I want to ask icon and Austin a question.
I am attempting to grasp the idea of this covenant of redemption. Please tell me if this is correct.
The “Covenant of Redemption” is primarily an agreement within the Godhead to have a special people that will worship God in Spirit and in truth
This covenant was made within the Godhead before creation. It has been accomplished, thus far, through a series of covenants with mankind and will come to fruition at the resurrection and establishment of the heavenly kingdom
Is that a good summary? If not, please explain how I got it wrong.
Peace to you
Since
@Iconoclast seems to have been prevented from posting at the present time, perhaps I may try to answer your question.
You are quite correct that the Covenant of Redemption (variously called the Covenant of Grace or the Everlasting Covenant) was made before creation among the Persons of the Trinity.. Foreseeing the Fall of Man they decided to save out of the wreckage a vast number of sinners. The Father chose them and gave them to the Son to redeem; the Son redeemed them by taking flesh, living the life of complete obedience to the Father's will that Adam had failed to live and by satisfying Divine justice by paying the penalty in full for the sins of the elect. The Spirit works in the hearts of the redeemed bringing them to Christ and sealing them until the Last Day.
The 'covenants of promise' (Ephesians 2:12) are those with Noah, Abraham and David. Here is A.W. Pink on the subject:
‘God made covenants with Noah, Abraham, David; but were they, as fallen creatures able to enter into covenant with their august and holy Maker? Were they able to stand for themselves, or to be sureties for others? The very question answers itself. What, for instance, could Noah possibly do which would ensure that the earth should never be destroyed again by a flood? These subordinate covenants were nothing more or less than the Lord’s making manifest, in an especial and public manner, the grand covenant: making known something of its glorious contents, confirming their own personal interest in it, and assuring them that Christ, the great covenant Head, should be of themselves and spring from their seed.
‘This is what accounts for that singular expression which occurs so frequently in Scripture: “Behold, I establish My covenant with you and your seed after you” (Gen 9:9 ). Yet there follows no mention of any conditions, or work to be done by them: only a promise of unconditional blessings. And why? Because the “conditions” were to be fulfilled and the “work” was to be done by Christ, and nothing remained but to bestow the blessings upon His people. So when David says, “He hath made with me an everlasting covenant” (2Sam 23:5 )
he simply means, God had admitted him into an interest in the everlasting covenant and made him partaker of its privileges. Hence it is that when the apostle Paul refers to the various covenants which God had made with men in Old Testament times, he styles them not “covenants of stipulations” but “covenants of promise”‘
It may be thought that there is also a covenant of promise with Adam in Genesis 3:15 Although the words are addressed to the serpent, the promise is to Adam.
The New Covenant fulfils all the other covenants. It is the implementation of the covenant of grace, its outworking in time. Christ has redeemed the people that God gave to Him in the covenant of redemption (John 6:39; 17:6). He has acted as mediator between God and men (1Tim 2:5-6) and now He calls them to Himself (John 6:37). The New Covenant is also the realization of the covenants of promise. The promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham and David pointed to Christ and are fulfilled in Him (cf. Luke 2:72). It is also the replacement for the Sinaitic or Mosaic Covenant (Hebrews 8:13; 10:9). That ‘old’ covenant fades away with the coming of the new (2Cor 3:7-8).
The important point to note about the New Covenant is that it is in Christ’s blood (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20). Unlike the old covenant, the New cannot fail (Romans 8:3-4; Hebrews 10:1-4). Christ has offered the one perfect acceptable sacrifice for sins, has gone through the heavens, opening a new and living way for us to come to God through Him (Mark 15:38; Hebrews 10:20).
