, on one condition. From God's infinite superiority over Adam he had a right to name the terms of life and death. The terms were: "For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" - Gen. 2:17. God laid no restraint on him to disobey, but by the publication to him of the result of disobedience he rather bound him to obedience. I will not undertake to vindicate God's justice in this transaction, but have referred to it as an instance in which God dealt with man on a conditional plan. The condition was easy of performance. God himself was the preacher by whom the terms of life and death were made known. Adam was free from any innate bias to evil, for "he was good." The blessing resulting from obedience was full of encouragement to obedience, and the result of transgression was sufficiently fearful to deter from disobedience. And Adam "was not deceived;" with a perfect knowledge of all this he sinned and involved all his posterity in ruin. I wish you, dear reader, to bear in mind that that was a conditional covenant; the publication of it to Adam was a giving of law, not a publication of gospel. Under the new covenant we read: "And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Under this it is: I will mark your sin and regard the day and certainly inflict the penalty; and God faithfully kept that covenant with Adam and his posterity. Had God unconditionally given Adam the security of life, "kept him," "worked in him to will and do of his good pleasure." Had God said to him: "For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord." I say, had God used this language to him it would have resulted differently. This last is the language of the gospel, while Adam was under law. I hope we shall be able to distinguish between law and gospel as we pass along. We have now seen the fearful result of one conditional covenant. The next covenant that God has made, in which the happiness or safety of man is involved, was an unconditional one. Gen. 9:8-9: "And God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you." * * Verse 13: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." The blessing of this covenant is secured to us unconditionally; every time we look at the bow in the cloud we see the token of this unconditional covenant, and we are reminded that the destruction of the earth by water is not to occur on certain conditions by man, nor is its preservation the result of the performance of certain conditions. God's promise secures all. Had he said to Noah, I will not send a flood upon the earth if the people will do right, or if they will do any specified thing, then we would have had another conditional covenant, and doubtless the world would have long since been destroyed by a second flood. But still the earth exists and is kept; seed time and harvest succeed each other, and will till time ends. Although the earth is filled with sin and violence, yet the bow of promise is seen in the dark cloud (a fit emblem of the wrath we deserve) and the faithful fulfillment of God's words to Noah and his sons is manifest. Isaiah makes a beautiful application of this covenant in a gospel sense, and forcibly impresses the mind that the gospel covenant, or the "new covenant," is like it in this particular - 54:7, etc.: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee; in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer." "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee." He says: "So have I sworn." His oath to Noah was unconditional, and so it is immutable and sure in its results; and his oath mentioned here is unconditional, and therefore surer than the "mountains or the hills." I wish you, dear reader, to mark the difference in these two covenants as to their results. The one brought ruin to all men; the other preserves a sinful world from just destruction by a flood; the one was attended with a curse, and under the other there is no curse, the oath and promise of God is remembered and the world preserved. In a gospel sense we need the same unconditional promise of God to secure us from the just claims of law and the just deserts of our sins. Our daily cry is, "When I would do good evil is present with me."

The next covenant I propose to your attention is mentioned in Gen.12:3: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse then that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This covenant was made to Abraham; it was unconditional. And the history of Abraham and his family for 2,056 years proves that God most faithfully fulfilled this covenant. Paul calls the last words of this covenant the gospel - Gal. 3:8: "And the scriptures * * * preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." This declaration contains an unconditional promise of the Messiah, and God, with a view to the certain fulfillment of this promise, takes Abraham and his seed into, and under a special providence, made an unconditional promise to Abraham that his seed should be as the sand of the sea shore and the stars of heaven for number. He also gave the land of promise unconditionally to Abraham. It should be remembered that Abraham is the great type of the faithful; and the promised land was a type; Sarah, the mother, is made a type of the new covenant - Hagar of the old; the birth of Isaac was the fulfillment of an unconditional promise, and his birth, from a natural view of things, was an impossibility. And Paul affirms that we, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. As before seen, the birth of Isaac was unconditional. And Paul affirms that we are likewise the children of promise. I have said that the promised land was given to Abraham unconditionally; it is true Abraham said, "Lord God whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it;" but this expression does not involve a condition. Abraham only asks for an evidence of his heirship; and so the seed of Abraham, by faith, desire an evidence that they are the heirs of God. "And we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." This is an evidence that we have passed from death unto life. Paul in Gal. 3:18: "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." This circumstance is used to illustrate the gospel by the great apostle. God's covenant to Abraham was unconditional; and in this covenant he secured to Abraham the promised land unconditionally; Abraham is the heir and he received the inheritance as property secured to him by a will. If it had been conditional it would not have been by promise, and it would have been uncertain; but being by promise of God secured to him it was sure of fulfillment. And god remembered this covenant over 400 years afterwards when Abraham's seed was groaning under Egyptian bondage, and he brought them out of bondage and led them to the land of promise. Circumcision was given to Abraham, not as a condition upon which he should have the promised land, but "as a token of the covenant." The covenant had been made three years or more before circumcision was introduced, therefore circumcision was not introduced as a condition upon which these promises were to be fulfilled.

