# Geerhardus Vos on Reformed theologians and republication



## Reformed Covenanter (Oct 23, 2019)

.... the older theologians did not always clearly distinguish between the covenant of works and the Sinaitic covenant. At Sinai it was not the "bare" law that was given, but a reflection of the covenant of works revived, as it were, in the interests of the covenant of grace continued at Sinai. ...

Geerhardus Vos, _The Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology_ (Kindle Locations 412-414). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.

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## jwright82 (Nov 3, 2019)

Reformed Covenanter said:


> .... the older theologians did not always clearly distinguish between the covenant of works and the Sinaitic covenant. At Sinai it was not the "bare" law that was given, but a reflection of the covenant of works revived, as it were, in the interests of the covenant of grace continued at Sinai. ...
> 
> Geerhardus Vos, _The Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology_ (Kindle Locations 412-414). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.


So did he affirm republication or what?


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 3, 2019)

jwright82 said:


> So did he affirm republication or what?



In that particular essay, I do not think that he did. I cannot remember off the top of my head what he says about the subject in his _Reformed Dogmatics_ or in other writings. (I will try to check his RD later today if I get the time.) Still, regardless of his personal views, he had the historical honesty to admit that a form of republication was widely held by older Reformed divines.


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## Stephen L Smith (Nov 21, 2019)

Reformed Covenanter said:


> I cannot remember off the top of my head what he says about the subject in his _Reformed Dogmatics_


So I take it you remember Vos' Reformed Dogmatics on 'the top of your head' and his Biblical Theology on 'the bottom of your head'?? 


Reformed Covenanter said:


> I will try to check his RD later today if I get the time.


I would be interested if you still have the time. Did he affirm Republication here?


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 21, 2019)

Stephen L Smith said:


> I would be interested if you still have the time. Did he affirm Republication here?



In volume 3 of the _Reformed Dogmatics_, Geerhardus Vos affirms a pedagogical republication of the covenant of works in subservience to the covenant of grace:

When the covenant of works was broken, God could have rescinded this promise [of eternal life]. He was no longer bound to honor it. Nevertheless, *He allowed the promise and the condition to stand and repeatedly be published anew, especially by the proclamation of the Sinaitic law *(Lev 18:5, "The one who does them will live by them"; cf. Rom 10:5, "For Moses describes the righteousness that is by the law," etc.; Gal 3:12). *Fulfilment of this condition from man's side was no longer conceivable; thus the repetition must have had a different significance*. This significance can only be that after the fall God gave His covenant of grace, in which the same demand and promise are fulfilled by the Mediator. (132; emphases added)

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## Dachaser (Nov 22, 2019)

Reformed Covenanter said:


> .... the older theologians did not always clearly distinguish between the covenant of works and the Sinaitic covenant. At Sinai it was not the "bare" law that was given, but a reflection of the covenant of works revived, as it were, in the interests of the covenant of grace continued at Sinai. ...
> 
> Geerhardus Vos, _The Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology_ (Kindle Locations 412-414). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.


So views similar to Dr Klein was part of Reformed tradition for awhile, do he did not just invent them first?


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## RamistThomist (Nov 22, 2019)

Dachaser said:


> So views similar to Dr Klein was part of Reformed tradition for awhile, do he did not just invent them first?



Kline didn't invent the idea of a typological element republished in the Sinai Covenant. Some of Kline's other views, like Common Grace order and intrusion ethics, are radically opposed to the Reformed thought.

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## Dachaser (Nov 22, 2019)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Kline didn't invent the idea of a typological element republished in the Sinai Covenant. Some of Kline's other views, like Common Grace order and intrusion ethics, are radically opposed to the Reformed thought.


How similar was his views regarding the Mossic Covenant as say held by some Reformed Baptists?


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## RamistThomist (Nov 22, 2019)

Dachaser said:


> How similar was his views regarding the Mossic Covenant as say held by some Reformed Baptists?



I think others have answered that question for you in other threads. In any case, I am not an expert on Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology, so I don't know.


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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

Republication is not a new idea. What is meant by republication is what is important. Is a Covenant of works reinstated Administratively next to the Covenant of Grace in the Mosaic Covenant or just republished in the Covenant of Grace as law? The OPC Study Report sifts through this very good.
https://www.opc.org/GA/republication.html

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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

Dachaser said:


> How similar was his views regarding the Mossic Covenant as say held by some Reformed Baptists?


