Theology E Flashcards
What is a covenant?
A covenant is an agreement between persons.
The elements of a covenant consists of: Parties, obligations/stipulations, promises, oaths/vows, blessings, curses, and witnesses.
What is the Covenant of Works (Life)? Who are its parties?
What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
“When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.” (WSC 12)
The parties in the covenant were God, Adam, and his descendents.
Is there a present validity to the Covenant of Works (Life)? What is it?
Adam, as our federal head and representative, disobeyed. His sin and the subsequent effects of the Fall are passed down to his descendents. We have sinned, fallen, and reaped the consequences of disobedience in Adam.
What is the Covenant of Redemption?
Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
“God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.” (WSC 20)
“The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.” (WLC 31)
Discuss the Covenant of Grace.
- Gracious = God had no obligation to enter into covenant and his word is the insurance of its validity.
- Trinitarian = Father elects, Son justifies, Spirit applies effectually
- Eternal = cannot be broken
- Particular = only effectual for the elect, not universal in scope
- One covenant of grace with various administrations (dispensations)
How is the Covenant of Grace related to the Abrahamic Covenant?
The Abrahamic Covenant seemingly comes out of nowhere, to a nobody named Abram. Here God freely and graciously pledges himself to Abram and ensures him great blessings, to him, his descendents, and through them, the whole world. One of these descendents will be the Christ, through whom the world will be blessed as salvation is ensured for those who believe.
This covenant is a divine
administration, divine in its origin, establishment, confirmation and fulfilment.
How is the Covenant of Grace related to the Mosaic Covenant?
Though the Mosaic Covenant contains conditions for obedience, meeting these conditions will ensure the blessings of the covenant. That the Mosaic Covenant is offered by God in the first place, upon this people, is an act of grace, and an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Like the previous covenant, it is divine in origin, established, confirmed, and fulfilled by God. Christ one day becomes the ultimate fulfillment, succeeding perfectly in following its conditions, so as to ensure its blessings for all who believe.
How is the Covenant of Grace related to the Noahic Covenant?
The Noahic Covenant is wholly brought about, established, and executed by God himself. Though communicated to Noah, it is a covenant with all living things that God would never again destroy the world by flood. There are no conditions to receive this covenant. In fact, there are no requirements at all. God simply makes a decision to extend his grace to all creation in this way, and establishes the rainbow as a sign of this to all generations.
Discuss the relationship between the Old and New Covenants. Defend from Scripture.
WLC 33. Was the covenant of grace always administered after one and the same manner?
A. The covenant of grace was not always administered after the same manner, but the administrations of it under the old testament were different from those under the new.
WLC 34. How was the covenant of grace administered under the new testament?
A. The covenant of grace was administered under the old testament, by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover, and other types and ordinances, which did all forsignify Christ then to come, and were for that time sufficient to build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom then they they had full remission of sin, and eternal salvation.
WLC 35. How is the covenant of grace administered under the new testament?
A. Under the new testament, when Christ the substance was exhibited, the same covenant of grace was and still is to be administered in the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; in which grace and salvation are held forth in more fullness, evidence, and efficacy, to all nations.
- WCF 7. 6
- WLC 32, 33, 34, 35
- There is one covenant with different dispensations. Seed of the Woman. (Galatians 3:15)
- There is a distinction between the Old and New (Hebrews 8:13), and the New in this sense replaces the old.
Explain and defend (with Scripture proofs) the orthodox doctrine of the person of Christ.
(Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?)
-(WSC 21) The only redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
- *John 1:1-18 The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. God became man.
- Luke 1:35 = birth of Christ, fully man
- Colossians 2:9= fully God
- Hebrews 1:1-4 = the union of both God and man
Briefly discuss the nature of Christ, including: “Was Christ a human person?” and “Does Christ have a soul”?
(WSC 22) Christ took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin.
What is kenosis?
Kenosis is a theological term from Philippians 2:5-11 which refers to the incarnation of Christ. He is described as having “emptied himself” and taken human form. In taking on human flesh, Christ is spoken of undergoing some manner of self-limitation. The emptying has two aspects to it: taking on the likeness of sinful humanity and enduring death on the cross. Dr. Bayer underscores the humility of Christ in not exercising all the privileges of the godhead in the incarnation.
Did Christ lay aside any of His divine attributes at the incarnation?
No, Colossians 2:9 - “in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form”
Docetism
Docetism says that Christ only appeared to become a man, the suffering and other human traits were merely imaginary phenomena - not a true body and a rational soul at the incarnation.
However, John 20 mentions Thomas touching the nail prints and the wounded side of Jesus.
Arius
Christ is not the eternal son of God, rather, he is the first created being.
A great defense is John 1:1-14.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Nestorius
Says that Christ is divided into two persons, a human and divine.
However, Colossians 2:9 says:
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”.
Apollinarius
An overreaction to Arius, Apollinarius claimed that Jesus could not have a true human mind, but rather, a divine mind in a human body.
This view weakens the atonement. For Jesus to be a true substitute for humanity and truly absorb the full wrath of God for sins, he had to be completely human, and completely God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . “ (John 1:1,14).
“for in Him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form,” (Col. 2:9).
