THROUGH ONE MAN SIN, THROUGH ONE MAN RIGHTEOUSNESS
Does the Covenant of Works Confuse the Law/G LUTHERAN
Yes.
This Reformed formulation minimizes the radical contrast between God’s right and left hands. The concept of the covenant obviously has historical origins that pertain to establishing an orderly and amicable existence in a wide range of human affairs. But theologically, the idea of covenant provides a helpful description of God’s people as well to describe their response to his initiative. Biblical scholars in the twentieth century highlighted the importance of covenant as one of the dominant leitmotivs throughout the Scriptures. It has even been identified as “the major metaphor used to describe the relation between God and Israel (the people of God).”1 Given its prominent place within the Scriptures, it is not surprising that both biblical and systematic theologians have also made use of the covenant theme in their particular disciplines. But biblical and systematic theologians often interpret “covenant” within different contexts and for different purposes. Biblical theologians highlight the uniqueness of covenant in the biblical revelation for embracing the divine as well as the human role in the drama of salvation.2 Thus, the language of covenant “depicts God in action to redeem lost sinners; they, enabled by faith, react to this undeserved gift, as they accept it and resolve to conform their lives to the will of their Creator.”3 No other Hebrew, Aramaic, [ C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 ]
b y C H A R L E S P. A R A N D
A Lutheran/Reform 2 4 M O D E R N R E F O R M AT I O N | J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 0