The biblical concepts that are often summarised by the terms The Covenant of Works and The Covenant of Grace, represent two theological layers that run throughout redemptive history.
Both express contrary principles (works and grace), and we are rightly conditioned to believe that salvation is only by grace, yet we can never forget that both are directly concerned with soteriology.
The Covenant of Grace presents the only way of salvation for sinful humanity, but the Covenant of Works maintains the perfect standard of righteousness that is still required in order for that salvation to be provided.
Concerning this dynamic it’s been well said that it was a covenant of works for Jesus, so that it can be a covenant of grace for us.
With this in mind, when covenant theologians bump into the conditional nature of the Mosaic Covenant, it isn’t to be understood as a gate that prevents access to God’s grace, it isn’t a pathway that leads to pelagianism, it isn’t a redemptive obstacle that needs to be avoided, it isn’t an inconvenient antithesis that needs to be flattened out, and it isn’t even a works principle that needs to be limited to a typological level. It unashamedly does, however, proclaim the necessary works principle that needs to be performed in order for the gracious way of salvation to be provided to God’s people. In a word, the Mosaic Covenant is a republication of The Covenant of Works. It republishes the requirement of perfect obedience that was given in the garden, and the second Adam must be successful precisely where the first Adam failed.
Scripture announces this astonishing moment in redemptive history by declaring,
“But in the fullness time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law”
– Galatians 4:4
In New Zealand, we like to celebrate Sir Edmund Hillary as the first man to climb Mt Everest. Many have since done the same. But in the church, and rising to another level of magnitude, we glory in our Lord Jesus, who conquered the insurmountable summit of Mt Sinai, a feat never to be equalled in the history of humanity.
Here, we are left speechless. Here, we lower our faces to the dust. Here, we bow our heads in worship, and are utterly lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Seen from this vantage point, the law is nothing but a glorious podium that lifts up and displays our Lord Jesus as our champion, perfect, preeminent, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and to be viewed by his people as our only saviour, who performed all righteousness, obeyed every precept, and provided the works necessary to merit our salvation!
Among his people,
He will be named “The LORD Our Righteousness”.
– Jeremiah 23:6
Dispensational Federalism 