How to Partake of the Covenant of Grace - by J.V. Fesko

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This is an excerpt from the author's book on covenant theology, which means he is dropping us into the middle of his discussion without giving us any background for us to understand the context. Given the amount of pre-knowledge one must possess before reading this, we cannot conceive of a scenario where the content would in any way be edifying. But even if a reader had some background and carried an understanding of these concepts, his writing remains impenetrable.  

The author purports to teach us something but cloaks it in obscure theological terms that generate much heat but little light. He makes repeated assertions about the Law and obedience, but never documents them. He goes on and on about various covenants but never really explains what they mean. 

All the while he adds layer upon layer until it's nothing short of a mystery as to what he's talking about. 

 

"How to partake of the covenant of grace" basically means, how to get saved. The "covenant of grace" is actually the Gospel: Repent, call upon the name of Jesus, and He saves you and gives you new life. 

So who is this article for? There's two possibilities. One, the author wrote this to Christians in order to explain something they need to know; and two, the author wrote this to non-Christians to explain something they need to know.

It seems unlikely that the author would be explaining how to get saved to a Christian, and it's equally unlikely, given the obtuse language, that he was explaining how to get saved to a non-Christian. 

We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.

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How do we benefit from and access the work of the last Adam? (The author is referring to Jesus: 

1Co. 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; [Gen. 2:7] the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

The author will continue using terminology like this without explaining.)

The covenant of works (What is this? The author assumes we know, but the title of his article implies he's going to explain.)

rested on Adam’s perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to secure eternal life. (Where does the Bible tell us this? Well, it doesn't. Rather, the Bible says that the tree of life was the means of Adam's eternal life [Gen. 3:22].)

This is why theologians have called it the covenant of works—it rested on Adam’s obedience. (Oh, the source of this is theologians. No wonder.

There is nothing in the Bible that discusses Adam's obedience as a requirement for eternal life. Nothing.)

Conversely, in the covenant of grace (Another phrase invented by theologians, we're sure. This is the topic of the article, and the author will use this phrase more than a dozen times without really defining it.)

Christ takes up the failed work of the first Adam and offers His own perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to secure salvation for His people. (?? Where does the Bible tell us that Jesus came to fix Adam's failure to obey? Well, it doesn't.)

Recall that as a part of the covenant of redemption, the Father appointed His Son as the covenant surety (Heb. 7:22), (Let's quote it:

He. 7:21-22 ...but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest for ever." [Psalm 110:4] 22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

So we find it was the Father's oath regarding Jesus' eternal priesthood [He. 7:16] that positioned Him as a the promise of a better thing than the Mosaic Law [He. 7:12].)

the One who would be responsible for all the legal obligations (?? "Legal obligations?" There is nothing in the Bible about legal obligations for sin.)

of the covenant. In this case, Christ offered His obedience to the law to secure eternal life on behalf of those who are in covenant with Him. (We think the author might be referring to 

He. 5:8-9 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered He. 5:9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him...

This obviously is not about some sort of requirement for eternal obedience needed because Adam failed to be obedient. Rather, Jesus offered Himself as a blood sacrifice to wash away our sins. His obedience to go to the cross was all that was necessary.)

 Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law on behalf of those who trust in Him. Theologians call this aspect of Christ’s work His active obedience. (Theologians again... 

Perhaps the author is referring to: 

Mt. 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 

The author implies this is some sort of ongoing obedience, but as we have seen, it was His sacrificial death that dealt with our sins, not because He perfectly kept the Law.)

God has imputed (or credited) to all human beings Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12–21); (?? Actually, we inherited death because of Adam's sin: 

Ro. 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

God did not impute this, Adam's sin brought about the actual spiritual death of the human race. Dead people sin. We need forgiveness for sin and we need new life. 

Jesus' death washed away our sin, and His resurrection gave us new life. We needed both, not because we were "imputed" with something, it was because we were actually dead in sin.)

we are also responsible for our own personal sins. Christ also came to pay the penalty for the broken law (No verse cited.

