Month: December 2016

An Orthodox Baptism

/ William F. Leonhart III / 1 Comment

I would not be surprised to discover that our readers are more familiar with Jason Delgado and his work over at Confessing Baptist than they are with us and our work here at CredoCovenant. I’ve known Delgado for years, and he has never attempted anything if he could not do it with the utmost professionalism and class. Recently, Jason was asked to teach on baptism at Sovereign Joy Community Church as part of their series on Hercules Collins’ An Orthodox Catechism. As always, he delivered above and beyond his assigned task. These lessons are helpful gems for any Presbyterians seeking a deeper understanding of what Baptists believe about baptism and why, and for any Baptists seeking to solidify their beliefs regarding CredoCovenant Theology.

 

Note: This post may undergo revisions in the future. Please listen, share, and revisit in the future.

Happy Holy Days?

/ William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

I once heard a Reformed Baptist say that there are roughly 52 holidays (holy days) on the Reformed church calendar, and they all have the same name: the Lord’s Day. This assertion struck my funny bone at the time, but it has progressively become a reality for me over the years. As one grows in one’s delight in the Sabbath, all other days seem to pale in comparison.

It is written on the heart of man to set aside a day when he wishes to worship or esteem something or someone. God has written it on our hearts, just as He wrote all of the other Ten Commandments on our hearts. Innately, man knows it is proper to set aside time for the Object of his worship. In the book of Exodus, we are told:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy,” (Exod. 20:8-11; NASB).

In the Hebrew Scriptures, many Ceremonial Laws were added to the Moral Law, including many feast days and special sabbaths (some of which did not even occur on the seventh day). These were meant to be days of rest, not resting in idleness or in some mystic form of meditation, but resting in the Lord. Other cultures and religions besides have conjured up their own holy days to be observed in accordance with their own religious calendars.

In the Greek Scriptures, we learn that the whole of the ceremonial law pointed to, and was fulfilled in, Christ. As such, there is only one day still binding on Christ’s subjects for His worship: the Sabbath. Some Christians have argued that the Sabbath is no longer binding, but that Christ is our Sabbath rest. Reformed Baptists respond that the Lord was always the focus of the Sabbath, so their argument has no foundation.

Others throughout church history have added to the church calendar holy days that were never commanded by God for His worship. These days include Christmas, Resurrection Day, All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve, Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. These all have their roots in biblical truth (some more, some less), but none of them were commanded by God in Scripture.

“But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures” (The Baptist Confession, 22.1).

I am not saying that Christians are not free to make a commendable use of these days in good conscience. What I am saying is that they are not holy days (holidays) in the biblical sense. Only one day fits that bill. Thus, when these days take precedence over the Lord’s Day, whether in our observance of them or in our preparation for them, we might stop ask the Lord if we have chosen to prioritize our time contrary to how God has ordained. To put it more simply, the Lord’s Day should be more precious to us than any other “holiday” man may observe. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Side note: I was sick in bed and couldn’t attend church this past Lord’s Day, but I probably don’t need to tell you where I stand on churches closing their doors on the Lord’s Day merely so that God’s people can spend time with family on Christmas morning.

The Christmas Spirit and the Holy Spirit

/ Reformed Baptista / 1 Comment

6987219775_a6b4bd1d78_b

Heard around this time of year by Christians and non-Christians alike is talk about the “Christmas spirit”. People post on social media about “getting into the Christmas spirit”, and motivate themselves to do so by stringing lights, playing holiday songs, donating to their charity of choice and decking the halls with red and green. (Or silver and gold, depending on their sense of style.) While I haven’t found a concise definition of what constitutes the Christmas spirit, feelings of joy, wonder, peace, and doing good to others would certainly be considered elements of it.

But while enjoying decorations, music and lights are not necessarily bad things to do*, many times those feelings are fleeting, and charitable acts fade after December 25th. In the United States, decorations can be packed away the very next day, although some can still be seen on New Year’s Day. (There are those who leave lights up nearly year-round, but that is usually due to laziness, rather than a desire to celebrate Christmas all year.) Is it possible to have a spirit of Christmas every day of the year? Can peace and joy be found without wrapping paper and tinsel?

