Was God's dealings with Adam a Covenant?

[WrittenFromUtopia]

Was God\'s dealings with Adam a Covenant?

I believe it was, for several reasons, but I want to open this up for discussion.


Some of my reasons for thinking so are:

- All of the conditions of a covenant are in place; there is the sovereign King, the subserviant recipient of the covenant, the obligations and stipulations, and the blessings and curses.

- Paul, in Romans, deals with the elect's status under Christ as their head in parallel with all of mankind's status under Adam as their head; Federal ("covenant" in latin) headship is a covenantal concept.

- Hosea 6:6-7 states: "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me."

- Those who object "Adam = man" have many problems, as (1) ISH is a more regular Hebrew word for man (as ISHAH is the word for woman, meaning "from man"; Cf. Gen 2), (2) Adam WAS a man, so this verse applies to him if it is a generic reference to "mankind", (3) There is implied here some covenant that all men have broken.



[Edited on 7-28-2005 by WrittenFromUtopia]

 

[WrittenFromUtopia]

And by "discussion," I meant with actual words ...

 

[WrittenFromUtopia]

Originally posted by joshua
Sometimes...on Thursdays?

 

[Peter]

Yes.

Parties contracted: God and all mankind with Adam as their representative Gen 2:16-17; Rom 5; 1 Cor 15.

Condition: Perfect obedience (with the tree of knowledge a test of pure obedience)

Promise: Eternal life in communion with God

Galatians 3:12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Romans 10:5. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Penalty: Lost communion with God, his wrath and curse, all the miseries of this life, death itself and the pains of hell forever.

Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die

Galatians 3:10: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ezekial 18:4: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

 

[Scott]

As you mention, Hosea 6:7 expressly identifies God's relation with Adam as a covenant: "Like Adam, they have broken the covenant"” they were unfaithful to me there." I am not sure why people would not take this at face value.

[Edited on 7-29-2005 by Scott]

 

[toddpedlar]

It seems to me the most convincing passage is from Romans chapter 5 - we see clearly the identification between Christ and the elect in the covenant of grace... as such, the comparison between Christ and his people, and Adam and his is quite conclusive for me. Further, the statements concerning our having "sinned in Adam" are clearly indicative of a covenantal tie... for how can we have sinned in him, bear guilt for HIS sin, if we are not covenantally linked? (certainly there could, in principle, be other reasons - but the language about Adam's sin and ours is very covenantal).

Todd

 

[Arch2k]

Absolutely there was a covenant with Adam.

Hos 6:7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

O. Palmer Robertson deals with this verse and all possiblities of it's interpretation in The Christ of the Covenants.

If it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck...

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

It is a duck!

COW!

 

[biblelighthouse]

Originally posted by puritancovenanter
It is a duck!

COW!

Make up your mind! Which is it? a duck? or a COW?

:bigsmile:

 

[WrittenFromUtopia]

 

[WrittenFromUtopia]

Who's the fraidy-cat that voted "no" but didn't explain why???

 

[SmokingFlax]

I've been trying to get my mind around this whole covenant idea for some time now and, while I'm cautiously inclined to
believe that there was a covenant with Adam, I found it interesting that Calvin was not persuaded that Hosea 6:7 necessarily applied to Adam and "vigorously rejects" this view...according to Peter Golding in his Covenant Theology (p.112).

Maybe I should start a new post on this topic (???).

 

[WrittenFromUtopia]

Yes, but Adam is still a man.

 

[Wannabee]

I said, "NOT!"

The reasons have been hashed out here


The Phrase "covenant of works" isn't in the Bible