We discussed this in another Thread David. Reformed Baptist are all over the spectrum. Dr. Barcellos wrote a very good book you might enjoy reading. I read it many years ago. 

The Family Tree of Reformed Biblical Theology 

Subtitled _Geerhardus Vos and John Owen–Their Methods of and Contributions to the Articulation of Redemptive History_, this book is a comparative analysis of Vos and Owen in historical-theological context. The thesis is that Vos’ biblical-theological method should be viewed as a post-Enlightenment continuation of the pre-critical federal (i.e., covenant) theology of seventeenth-century Reformed orthodoxy.

https://www.rbap.net/our-books/the-family-tree-of-reformed-biblical-theology-by-richard-barcellos/


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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

On a side note. I am not a fan of Vos in this area. 

Here are some of my favorite authors on the subject.

https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/taken-frompract/



> *The Covenant of Works and the Mosaic Law / James Durham*
> God gave the Mosaic Covenant as an administration in the Covenant of Grace but the Israelite’s turned it into a Covenant of Works which wasn’t his intention. Therefore God rejected their sacrifices and services as not commanded. The Mosaic Covenant is not a mixed Covenant. It is an Administration of the Covenant of Grace.
> 
> Taken from
> ...



https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.c...t-and-republication-of-the-covenant-of-works/



> *Dr. Robert B. Strimple*
> I found Dr. Strimple’s thoughts on Republication of the Covenant of Works as portrayed in ‘The Law is Not of Faith’ very true. “*Here in the WCF, it is claimed,* “*one also finds the same* _*legal characterization*_ *of the Mosaic covenant even in terms of the republication of the covenant of works*…” (p. 43). And* I wrote* in the margin of my copy: “_*No, no, no!*_” That is precisely what is not found in the Confession!” RBS
> 
> I find it strange that David Van Drunen is the Robert B. Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Westminster Seminary California, Dr. R. Scott Clark is the Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary California, J. V. Fesko is Acedemic Dean, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary California, and Bryan Estelle is Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary California. It is strange that these men have taken up a position that is not confessional especially since one of Dr. Clark’s books is claiming the Recovery of Confessionalism.
> ...



Samuel Rutherford
*The Covenant of Life chapter XI by Samuel Rutherford*


> *The Covenant of Life chapter XI by Samuel Rutherford*
> 
> *Samuel Rutherford *
> was a very prominent Scottish member of the Westminster Assembly, which sat in the 1640s. He published an extensive treatise on the covenant. It appeared in 1655, as was entitled _The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace. _In the eleventh chapter, Rutherford deals with several abberant views on the Mosaic covenant. First he deals with the Amyraldian view (espoused first by John Cameron, and later by Bolton), which argues that the Mosaic covenant is not a covenant of works or a covenant of grace, but rather a third “subservient” covenant. This view is rejected by the Standards, as well as the _Formula Consensus Helvetica_. Second, he deals with those who make the Mosaic covenant a covenant of works, completely different from the covenant of grace. This is the view of all Lutherans, as well as a very small minority of Reformed theologians. It is also rejected by the Standards (WCF 19:1-2, LC 101, etc, but we will deal with that issue elsewhere). Finally, he deals with the Arminian view. It is similar to the Amyraldian view, in that it also argues for three covenants entirely distinct in substance.
> ...


*Anthony Burgess*

*Anthony Burgess’s Vindication of the Law and the Covenants *



> *Anthony Burgess*
> 
> *Anthony Burgess’s Vindication of the Law and the Covenants *(1647). Burgess was a prominent member of the Westminster Assembly. These lectures were internationally hailed as a solid defense of consensus Calvinism over against the more extreme views of the Calvinistic antinomians of the period, as well as those of the Papists, Socinians, and Arminians.
> 
> ...



Robert Shaw
*An exposition of the confession of faith of the Westminster Assembly of divines*
Chapter 19


> Robert Shaw states, Adam was created under this Law in a natural form but then was brought under it in the form of a Covenant.
> 
> Section I.–God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it.
> Exposition
> ...