Despite society’s best intentions, the comfort and joy that Christmas represents can never come by “getting into the Christmas spirit”:

Works done by unregenerate men…cannot please God, nor make a man meet to receive the grace of God… -LBCF 16: 7

Only by repenting and trusting in Christ can one’s works be acceptable to God through the righteousness of Christ. And this faith is not of ourselves. (Ephesians 2:8)

The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts…-LBCF 14:1

The Christmas spirit is temporary; it cannot save. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, is eternal and unchangeable. It is He who reveals the glories of the triune God to sinners.

The spirit of Christmas may call attention to the babe in a manger. The Holy Spirit was instrumental in His birth.

And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.’ -Luke 1:35

The spirit of Christmas may remember Jesus. But the Holy Spirit testifies of the truth of Christ, of His being fully God and fully man, of His birth, death, and resurrection; of our sinful estate, of our need of Him, of the splendor and majesty of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…

-John 16:13

The Christmas spirit may produce warm feelings. But the Spirit produces good fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.

-Galatians 5:22

So if you celebrate Christmas but do not know Christ nor His Spirit, realize that the spirit of Christmas will never deliver the lasting peace and joy you seek. But pray that the Spirit of Christ will open your eyes, that you may  turn from your sin and believe in Him.

And if you celebrate Christmas and do know Christ and His Spirit, enjoy the festivities. Talk about the Incarnation to your surrounding unbelievers. But also remember the Spirit that bears witness to the Incarnation. For that Spirit is more glorious and wonderful than any spirit of Christmas can ever be.

*This article is not going to address the rightness or wrongness of observing Christmas. For a wonderful series on that subject, please listen to Al Martin’s Christmas and the Christian.

Lifting My Eyes

/ Reformed Baptista / Leave a comment

8539009694_1df1c63997_c

Right now, my house is a mess.

Legos have become my new flooring. Shrill cries from my 6-week old demand attention. The eldest, responsible for making breakfast, used too little flour in the scones. Not due to a lack of flour, but because he didn’t want to use bleached flour.  Now the morning meal is burnt and inedible. Racing through the house are other children, howling after the newly-fixed stray cat who was supposed to be contained in the guest room. Any instruction Mommy has given to make beds or brush teeth has evaporated from their minds. Quarrels and conflicts bubble up from the corners of the house. The day is escaping me.

Little whispers of doubt rise up and escalate: “What if your homeschooling isn’t good enough? If only you could spend money in joining x, y, and z – then the children could get interaction, education, and you could influence your community! With more stuff, then more people could know us and learn about our church. We could invest more in the church, and the church would grow. After all, all these other churches actually have programs and money to spend, and look how they are growing! Although they have super outgoing, super put together, super hip and with it pastors’ wives. These wives have great hair. I haven’t had a professional haircut in years. I don’t do enough. I am not friendly enough. I don’t rest in Christ enough. I can’t even be a good Christian. No one else thinks like this. Everything will fail.”

I. I. I.

There is so much of me in these thoughts. What is the remedy?

Him. Him. Him.

…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

-Hebrews 12:2

“Be thou my vision…”

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus…”

Cling tighter to Christ. His Word is sure. He changes not; His compassions they fail not. He is not fickle. He does not lie. He is not dependent upon me. I can do all things through him who strengthens me – a passage talking about contentment, not self-esteem or fulfilling your dreams. He is able to, and He will complete this good work in you, conforming you to the image of the Son. Cling to Christ!

.Learn much of your own heart; and when you have learned all you can, remember you have seen but a few yards into a pit that is unfathomable. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can understand it?’ Jer. xvii. 9  Learn much of Christ. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief!

-Robert Murray M’Cheyne

17162722277_ec4a83e0cc_c

The Whole Counsel: Introduction to the Holy Scriptures

/ William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

The Whole Counsel

Introductions to the Books of the Bible

 

 

Introduction to the Holy Scriptures

Several years ago, while celebrating a holiday at a friend’s house, I recall having a conversation with him about creeds, confessions, and catechisms. My friend had once claimed to be Calvinistic, but he no longer affirmed many of the tenets of historic Reformed theology. He told me that he used to use the confessions and catechisms in training his kids in the faith. However, he said he was no longer convinced of their benefit and now only uses the Bible.