In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy we have a covenant that is conditional. It is unnecessary here to copy the whole of it, as the reader can turn to it and read it, and I would request the reader to do so. The chapter is headed "Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience." By noticing the curses named here you will find that they are all of a temporal kind, not a threat of eternal punishment, not a single promise of eternal life. This is not the covenant of which Jesus is mediator, but that of which Moses is mediator. It is not like the gospel, for it has curses in it. The gospel is good news, glad tidings, pardon, redemption, salvation, etc.; this is a purely conditional affair, with curses and blessings alternately promised for disobedience and obedience. Many have mistaken this for gospel, preached it for gospel, and urged it upon the people as a gospel system. The history of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, proves that this covenant on God's part was literally carried out, their sins were remembered, and the curses named in this chapter were faithfully visited upon them.

I wish now to invite the reader to the covenant in which the priesthood was conferred upon Aaron and his sons. Exodus 40:13: "And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments and anoint him, and sanctify him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office." Also in Verse 15: "For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations." This transaction secured to Aaron and his sons throughout their generations." It was unconditional; Aaron had not sought it, that we are informed he did not desire it, but it was a pure gift to him secured to his long line of posterity reaching through a period of 1,500 years, unconditionally secured to him; his children after him did not take the office by choice, but they were born to it. Now get the thought that this was secured to Aaron's family by the will of God, not for any desert on their part, and then turn to 1st Peter 2:5, where he makes a gospel application of the subject: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The priesthood of Aaron is referred to here as a type and figure of the true Israel of God. In verse 9 he says: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Aaron was a chosen generation and a priesthood. The Lord chose Aaron to this office. So the saints are "a chosen generation." They were born to the priesthood. So the family of God is born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And indeed, in all our near approaches to God we should remember that it is of God's divine mercy that we have ever been called out of the dark night of nature into his marvelous light. The holy garments were put upon them as the type of the righteousness of saints to show that we smut have the imputed righteousness of Christ to prepare us to engage in God's holy service; and Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. And the anointing oil is a type of the anointing which is mentioned in 1st John 2:27: "And the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in your, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." This is the spirit of God given to us "to bring all things to our remembrance," and to "take the things of Christ and show them to us."

The oil was a rich and sweet perfume which not only beautified the countenance and made the limbs supple, but it produced a rich perfume that was pleasant to all that were near. So the spirit of God softens our hearts and temper, and puts upon the saint such improvement that his company is sweet and his presence delightful to the church of God. But bear in mind this covenant provided that the garments should be put upon them and that they should be anointed with the anointing oil; this was a work to be done not by them, but these should be put upon them. Mark the unconditionality of this thing, and look for its fulfillment in the gospel covenant. Heb. 8:10: "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." And so the experience of God's people witness. "I was found of them that sought me not, and I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me."

There is one more unconditional covenant mentioned that I wish to refer to, to wit: That by which the scepter was secured to the tribe of Judah. The first reference we have of this is mentioned in Gen. 49:10: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." We have the kingdom established in David, 1st Sam.15:28: "The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou." * * "The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not man, that he should repent." 2nd Sam. 3:9: "So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him; To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba." Here the oath of God is mentioned as fixing David upon the throne and securing it to him, not on conditions to be performed by him, but unalterably and unfrustrably setting the crown upon his head and that of his posterity to all generations. Psalms 89: "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations." "Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David; his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me." Durability and permanence attend such transactions. God chose David and sent after him where he was tending the sheep, and anointed him as his chosen. David had not sought it. His words were, "Who am I" that this should be done unto me ? The Lord chose him, anointed him and filled him with his Spirit - 1st Sam. 16. God made oath to him that he and his seed after him should occupy the throne to all generations - Psalms 89; and David in his 65th Psalms, 4, says: "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causeth to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." Here the blessed one is chosen before he approaches the Lord, and, as a result of that choice he is caused to approach the Lord and dwell in his courts. Unconditionality is seen in this whole transaction. And the history of Israel for over 1,000 years shows that this covenant with David was faithfully kept. Of all these covenants we find two conditional: the first was with Adam, which resulted in ruin both to him and his seed; the other referred to in Deuteronomy 28 is mentioned by Paul, Heb. 8:9: "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." The point of defect in this covenant is understood by the words, "They continued not in my covenant." This was a conditional one, and obedience upon their part was the condition upon which they were to be blessed. Paul in Rom. 8:3, mentioned the same difficulty: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but the spirit." Here we see that the first covenant was too weak to deliver us, but its weakness to save grew out of the fact that we "continued not in it," and it was weak "through the flesh." Therefore God sent his Son to fulfill the law in us. This great mediator then in performing the will of God, fulfills the law in us. In order, then, that the new covenant remedy this fault in the old, it must be one that can not fail "because we continue not in it." Therefore, it must be an unconditional one.

