What is meant by Republication of the CoW?

Sonoftheday · #1 (**permalink**) 12-14-2007, 05:54 PM

I have often heard the Mosaic Covenant called a republication of the Covenant of Works. What is meant when this term is used, or do different people use it differently?

Do people who teach this teach that Isreal was commanded to keep the mosaic covenant for salvation, or do they mean that within the mosiac covenant the perfect law of God that must be kept for salvation can be found??

Follow up question, Is every human being under the covenant of works, or was only Adam?? Some people teach that if you hypothetically lived a perfect life you could attain salvation, while others teach that even if you lived a perfect life you would go to hell because each individual is not under the CoW Adam was and he failed therefore all his descendants failed.

Daniel Ritchie · #2 (**permalink**) 12-14-2007, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonoftheday

I have often heard the Mosaic Covenant called a republication of the Covenant of Works. What is meant when this term is used, or do different people use it differently?

Do people who teach this teach that Isreal was commanded to keep the mosaic covenant for salvation, or do they mean that within the mosiac covenant the perfect law of God that must be kept for salvation can be found??

Follow up question, Is every human being under the covenant of works, or was only Adam?? Some people teach that if you hypothetically lived a perfect life you could attain salvation, while others teach that even if you lived a perfect life you would go to hell because each individual is not under the CoW Adam was and he failed therefore all his descendants failed.

Good question; I think it means that Israel was commanded to keep the law as a way of salvation; if this is true it cannot be correct as the Lord told them in the preamble to the Decalogue "I have redeemed you from the house of slavery".

ReformationArt · #3 (**permalink**) 12-14-2007, 08:08 PM

The law is referred to as a *typological* republication of the covenant of works. So you see a works principle operating with national Israel (do this and live). However at this point in history it is a servant of the covenant of grace, so there is NO SALVATION BY LAW KEEPING. However as a nation, you see the Lord dealing with them based on their unfaithfulness at times (wilderness wanderings, exile, etc).

SRoper · #4 (**permalink**) 12-14-2007, 08:45 PM

There was a rather lengthy thread on this topic.

Horton, the Mosaic Covenant, and the WCF

javajedi · #5 (**permalink**) 12-14-2007, 11:28 PM

I'll take a few, brief, stabs at this.

It can't be, because, post-fall, no one can obey God w/o first being saved. It's not about their salvation. The sacrificial system was codified because the people would sin and needed that atoned for. There is no thought that they could be saved by following the Mosaic law. That was older Dispensational teaching.

As ReformationArt pointed out there are ties. But it's not regarding salvation. The punishments deal with loss of physical blessings (land, good crops, protection from enemies). Also, throughout the Law there is the appeal to the heart and to love God (to follow God inwardly, not just outwardly) - circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6).

You also have the continuity with the Abrahamic covenant (the Covenant of Grace). The whole purpose of the Exodus was God being faithful to His promises to Abraham and his descendants. So the Mosaic Covenant grows out of the Abrahamic. You can't split them up.

Hope this helps some.