Etienne,
Here's a Q&A from the Westminster Larger Catechism:
The Westminster Standards do not directly discuss the Covenant of Redemption, a term for the inter-Trinitarian plan of salvation, but a couplet like the one above reveals the background of the thought. (You can find a more explicit statement in the Sum of Saving Knowledge, which in the Scottish Presbyterian Standards is often printed with the constitutional documents).
The Covenant of Grace is that eternal covenant when viewed from the standpoint of the earth, when looking upwards as it were, viewed through the lens of Christ. It is the portion of the Covenant of Redemption that intersects with our experience. We experience the Covenant of Redemption only through our Mediator, only through our Head, to whom we are united by faith in the Covenant of Grace.
Because the Covenant of Grace has so much to do directly with humanity, since it is (partly) administered in the realm of lesser things, and even fallen and broken things, we consider it under two modes of administration--earthly and imperfect administration, carried out by fallible men, based on things essentially visible; and a heavenly and perfect administration, executed by the Spirit, Son and Father, based on the secret things of God. See Dt.29:29. There is a "coming down" administration, and a "looking up" administration.
Full participants in the Covenant of Grace are partakers of both modes of administration. They receive the fullness of divine grace, by faith union with Christ--blessings that are the lawful property (by blessed donation) of the elect. These persons also, when they are properly related to the church in the world, worthily receive his benefits that are associated with the promise of God, by which he comes to us in our weakness through the means of grace instituted by himself. The church is his institution, organized in the main for the well-being of his dispersed flock, while they are on their pilgrimage.
But there are also those who infiltrate the church in its progress. These fall in with the membership, often even adopting the mannerisms, language and thoughts of the membership, all the while keeping a strange heart to the things of God. These partake unworthily of the promises, ministered to them through the means of grace. They are engaged in a kind of theft--not of eternal goods (which they can never taste), but of the service that has been laid out for the benefit of those who have seats at the table. Hence, there is a great terror in store for the one who is seated there, found not to have a wedding garment, Mt.22:12-13. The wonder is that there is a seat there for the one who only hoped to get the crumbs that fell from the master's table, Mt.15:27-28. See also Mt.8:11.
This is what we mean, then, that the CoG contains unbelievers. These may have many outward indications of belonging to the CoG, while they do not have a divine acknowledgement. The "down-coming" administration does not know them or recognize them. These are like the one in Pilgrim's Progress who makes his pass to the door of the Celestial City, only to find he has no citizenship. And there is a door for him hard by the gates of paradise that commits him to his rightful master in hell.
Here's a Q&A from the Westminster Larger Catechism:
Question 31: With whom was the covenant of grace made?
Answer: The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
Answer: The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
The Westminster Standards do not directly discuss the Covenant of Redemption, a term for the inter-Trinitarian plan of salvation, but a couplet like the one above reveals the background of the thought. (You can find a more explicit statement in the Sum of Saving Knowledge, which in the Scottish Presbyterian Standards is often printed with the constitutional documents).
The Covenant of Grace is that eternal covenant when viewed from the standpoint of the earth, when looking upwards as it were, viewed through the lens of Christ. It is the portion of the Covenant of Redemption that intersects with our experience. We experience the Covenant of Redemption only through our Mediator, only through our Head, to whom we are united by faith in the Covenant of Grace.
Because the Covenant of Grace has so much to do directly with humanity, since it is (partly) administered in the realm of lesser things, and even fallen and broken things, we consider it under two modes of administration--earthly and imperfect administration, carried out by fallible men, based on things essentially visible; and a heavenly and perfect administration, executed by the Spirit, Son and Father, based on the secret things of God. See Dt.29:29. There is a "coming down" administration, and a "looking up" administration.
Full participants in the Covenant of Grace are partakers of both modes of administration. They receive the fullness of divine grace, by faith union with Christ--blessings that are the lawful property (by blessed donation) of the elect. These persons also, when they are properly related to the church in the world, worthily receive his benefits that are associated with the promise of God, by which he comes to us in our weakness through the means of grace instituted by himself. The church is his institution, organized in the main for the well-being of his dispersed flock, while they are on their pilgrimage.
But there are also those who infiltrate the church in its progress. These fall in with the membership, often even adopting the mannerisms, language and thoughts of the membership, all the while keeping a strange heart to the things of God. These partake unworthily of the promises, ministered to them through the means of grace. They are engaged in a kind of theft--not of eternal goods (which they can never taste), but of the service that has been laid out for the benefit of those who have seats at the table. Hence, there is a great terror in store for the one who is seated there, found not to have a wedding garment, Mt.22:12-13. The wonder is that there is a seat there for the one who only hoped to get the crumbs that fell from the master's table, Mt.15:27-28. See also Mt.8:11.
This is what we mean, then, that the CoG contains unbelievers. These may have many outward indications of belonging to the CoG, while they do not have a divine acknowledgement. The "down-coming" administration does not know them or recognize them. These are like the one in Pilgrim's Progress who makes his pass to the door of the Celestial City, only to find he has no citizenship. And there is a door for him hard by the gates of paradise that commits him to his rightful master in hell.