The words covenant, will, testament, are synonymous in meaning. The Greek word rendered covenant in Heb. 8 and 6:7-9, etc., is Diatheekee, which signifies "the disposition of property by a will, testament," etc. This is the covenant of which Christ is mediator. Heb. 8:6: Therefore Christ came to execute the "will" of his father. This was his business in this world. It was his "meat and drink to do his father's will." He said: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ?" - Luke 2:49. Also John 6:37: "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." "For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Nothing is clearer than that Christ's errand was one fully matured in all its parts before he came. Heb. 10:9: "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first (covenant), that he may establish the second. By the which will (or covenant) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." The Savior was not disappointed in the bitterness of his death, nor in the wickedness and opposition of the people, nor in the magnitude of the work assigned him. The Savior himself is styled the covenant, Isaiah 42:6: "And give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison," etc. He is not only the "mediator" of the covenant, but the covenant itself. John says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The term word here is from "Logos," and signifies, first, "the word by which the inward thought is expressed;" second, "The inward thought itself," "or reason." Christ seems to be a development of the eternal thought of God. To know him is to understand the will of God; he is the will or thought of God made flesh. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is seen in his face." In him we were chosen before the world was, and in him as the Logos or thought of God, grace was given us before the world was. There is another word in Greek sometimes rendered "word,' which is Rema, "that which is said or spoken, a word, saying, expression, phrase," "also the thing spoken of a thing." (See Liddle & Scott's Lexicon.) From these definitions it would seem that Christ is the great thought of God incarnate, and that the scriptures contain what is said of him. Christ says: "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." The life is in Christ; he is the great covenant containing all the grace, and promises, and mercy, and goodness of God, and the New Testament as the Rema contains what is said of him and his fullness. The word Logos in Greek is found in the following places and many more: John 1:14: "And the word was made flesh," etc. John 15:3: "Now ye are clean through the word." 2nd Tim. 2:9: "The word of God is not bound;" 4:2: "Preach the word." Heb. 4:12: "For the word of God is quick and powerful." 1st Peter 1:23: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth." In these passages the term word is from Logos, which is not the written word, as before seen. Rema is found in the following places and many more: "Matt. 12:36: "But I say unto you that every idle word," etc. Luke 1:65: "And all these sayings were noised abroad;" 3:2: "The word of God came unto John." Acts 10:44: "While Peter yet spake these words."

The above references are enough to show that the term Logos, as applied by John to Christ, is not the written word, but that the eternal thought of God was contemplated. This thought, in which all the plan of salvation was matured and every opposition considered, was made flesh in the person of Christ. God had promised him to the prophets and the people through them; the time of his coming was fixed; the time of his suffering was fixed; the amount of his suffering was fixed, and the result of his suffering was fixed. These four things were fixed in the covenant of God, and we may say that in all he did and suffered he was not in the least disappointed, neither will he be disappointed in the least as to the result. In John 17:1, and 12:23, he says the hour is come. He often spoke of the hour. Dan. 9:26: "After three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off," etc., and many, very many places, show that there was a set time when Jesus should be crucified. Often his enemies sought his life, but his hour was not come. It is a sublime thought that in the mind of God the very time of his suffering was fixed. Truly it is a covenant ordered in all things, and sure Jesus knew when his hour was come. If we consider that his death is the foundation of all hope, that saints of all ages were to look to this event, we need not be surprised that the time of his death was arranged in the "everlasting (eternal) covenant" of God. No Bible reader will doubt but that the decree of God fixed the time of his death as well as that of his coming into the world. This wonderful man Christ was the Logos or thought or purpose of God made flesh, so 1st John 1:1, says: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." All the fullness of God's eternal counsel is in him, every step he takes, from his birth in the manger to his exaltation at God's right hand, is fixed; angels above, as well as saints below, watch with awe his every step.