In actual fact, He came to spill His blood. He is the Lamb who was slain. It was a sacrificial death, not a legal requirement or a financial transaction. There is no verse that tells us He paid the penalty for our sin.)

—the fractured covenant of works and all our personal sins against God’s law. Theologians call this Christ’s passive obedience. (We are getting tired of theologians inventing things and making the simple complicated.)

The term passive comes from the Latin word passio, which means “suffering.” Moreover, Christ offers His passive obedience throughout the entirety of His life—from womb to tomb, He suffered for His people.

Laying the groundwork and foundation of the covenant of grace in the completed work of Christ (active and passive obedience) is vital to understanding the nature of our salvation. The covenant of works requires obedience, whereas the covenant of grace requires faith in Christ to the exclusion of our good works for salvation. In other words, in our justification, law and gospel stand in antithesis. Paul makes this clear: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). (Shouldn't it be called "covenant of faith?")

When Paul explains the nature of the doctrine of justification, he quotes Genesis 15:6: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’” (Rom. 4:3). Had Adam been obedient, God would have declared him righteous (in conformity to God’s commands and law) by his obedience. (Where does the Bible say God did this?)

But now in the covenant of grace, God declares us righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work: (Waaaait. Didn't the author tell us, "Christ takes up the failed work of the first Adam and offers His own perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to secure salvation for His people." So how can Christ's work be finished in this scenario that requires Him to be perpetually obedient?

The author is beginning to cross into heresy, and we will not tolerate it much longer.)

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Rom. 4:4–5)

We partake of the covenant of grace by the gift of faith, and this faith is the God-given empty hand that lays hold of the completed work of Christ. In the words of the famous hymn “Rock of Ages” by Augustus Toplady:

Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfil thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Now, while we lay hold of Christ and the covenant of grace by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, (??? We lay hold of the covenant of grace by grace? Isn't this a tautology?)

this does not mean that good works are absent from the redeemed.

Going all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant, (Another covenant, dropped in out of the blue. Those theologians sure like to create busy work.)

God noticeably revealed that He, and He alone, would fulfill the requirements and suffer the penalties of the covenant when He put Abraham to sleep and alone passed between the severed animals (Gen. 15:12–17). (We read this passage several times and can't find anything about God agreeing to "suffer the penalties of the covenant." We are beginning to suspect the author is making things up to suit his odd doctrines.)

But God also called Abraham to holiness: “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1). Paul captures the two sides of the benefits of the covenant of grace:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:8–10)

God clearly takes the initiative and saves sinners through the gift of faith, and their salvation does not in any way hinge on their good works. The obedience and suffering of Jesus are the sole foundation of salvation in the covenant of grace. (No. Absolutely not. The author will not and can not produce a single Scripture that states we are saved either by His obedience or His suffering. It just isn't there.)

At the same time, however, God also prepares good works in advance so that saved sinners should walk in them. In other words, in the covenant of works, Adam is supposed to secure eternal life by his own obedience. (Sigh. This is simply not found in the Bible.)

In the covenant of grace, Christ obtains eternal life for His people through His obedience and suffering. (Repeating his false and undocumented assertion.)

We do not produce good works to be saved. Rather, we produce good works because we are saved. Paul makes this clear when he writes: “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom. 7:6, emphasis added). Our freedom from the law (No, It's our freedom from the condemnation that comes from the Law.)

comes from our justification by faith in Christ, which enables us to live out our sanctification and perform the good works prepared for us.

As with the covenants of redemption (Sigh. Yet another theologian with too much time on his hands making up things...)

and works, love ultimately lies at the heart of the covenant of grace. If we take a cue from Deuteronomy, love lies at the heart of Israel’s covenantal charter: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:4–5). John never invokes the word covenant in his epistles, (Perhaps nothing is mentioned because it might not be what the Bible teaches?)

but he writes of the heart of the covenant of grace when he calls the church to love:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:7–11)

God pours out His love in Christ through the Spirit in the covenant of grace, and His love enables us to love Him and one another. Only through the work of the last Adam can we once again enter the presence of our triune God—yet access comes not through our obedience but by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.