John Ball
Treatise on the Covenants



> Under this Covenant, the natural seed of Abraham bore the face of the Church and state, and God had promised abundance of temporals, and of spiritual a scantling; But all under the outward administration of the Covenant, were not in like manner partakers of the blessings promised in Covenant. For some had their part in temporal blessings only, and the outward ordinances; others were partakers of the spiritual blessings promised. But whatever good thing any of them enjoyed either temporal or spiritual, it was conferred upon them freely according to the Covenant of Grace, and not for the dignity of their works. It is true, the promise is conditional, if they obey, they shall reap the good things of the Land: but obedience was not a causal condition, why they should inherit the Land…So that herein there appears no intexture of the Covenant of works with the Covenant of Grace, nor any moderation of the Law to the strength and power of nature for the obtaining of outward blessings. But rather that God out of his abundant goodness is pleased freely to confer outward blessings promised in the Covenant upon some that did not cleave to him unfainedly, that he might make good his promise unto the spiritual seed, which by word and oath he had confirmed unto the Fathers.
> 
> (John Ball, A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace [1645], 142).


https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.c...apter-19-the-law-and-the-covenant-of-works-2/
https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/skirting-the-issue/


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## pressing_on (Nov 22, 2019)

It's best to read Vos's primary texts quietly and alone and come up with your own thoughts on the matter, not relying on people's viewpoints (which can be helpful as a third-level means of understanding).

'Tis a great advantage that the best thinkers of this faith were able to write meaningfully to most readers who are teachable.


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## pressing_on (Nov 22, 2019)

It has been a great privilege to be around to finally get Bavinck and Vos translated, see what they really said...


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## Romans922 (Nov 22, 2019)

Kent, do you interact with anyone or just like repeating yourself over and over again?


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## pressing_on (Nov 22, 2019)

I believe in the patience of the God in Romans 9:22.


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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

pressing_on said:


> It has been a great privilege to be around to finally get Bavinck and Vos translated, see what they really said...


I agree. Along with other great Dutch guys. 

_*Drs. J van Gunderen and W. H. Velema*_
*Concise Reformed Dogmatics*


> *The Covenant of Grace, The Sinaitic and the New*
> _*Drs. J van Gunderen and W. H. Velema*_
> *Concise Reformed Dogmatics pp. 548-550 P&R 2008*
> 
> ...




Bavinck on the Covenant of Grace

Why would anyone want to read my thoughts when they could read Herman Bavinck? Enjoy this tidbit. It is very, very, very good.

*In the Covenant of Grace*



> > The universal reality of misery evokes in all people a need for deliverance, a deliverance from above. Pagans who construe misery as basically physical know neither the essential character of sin nor the deliverance of grace. Scripture, however, sees our misery as sin, as an ethical violation of communion with God, who alone can restore it. This requires grace, which in biblical revelation assumes the form of a covenant.
> >
> > This covenant begins immediately after the fall as evidenced by Adam and Eve’s shame in their nakedness, a sign of lost innocence. Guilt and shame reveal both God’s wrath and his grace, but the latter is shown especially when God seeks out Adam and Eve and interrogates them. In his punishment on the serpent and on humanity, God’s mercy triumphs over judgment as he annuls the covenant made with evil and puts enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Now the path of glory must pass through suffering for man and woman. In the promise of Genesis 3, we find the gospel in a nutshell and, in principle, the entire history of the human race.
> >
> > ...



