Polanus1561
Puritan Board Junior
1. Pure obedience? (Republication?)
2. An upright life, albeit one that presupposes sin because of the sacrificial system.
To restate the question, were all Israelites doomed to be Deut 28 covenant-breakers because of innate sin?
Or could Israel (or individual Israelites) avoided being covenant-breakers, if they had lived an upright Job-like life, one that looked forward to a Mediator and thus obeyed the sacrificial system (because though they were upright, they still sinned).
Witsius says, "We are not to think that God, by these words, required Israel to perform prefect obedience in all parts and degrees, as the condition of the covenant. For in that case the whole of this proposal would be nothing but an intimation of an inevitable curse; seeing it is absolutely impossible for sinful man to give such a perfect observance, even though he is regenerated and sanctified.
...
The man indeed is still bound to perfect holiness, so far that the least deviation is a sin: but yet supposing a covenant of grace, among the benefits of which is remission of sins, God stipulates with his people in this manner; if, with sincerity of heart, you keep my precepts, and recover from your falls by renewed repentance, I will upon that give you an evidence that I am your God. Here therefore he requires a sincere, though not, in every respect, a perfect observance of his commands."
I believe that the turning point for Israel that caused the covenantal curses to come is the desecration of the first commandment with the Baal worship and the desecration of the sacrificial system (Isa. 1). That along with the blindness to their sins.
2. An upright life, albeit one that presupposes sin because of the sacrificial system.
To restate the question, were all Israelites doomed to be Deut 28 covenant-breakers because of innate sin?
Or could Israel (or individual Israelites) avoided being covenant-breakers, if they had lived an upright Job-like life, one that looked forward to a Mediator and thus obeyed the sacrificial system (because though they were upright, they still sinned).
Witsius says, "We are not to think that God, by these words, required Israel to perform prefect obedience in all parts and degrees, as the condition of the covenant. For in that case the whole of this proposal would be nothing but an intimation of an inevitable curse; seeing it is absolutely impossible for sinful man to give such a perfect observance, even though he is regenerated and sanctified.
...
The man indeed is still bound to perfect holiness, so far that the least deviation is a sin: but yet supposing a covenant of grace, among the benefits of which is remission of sins, God stipulates with his people in this manner; if, with sincerity of heart, you keep my precepts, and recover from your falls by renewed repentance, I will upon that give you an evidence that I am your God. Here therefore he requires a sincere, though not, in every respect, a perfect observance of his commands."
I believe that the turning point for Israel that caused the covenantal curses to come is the desecration of the first commandment with the Baal worship and the desecration of the sacrificial system (Isa. 1). That along with the blindness to their sins.
Last edited: