Can this be established by exegesis? The subsequent rejection of Ham, table of nations, and the specific genealogy leading up to the call of Abraham and election of Israel seems to militate against this view.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

Militate against what? That the Noahic covenant includes more than the elect? I don't see how the sequent events militate against that at all. It clearly says the covenant was made with Noah, his sons, and all flesh.


Gen 8
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

Gen 9
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."


Doesn't sound like it is a covenant made only with the elect. For the ultimate benefit of the elect perhaps, but not just with the elect only. It includes every creature, man and beast.

__________________
Patrick
OPC
MDiv, RTS Jackson.

"He does well, that discourses of Christ; but he does infinitely better, that by experimental knowledge, feeds and lives on Christ." Thomas Brooks.

That sounds a lot like Michael Horton's book, "God of Promise."

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Erick Bohndorf, Covenant Baptist Church, KS
http://qayaqtraveler.blogspot.com/
The question for us today is, will we be like the majority of Israel and continue to look in fear at the giants in the land and urge our fellow Christians to be "realistic," or will we be like Joshua and Caleb and faithfully follow our king, trusting to fulfill every one of his promises completely?

The mere highlighting of words in the text does not count for exegesis, but only emphasis. All that this highlighting shows is that there is a cosmic character to the covenant, an organic relation between God's people and the whole creation, not that the covenant is in fact made with all creation. It is with the creation as NEW, delivered from the curse and cleansed by the flood, that this covenant is made. The subsequent history will demonstrate, not that God has established a pact whereby the wicked may prosper in the world, but that the wicked are violent trespassers in God's creation and are under His curse.

Who said God established a pact that the wicked may prosper? And who is denying that they are violent trespassers? The provisions of the covenant restrain sin and preserve life. These are benefits that all partake of, not just the elect. The wicked are certainly held accountable for abusing the good gifts of God. But they also remain under the curse of the Fall. They are still in Adam. The curse is only removed in Christ, of whom Noah and the ark were only a type.

I haven't read that yet. I'll have to look into it.

Who? The adherents of a common grace covenant made with wicked and righteous alike.

Sorry, I don't see the connection your trying to make.

I don't understand this comment. Common grace is not prosperity for the wicked. It is actually heaping up judgment on them for denying the Lord that showers them with rain (literally). Will it not be in the end that the reprobate will wish that they had not been shown common grace, because they will have received greater condemnation?

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Fredrick T. Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

Your question: "Who said God established a pact that the wicked may prosper?"

My answer: "The adherents of a common grace covenant made with wicked and righteous alike."

I agree; but I doubt what you here call "common grace" can be said in any sense to be a covenant, let alone the wonderful provision made after the renewal of the earth by flood.