I have often stopped to think about the assertions embedded in that argument. First, it assumes the confession and catechism are not designed to teach the Bible, or at least to summarize the core, essential teachings of the Bible. Second, it assumes one cannot both teach the confessions and catechisms and teach the Bible. Having spent a great deal of time studying The Baptist Catechism, and having come to a logical stopping point, I have decided to take the opportunity to teach a series of general introductions for each of the books of the Bible.

“Q.3: How may we know there is a God?

A. The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners” (William Collins, The Baptist Catechism of 1693).

“The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience” (The Second London Baptist Confession, 1.1).

The starting point for all true Christians in confessing our faith is the Holy Scripture. It is the central point of all Christian believe and all Christian action. It is central to all we believe and do precisely because it is the very revelation of God to us. In the Bible, we learn “what man ought to believe concerning God, and what duty God requireth of man,” (The Baptist Catechism, Q.6). The primary way that God’s people demonstrate the centrality of the Holy Scriptures is by making them central to our corporate worship on the Lord’s Day, especially through the preaching of the word.

Our usual approach to Scripture from the pulpit is to examine it book-by-book and verse-by-verse. As we examine each event, doctrine, or precept, as it arises in the text, we incrementally receive “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27; NKJV). This reception of God’s whole counsel is incremental in that it cannot happen in one sitting. As we regularly attend to God’s worship on the Lord’s Day, we receive more and more of His word and, through the accumulation over time of all of the minor details, we develop a much larger picture of what we ought to believe and what duty God requires of us.

This new series is meant to take us out of the weeds, lift us high up into the air, and give us a bird’s eye-view of the Bible. Over the next few years, as we go back and forth between our study of The Baptist Catechism and this study, I hope to help the church have a more succinct understanding of the general structure of the Bible as a whole. As we learn from The Baptist Catechism what is principally taught in Scripture, we will be learning in this study where to find those teachings, as well as important people and events, in Scripture.

The Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek Scriptures

The Hebrew Scriptures are what we commonly call the Old Testament, and the Greek Scriptures are what we commonly call the New Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures account for us the general creation and fall of man as well as the choosing and the failure of Israel. Both of these major themes are also used to point us to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would redeem God’s chosen people from our sins. We understand God’s accomplishment of redemption in history through the several covenants He made with His people.

The Greek Scriptures provide us with the account of Christ’s work of redemption and its application to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Where Adam fell, Christ rose. Where Israel failed, Christ succeeded. We understand Christ’s accomplishment and the Spirit’s application of of redemption through the New Covenant in His blood. The fullness of the revelation of the great mystery of the New Covenant is proclaimed to us in the Greek Scriptures.

The Books of the Holy Scriptures

There are sixty-six books in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures: thirty-nine books in the Hebrew Scriptures and twenty-seven in the Greek Scriptures. According to The Baptist Confession:

“Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, To Titus, To Philemon, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Epistle of James, The first and second Epistles of Peter, The first, second, and third Epistles of John, The Epistle of Jude, The Revelation

All of which are given by the inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life” (1.2).

Subcategories

For the benefit of our study, there are a few ways theologians and Bible scholars have decided to subcategorize the 66 books of the Bible. The first of these subcategories we’ve already mentioned: the Hebrew Scriptures (or the Old Testament), and the Greek Scriptures (or the New Testament). Within the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four more subcategories:

The Pentateuch (The Torah; The Law)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

The Histories

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther

The Writings (Poetry; Wisdom)

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and The Song of Solomon

The Prophets

The Major Prophets

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel

The Minor Prophets

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

 

Within the Greek Scriptures, there are three more subcategories:

 

The Gospels and Acts

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts

The Epistles

The Pauline Epistles

Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The General Epistles

Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1, 2, & 3 John, and Jude

The Apocalypse

Revelation

 

The Characteristics of the Holy Scriptures

God does not use a cookie-cutter approach to writing the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures are not cookies; they are God-breathed revelation from the Most High. The Bible was written by “Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit,” (A Catechism for Boys and Girls, Q.15). Like a teacher might use several different pens for several different purposes when grading papers, God used the Bible’s human authors’ personalities, occupations, cultures, life experiences, and education to pen every word He foreordained should be penned.

