Johannes Maccovius, Theological Distinctions XII
James Dodson
Chapter XII
Of the Covenant
I. The covenant between God and creatures is not properly called a covenant, but only analogically.
And it is—
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—a pact by which God promises something to man, and in turn stipulates something from him.
II. Promise is on God’s part; stipulation is on our part.
III. The covenant is either spiritual or corporeal.
By the former He promises heavenly goods, eternal life, and those things which pertain both to obtaining and possessing it; by the latter, corporeal things. Deuteronomy 27 and 28.
IV. The spiritual covenant is twofold: either legal or evangelical.
The legal covenant is that by which God promises eternal life to those who perform the law: Leviticus 18, “He that doeth these things shall live in them.” God entered into this covenant in Paradise with man in his integrity. Our first parents violated it, and therefore became liable to eternal death. Then, after the fall, God repeated the same covenant. Deuteronomy 5; 1 Kings 8:12. First, that He might show what our duty is. Second, that He might convict us by our own obedience. Third, that every mouth might be stopped and the whole world become subject to condemnation. Romans 3:19. Fourth, that by the law might be the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20. The evangelical covenant is that by which God promises that He will be our God in Christ, that is, that He will bless us with every spiritual blessing—
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—and in turn requires of us that we walk uprightly before Him.
V. The evangelical covenant of God with men is not universal, but particular.
Because Christ is not the Mediator of all, nor are all His covenanted ones. In the Old Testament it was not universal, because there was the distinction between the seed of the woman and of the serpent, and the latter certainly was not in the covenant. And God made covenant with Abraham and his family, Genesis 17; yet not with all those who were of Abraham’s family according to the flesh, but with those endowed with the faith of Abraham. Romans 2 and 9. “He hath not dealt so with any nation.” Psalm 147. Hence the blood of Christ is called the blood of the covenant, because by it the sins of the covenanted were expiated. Then also because those who are actually converted are covenanted, and these with those. Romans 11 throughout. But as not all are elect, so not all are covenanted. Hence also that distinction between the children of the flesh and of the promise. Romans 8:9.
VI. The evangelical covenant is either old or new.
That is, either of the Old or of the New Testament. Yet each is the same as to substance, although it varies in circumstances. For the object of both Testaments is Christ—
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—although in the old He was to be exhibited, and in the new He has been exhibited; although the old was more obscure and the new clearer; although the old had more burdensome things than the new. For the Passover could not be celebrated without cost, nor circumcision without pain. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are signs of the new covenant, as Passover and circumcision were of the old, are without either.
VII. The covenant is either of works or of faith.
This distinction coincides with the one by which the covenant was said to be one legal and another evangelical. The former was with the stipulation of works; the latter with the stipulation of faith: “Believe, and thou shalt be saved.” Works are indeed required in this covenant also, but not primarily, namely, so that man might be justified by them; but consequently, so that they may be a sign of a grateful mind, an evidence of unfeigned faith, and thus the edification of one’s neighbor.