The Divine Covenants

The Adamic Covenant (Part 3)

We have before us the covenant of works. This covenant was made on the assumption that man in his original condition---though made in the image of God---was capable of falling, just as the covenant of grace proceeds on the assumption that man is capable of being restored.

We need to remember that Adam was mutable or subject to change. There is only One who is unchangeable. While Adam was made in the image of God, the essential attributes of God are not communicable. If this were not so then if God bestowed omniscience, omnipotence or immutability on the creature, He would be raising up gods, equal with Himself. Therefore while Adam was a perfect creature, he was but a creature, mutable; and being mutable, he was subject to change and therefore liable to fall.

But being mutable, fallible, and dependent, the finest creature of all was liable to fall, and he could only be preserved by the power of the One who created him. God offered to man the opportunity to be a holy and happy creature, but He also permitted Adam to disobey. Thus He enabled the covenant of works to be broken, making way for the One who would be perfectly obedient.

Now before we get into the details of the agreement God made with Adam, it might be well to deal with an objection that some have against the idea of a covenant in the first place, since the word “covenant” is not to be found in the historical account of Genesis. You know the same thing can be said about the concept of the trinity, which does not appear in the Book either. However, there are certain inescapable elements that conclusively infer that there was an agreement.

A covenant is a mutual agreement entered into by two or more parties, whereby they stand solemnly bound to each other to perform the conditions contracted for. Applying this definition we find that:

· there is something to be done or given by the proposing party

· there is something to be done or given by the other party

· the agreement of things to be done or given must be legal

· there are penalties or consequences for violating the agreement

 So, was there any moral agreement between God and Adam where the above four principles were involved? Was there any proposition made by God of something to be done by Adam? Was what was agreed to a legal and moral matter? Were there any consequences involved for a violation?

Let’s look again at Genesis 2:16-17.

· Gen. 2:16-17, And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

There was, then, a formal agreement between God and man concerning obedience and disobedience, reward and punishment. So there was a covenant. And remember that in this covenant Adam acted not as a private person for himself only, but as the federal head and representative of all who would follow him. (He acted alone because Eve was not the federal head) In fact, we don’t even know if Eve even existed at the time the covenant was made.

In this Adam was a type of Jesus, with whom God had made the everlasting covenant, and who had been appointed the federal head and representative of His people.

· Romans 5:12-14, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through the one man, and death came to all men, because all sinned---for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the One to come.

In this passage we have what appears to be very confusing. But we must draw some inferences for it to make sense. At once it says that sin entered the world and all sinned and death reigned from Adam to Moses. On the other hand we are told that sin was not taken into account if there was no law and the law came much later. So we must infer that if men died between Adam and Moses it was because all men actually sinned.

That Adam acted as the representative of all people and that God intended that to be the case is clear from Genesis 1:26.

· Gen. 1:26, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

Now notice the language in the verse we have just read. It plainly intimates that it was speaking of the whole human race, and not just Adam, as a casual reading would lead us to believe. In it we see that what God said to Adam after he sinned, was said to all mankind when He used the plural “them”. And not only did God intend the fall for Adam and all people to follow him, but He also pronounced a curse on the earth.