These several books were written over the span of several centuries. They were written by authors of various ethnicities, occupations, original languages, cultures, income levels, personalities, etc. The Bible is also comprised of several genres of literature: history, poetry / wisdom literature, prophecy, didactic literature, and apocalyptic literature. As such, understanding the Bible more fully and accurately requires that we understand the author, the historical context, the occasion of the writing, the audience, and the purpose of the book.

Furthermore, we need to know things like the primary and supporting arguments that are made and the connection of events recorded to the major themes of the Bible in general and the central argument(s) of the book in specific. For teachers and preachers of the word, it is also important to understand the original languages for the purpose of understanding the common usage of specific words, how grammatical structures help us understand the focal point of certain arguments, and how to structure sermons according to the grammatical structure of the text.

Conclusion

In the weeks to come, narrow our focus to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Pentateuch, and eventually the specific books of the Pentateuch, we will have a more firm grasp of some of these themes. The goal of this study will be to help us have a better overall understanding of the Holy Scriptures, “the whole counsel of God.” We will understand not only the things we ought to believe concerning God and what duties He requires of us from The Baptist Catechism. We will also understand better the word of God in which we find these truths.

A Working Definition of Evangelism (Third Revision)

/ William F. Leonhart III / 18 Comments

You can see the original Definition here, the first revision here, and the second revision here.

__________________________

“With a view toward making disciples of all nations1 and entering them into covenant membership with a local church, through baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 2 in order that they may be taught to observe all that Christ commanded,3 evangelism is the endeavor of the entire church4 to explain to the unregenerate—both in their midst and in the world5—God’s holiness,6 man’s sin and its wages,7 Christ’s accomplishment of redemption through His obedience in life,8 death,9 and resurrection,10 and the proper response of sinners: repentance from sin toward God11 and faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.”12

1 Mt. 28:19a; Acts 8:1; Col. 1:5-6

2 Mt. 28:19b; 1Cor. 10:1-2, 11; Acts 2:37-39; 8:12-13; 18:8; Eph. 4:1-6; Rom. 12:5; 1Cor. 12:25; Eph. 4:25

3 Mt. 28:20; Acts 2:42; 20:20; Eph. 2:20

4 1Pt. 3:15; Phil. 2:14-16; Lk. 12:48; Eph. 4:12

5 1Cor. 9:18; Gal. 1:8-9; Mt. 24:14; Mk. 13:10

6 Exod. 24:17; Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29; Isa. 6:3-5; 1Tim. 6:16

7 Rom. 3:23; 5:12; Tit. 1:15; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-19

8 Rom. 5:19; Heb. 5:8

9 Phil. 2:8

10 1Cor. 15; 2Cor. 5:15; 1Thess. 4:14

11 Mt. 3:2; 4:17; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:20-21; 26:20; Rom. 2:4; 2Cor. 7:10; 2Pt. 3:9;

      Rev. 3:19

12 Rom. 1:16; 4:5; 9:33; 10:4, 9-11; Gal. 3:6, 9, 22; Eph. 2:8; Heb. 11:6

Studies in The Baptist Catechism: Section Three – The Decrees of God (Q.15)

/ William F. Leonhart III / 1 Comment

Q.15: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

A. When God created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.1

1Galatians 3:12; Genesis 2:17

 

“COVENANT THEOLOGY, SIMPLY STATED, is the view of God and redemption that interprets the Holy Scriptures by way of covenants,” (Earl Blackburn, Covenant Theology: A Baptist Distinctive, pg. 17).

What we see in Genesis 2 is not only an account of the creation of Adam and Eve. In the garden, God and man entered into a covenant. God bestowed certain benefits upon Adam; He gave him life and all the provisions he needed to sustain life in the garden. He created man sinless and in a state of joy and fellowship. Moses recounts the boundaries wherein this covenant was binding: the Garden of Eden. Finally, God established the conditions whereby man might remain in this estate: care for the garden, remain righteous, and do not eat of the tree.

