Marrow Man
Drunk with Powder
In this article (linked from Monergism.com), Lee Irons makes the following statement:
My question has to do with this statement: "The divines believed this was legitimate exegetically because they held, as did the majority of Reformed theologians of their day, that the Mosaic covenant included a republication of the pre-fall covenant of works." Who were some examples of "the majority of Reformed theologians" who help to republican during the 1640s? Also, I am not seeing this in his citations from the WCF, as these pertain to the covenant of works with Adam and his posterity, not to republication at Sinai. What am I missing?
Note: These threads of republication have a tendency to spiral out of control. Please control yourself so that posts will not have to be deleted and the thread will not need to be closed.
Although by no means exhaustive, here is a sampling of some of the evidence that
nomos in Paul means the Mosaic covenant of works.
First, there is Paul’s quotation of Lev 18:5 in Gal 3:12 and Rom 10:5, where he
sets the “Do this and live” principle in contrast with the principle of salvation by faith
apart from works. Note that these proof texts, which in their original context refer to the Mosaic economy, were cited by the Westminster divines in support of the doctrine of the Adamic covenant of works (WCF VII:2; XIX:1; WLC # 20, 30, 92, 93; WSC # 12, 40). The divines believed this was legitimate exegetically because they held, as did the majority of Reformed theologians of their day, that the Mosaic covenant included a
republication of the pre-fall covenant of works. Since the works-principle operated only
on the theocratic, typological level of Israel’s retention of the land as a picture of heaven, it did not detract one iota from the underlying unity of the covenant of grace and the reality of salvation by faith in Christ alone, apart from works, in every epoch of
redemptive history after the fall (Rom. 1:1-2; 3:21; 4:1-25; 10:6-8; Gal. 3:6-9, 21-22; Heb. 4:2; 11:39-40).
My question has to do with this statement: "The divines believed this was legitimate exegetically because they held, as did the majority of Reformed theologians of their day, that the Mosaic covenant included a republication of the pre-fall covenant of works." Who were some examples of "the majority of Reformed theologians" who help to republican during the 1640s? Also, I am not seeing this in his citations from the WCF, as these pertain to the covenant of works with Adam and his posterity, not to republication at Sinai. What am I missing?
Note: These threads of republication have a tendency to spiral out of control. Please control yourself so that posts will not have to be deleted and the thread will not need to be closed.