Bavinck on Law and Gospel



> *520.* The first and primary means of grace is the Word of God. Lutheran and Reformed agree with each other here. Nevertheless, the latter do not discuss the Word of God under the heading of the means of grace, since in their dogmatics they have usually treated it by this time in a separate chapter [reference to Calvin, _Institutes_ 2.7-9, and others], or also concerning the law in connection with the covenant of works, and concerning the Gospel in connection with the covenant of grace [reference to Marck,_Med. Theol._ and ‘many others’].
> 
> This peculiar method of treatment does not warrant the claim that the Reformed did not acknowledge the Word of God as means of grace, for they repeatedly declare the very opposite [reference to BC 24, HC qu. 65). But one may indeed conclude from this fact that for the Reformed, the Word of God possessed a far richer meaning than that it served as means of grace only in the narrower sense of the word. The Word of God is to be distinguished from the sacrament in part by the fact that the latter serves to strengthen faith and thus has a role only within the church. But the Word of God, both as law and as Gospel, is revelation of the will of God, is the promulgation of the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, addresses all people and every creature, and has a universal meaning. The sacrament can be administered only by a lawfully called minister in the gathering of believers, but the Word of God has an existence and a place beyond that gathering, and performs there too its manifold functions. As means of grace in the proper sense alongside the sacrament, the Word of God is discussed insofar as it is preached openly by the teacher; all the emphasis falls on the Word _preached_ in God’s name and by virtue of His commission. But as a rule, people will likely have been in contact with that Word in the home, at school, by means of conversation and reading material, long before they hear it openly proclaimed in the church. So the public administration of the Word hardly contains all the power proceeding from the Word; it serves also to bring about faith in those who do not yet have it, but still more to strengthen faith among believers in their gathering. In a Christian society the Word of God reaches people in various ways, from various quarters, and it reaches a person from the time of infancy. Yes, God brings that Word often to the hearts of children in the internal calling already before consciousness is awakened, in order to regenerate and to sanctify them, even as God writes the work of the law in the heart of each person from the very beginning of his existence. Therefore we must distinguish between the Word of God and Scripture. Not in the sense that the Word of God is merely to be found in Scripture and Scripture itself is not the Word of God; but in this other sense, that the Word of God most frequently, even in most instances, does not reach us as Scripture, in the form of the Scripture, but in such a way that it is taken up from the Scripture into the consciousness of the church, from there in turn radiating outward to the various people, to accomplish its working, in the form of admonition and address, nurture and instruction, book and writing, tract and summons. And God always stands behind that Word; He is the one who makes it move in those various forms to people and thus calls them to conversion and life. In Scripture, then, the expression “word of God” is never identical to Scripture, even though Scripture may without a doubt be called God’s Word. A few passages come to mind where the expression “word of God” is applied to a part of Holy Scripture, for example, to the written law. But for the rest, the phrase “word of God” when used in Scripture is never the same as the Scripture, something that is impossible, after all, since at that point Scripture was not yet finished. The phrase “word of God” has various meanings in Scripture, and can refer to the power of God whereby He creates and upholds, or His revelation to the prophets, or the content of revelation, or the Gospel proclaimed by the apostles. Nevertheless, it is always a word of God, which means: never simply a sound, but a power, no mere information but also an accomplishment of His will, Isa. 55:11. By the word God creates and upholds the world, Gen. 1:3, Ps. 33:6, 148:5, Isa. 48:13, Rom. 4:17, 2 Cor. 4:6, Heb. 1:3, 11:3, Jesus quiets the sea, Mk. 4:38, heals the sick, Mt. 8:16, casts out demons, 9:6, raised the dead, Luke 7:14, 8:54, John 5:25,28; 11:43, etc. By the word He also works in the moral and spiritual arenas.
> 
> ...


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## Dachaser (Nov 22, 2019)

PuritanCovenanter said:


> We discussed this in another Thread David. Reformed Baptist are all over the spectrum. Dr. Barcellos wrote a very good book you might enjoy reading. I read it many years ago.
> 
> The Family Tree of Reformed Biblical Theology
> 
> ...


Seens to be disagreement over if COG was in OT, and in just how really new the NC was.


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## arapahoepark (Nov 22, 2019)

PuritanCovenanter said:


> On a side note. I am not a fan of Vos in this area.
> 
> Here are some of my favorite authors on the subject.
> 
> ...


You should put your posts here in my thread for convenience.


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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

arapahoepark said:


> You should put your posts here in my thread for convenience.


Okay...


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## PuritanCovenanter (Nov 22, 2019)

Daniel,

I did a blog on Vos in 2014 you may get something from. The last three paragraphs of the blog are quotes from Michael Lynch's Blog saying, "Vos’s understanding of the Mosaic covenant is in line with confessional Reformed theology when he argues that the Mosaic administration and the law in particular, is grounded in the covenant of grace. The Mosaic economy is not a republication of the covenant of works where Israel merited the blessings or merited the continuation of the blessings."

https://rpcnacovenanter.wordpress.c...-vos-thoughts-concerning-the-mosaic-covenant/



> Just some thoughts I am untangling in relationship to a blog Nick Batzig wrote on the Feeding on Christ blog.
> 
> *Geerhardus Vos on the Mosaic Covenant and the Covenant of Grace*
> 
> ...


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## Romans922 (Nov 22, 2019)

pressing_on said:


> I believe in the patience of the God in Romans 9:22.



what are you being patient about?


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