This covenant between God and Adam was fully determined beforehand by God; man in no way takes part in negotiations with God over this agreement. God has given life to man, and man is expected to honor God’s just requirements in order to remain in the estate in which he was created.

“So we may say that man has not at any time entered into covenant with God but God has entered into covenant with man. It only belongs to his sovereign majesty and is the fuit of his infinite goodness to propose, as well as his wisdom to choose and order, the terms of a covenant relationship between himself and his creatures. Therefore the covenant that he has made with men is frequently in Scripture said to be the Lord’s covenant, as in Psalm 25:14, Isaiah 56:4, 6, and other places,” (Nehemiah Coxe, Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ, pg. 35).

This particular covenant between God and Adam has major implications for us today. Paul tells us that we are either in Christ or in Adam. Where Adam was unfaithful and broke his covenant with God, ensuring that all of his children would be born in bondage to sin, Christ was fulfilled it, redeeming His church from bondage to sin.

Benefits Bestowed by God

Life. The first detail that must be examined in relation to the original state of man is the fact that God gives him life (Gen. 2:7). There were no preconditions to God’s choice to bestow life upon mankind, nor could man have done anything to earn this gift. God, out of His own good pleasure, bestowed life upon man. We often do not think of life as a gift, especially when we’re going through hardships, but it is most certainly a gift of God (Deut. 32:39; Job 33:4; Eccl. 9:9; Acts 17:25).

All life is a gift from God. I am always confounded to hear of total strangers who see “large” families in the mall or in the grocery store and stop the mother to ask, “You know how to fix that, right?” Somehow, in our society, we have come to view the gift of life, and especially the lives of children, as a burden. We have forgotten the righteous prayer of Hannah (1Sam. 1:1-11).

Tellingly, The Baptist Catechism does not refer to this covenant by its more common moniker: the Covenant of Works. This moniker focuses on the condition of the covenant rather than the benefit. Rather, The Baptist Catechism calls the covenant the “Covenant of Life,” which focuses our attention on the benefit we receive. This is the mindset with which we ought to consider all of God’s covenant dealings with man. In this sense, all of God’s covenants are gracious in that they bestow upon us a benefit not previously merited by us.

Provision. Not only did God bestow life upon Adam, but he also provided him all he needed to sustain and enjoy life in the garden. God provided Adam with food (Gen. 2:16), companionship (Gen. 2:18-23), and fellowship with God (Gen. 3:8a). It had not yet rained on the earth, so Adam and Eve needed no shelter. Adam and Eve were not ashamed of their nakedness, so they needed no clothes. Thus, we see that God had provided for them everything they needed and more.

“Adam enjoyed the unmerited privilege of physical and spiritual life. He enjoyed communion with God. He knew God. He had affectionate fellowship with him. Scripture calls such a knowledge and fellowship with God ‘life’ (John 17:3). Thus Adam had life, physical and spiritual,” (Greg Nichols, Covenant Theology: A Reformed and Baptistic Perspective on God’s Covenants, pg. 338).

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus assures us that God provides for us all things that we need, and that we in turn are to be anxious for nothing:

“25For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the filed grow; they do not toil or spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:25-34).

If there is one thing that we as Christians in America tend to be guilty of, it is relying on our fallen world system to provide us with all we need. Contrary to this mode of living, we ought to look to man’s original state and see that God is the giver of all things. He placed man in a state of perfect, abundant provision. The height of this mentality is most potently displayed during election seasons in America. Our default assumption seems to be that our country will fall apart tomorrow if we do not get what we want today.

We need to be constantly reminded that God is the one who is in control. God provides for us, and if He decides to take our prosperity from us, so be it. He has not promised us prosperity; He has promised us provision.

The Character of Man’s Original Estate

Sinless. Whatever we might say about man in his original state, it is important to recognize that man was created sinless (Gen. 1:31a; Eccl. 7:29). When first created, Adam knew neither bondage to sin nor the effects of sin. His estate was not only ideal because of his external circumstances, but also because of his internal disposition. Man was created in a state of perfect communion and union with God (Gen. 3:8a).