The amount of his suffering, it seems, was a matter of decree. Acts 4:27-28: "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and counsel determined before to be done." Also Acts 2:23: "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." The short history of Jesus, from the garden until he expired on the cross, is one of awful suffering, but it was all fixed in the covenant of God - the spitting, mocking, buffeting, scourging, and everything he endured was divinely appointed and so fixed that he must drink the whole cup; but the result of his suffering was as certainly fixed. He did not suffer to make some undetermined good end possible, but he suffered the just for "the unjust that he might bring us to God." "He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." "Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life for the sheep." It would be strange confusion to say that the time and extent of his suffering was divinely fixed and the result left contingent or uncertain. Isaiah 53:10-11, speaking to this point, says: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. * * He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." From this we learn that in the very crushing jaws of his awful death he saw his seed and was satisfied; satisfied as he saw that life to all his seed was secured by his stripes, not conditionally secured to them, but certainly. We do not view the covenant as a bare proposal of salvation to sinners, but we conclude that God in his own eternal wisdom made choice of his people before the world was-Eph. 1:4, and according to that choice grace and purpose was given them in Christ from everlasting. 1st Tim. 2:9. Jesus was sent for their redemption to suffer and die for them, and God's eternal and unchangeable mind being fixed on them, their salvation was certain. I think it clear when we consider the condition of sinners, their ignorance and enmity against God, the state of their will, as shown in the previous chapter, I say we think it clear that no plan requiring any good thing to be done by sinners would reach their case; a penniless man could pay nothing, and sinners are destitute.

To be short, the whole teaching of the Bible is, that it is "by grace" we are saved; "not of works," "not by works of righteousness which we have done," and many places to the same effect. Some have professed to believe the doctrine of the total depravity of human nature, and at the same time taught a conditional plan of salvation. This appears to be very inconsistent; if sinners are totally depraved they are incapable of performing any condition, and must, if saved, be dealt with on a pure grace plan. To say that God makes them able to perform the conditions is to deny the doctrine of total depravity. And to make them able is but to cure the enmity of their hearts, making them willing, for the principal cause of their remaining in sin is their unwillingness to quit sin; this unwillingness constitutes an inability to come to Christ. I say if this is cured in all men universally, then all men universally will be saved, and total depravity is untrue. To profess to believe the "total depravity of human nature," and yet to deny the doctrine of election, special redemption, effectual calling, etc., is an inconsistency that no man can make harmonize. Therefore, intelligent men who teach conditional salvation deny the doctrine of depravity, election and special redemption, and I think that consistency will drive them to deny experimental religion, and this the Campbellites do deny, for if experimental religion is true, then salvation is purely of grace, for so every experience of God's children teaches. Under our experimental exercises we learned that we were wholly ruined by sin, lost, blind, helpless; our prayers were so full of sin that we ourselves condemned them; we felt, we saw, we knew, that we could do nothing; we tried our boasted scheme of works and found ourselves still ruined and unsaved, and in this extremity we confessed that "if I am ever saved it will not be for any goodness of mine, but wholly by God's grace." Who first taught you that you were ruined in sin ? Was it man or God ? Your reply: "Grace taught my heart to fear." Like David, you tell what the Lord has done for you. Did you learn under the Spirit's leading that you could do anything good ? No; nothing but sin have I to give, was your cry. The terrible doctrine of depravity you knew was true; that salvation is by grace you knew was true. Now to argue for conditional salvation is to deny the great truths learned by experience. This is why the Campbellites deny the doctrine of experimental religion; it lays the axe at the root of their whole system. If this is true their whole system is false. It equally contradicts every other conditional plan. If in experience we learn that we are utterly helpless and can do nothing good, why or how can we teach that salvation is conditional ? and did we not on bended knees before God confess that we were ruined, guilty, lost, and helpless ? did we not weep over our hard hearts and confess our utter inability to do any good thing ? If all this were true in our case, how can we hope for salvation only on a grace plan ? If God first taught us our need, who will teach others ? If we never could or did love God and seek him until he first taught us in our hearts by his Spirit, why should we think that others can or will do so ? When we fairly consider the real teaching there is in experimental religion, we see no room for it and conditional salvation in the same plan. Reader, how was it with you, and how is it now ? Who began the great work in your case, and who still keeps you ? If you are a real Christian your answer will ever be: "It was grace that brought me safe this far, and grace will lead me home."

The false hope that now fills the minds of unregenerate men you know will have to be destroyed before they are ever saved. There is a perfect harmony in the doctrine of our salvation on a purely gracious plan which is suited only to lost and ruined sinners; a poor-house is suited only to the penniless - those who have any means of self-support are not fit for the poor-house, and so those who are in possession of power to do any good thing, they do not need a grace plan, they only want a law plan; they are not poor enough for the poor-house; they are not willing to depend wholly upon God for everything. But, reader, we, as a people, feel assured that our only hope lies in what Jesus has done for us; we trust in him, and him alone, for every needed qualification. "Helpless, look to him for grace; naked, look to him for dress." His righteousness, not ours, is our hope. Reader, what think ye ? Will we sink into hell with such a faith as this? Is it safe to depend wholly upon God for everything that fits us for heaven? Such is our doctrine and experience. We expect to meet death in this opinion, and feel willing to risk it. May you and I, dear reader, ever be enabled to know the real comfort of these truths.

[first] ... [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] ... [last]