This state of perfect communion and union with God is the ultimate goal of redemption (Rev. 21:3-4). God’s purpose in redeeming His elect is that they be conformed to the sinless and perfect image of His Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 4:15), ensuring an eternal union and communion with God in heaven. What Adam and Eve had in the garden, freedom from bondage and penalty of sin, we will have in glory, but with the full assurance that we will never again be subject to the dominion of sin over us.

Joyful. Regarding the joy man had in his original state, first, we should recognize the fact that Adam and Eve had no shortage of joy in the estate in which God created them. They not only had an abundance of necessary provisions, but God also provided them with the most delightful provisions. “Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9). In other words, God originally created man to enjoy his existence and enjoy the rest of creation.

Second, God created man to enjoy the blessing of relationship. This is one of the aspects of the Imago Dei. Just as the Trinity is eternally relational, so too man (His image bearer) is created to be in relationship (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:18, 22-24). Man and woman were created for one another and, in their original state, their relationship did not bear the mark of shame (Gen. 2:25).

The Boundaries of Man’s Original Estate

The Garden of Eden. In the ancient Near-East, when two kings would sign a treaty, they always established the boundaries wherein that treaty was binding. For man, his arrangement with God was binding within the Garden of Eden. God created the garden especially for man and placed him there to tend it (Gen. 2:15), it was in the garden that God walked in their midst in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8), and it was in the garden that God placed the tree of life. When Adam sinned against God, he was kicked out of the garden and lost direct access to God and to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24).

When we ponder these realities, it should cause us to look forward to our glorious inheritance in heaven. All those who are no longer in Adam, but have been transferred into the New Covenant, in Christ, have the hope of experiencing all these things. God will transfer us to the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-27) where He will once again walk among His people (Rev. 21:3-4) who will yet again have access to the tree of life (Rev. 22:2).

The Conditions of Man’s Original Estate

“Under this covenant, man must do what he was commanded in order to continue in a state of blessedness. If righteous man was [sic] to remain happy, all hinges on what he does! If man failed, then the curse falls. If man succeeded, blessing would be his and to all his offspring. Historically, this divinely-given arrangement by which man may be blessed has been called the Covenant of Works. That name was chosen because its focal point was on man’s working. Everything depended upon what man did,” (Walter Chantry, Covenant Theology: A Baptist Distinctive, pg. 91).

Care for the Garden. There were essentially two commands that God gave Adam in the garden. He placed him there to tend the garden (Gen. 2:15) and commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam’s care and cultivation of the garden was one aspect of the dominion that Adam was to have over the earth. One thing of which to take note is the fact that Adam never complained of his work. In fact, it was not until after Adam sinned against God that we see that his toil and labor became toilsome and laborious (Gen. 3:17-19).

Work, in and of itself, is not evil. In fact, when we look at the fourth commandment, we see that it was not only God’s design that man rest on the seventh day, but that he work all six days leading up to it:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle  or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy,” (Ex. 20:8-11; NASB).

Do not eat of the tree. In the Garden of Eden, God expected perfect obedience from Adam and Eve, upon pain of death. Man was made upright (Eccl. 7:29). “This uprightness or rectitude of nature consisted in the perfect harmony of his soul with that law of God which he was made under and subjected to,” (Coxe, Covenant Theology, pg. 43). Coupled with this “internal and subjective” law (Ibid.), which was encoded in his very nature, was a positive precept.

God verbally commanded him not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Gen. 2:15-17).

Of course, we know that Adam did not obey God. That’s why we see in Romans 5:19: “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” Adam was the first man. Through his disobedience, we all became sinners but, through Christ’s obedience, all who believe in him are freed from the dominion of sin.

Conclusion

In Adam, we see that the original covenant between God and man was broken. In Christ, there is a new arrangement, the New Covenant, in which all who are in Christ are made right with God. Where Adam disobeyed, Christ obeyed. Where we are condemned in Adam, we are redeemed in Christ. Thank God for His sovereign, redemptive dealings with His people.