The Reformed View

Reformed Theologians read redemptive history as composed structurally of two overarching covenants (the covenant of works and the covenant of grace). They view each explicit covenant made after the Fall to be a different administration of the same covenant of grace. As redemptive history progresses, God reveals more of His grand plan as if each successive covenant peeled a petal from the rose of redemption until the bud is fully revealed.

Rather than capriciously accept this Biblical structure, the Reformed theologian must have a firm grasp of the biblical case that underlies this position. In this post then, we intend to provide a synopsis and paraphrase of some of the arguments for the structural unity of the covenant of grace. The work of two articulate authorities on the subject (O. Palmer Robertson and Robert Reymond) will be used [liberally]. We will use Robertson’s basic outline found in The Christ of the Covenants ¹ for our examination.

Unity of the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic Covenants

Robertson seeks to demonstrate the unity of the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants by showing their connection in both historical experience and genealogical administration. Robertson demonstrates how each successive covenant builds upon the foundation laid by the previous covenants and sets the stage for the work of the covenants that follow. Each covenant furthers God’s eternal plan of redemption toward its consummation.

In Historical Experience

Robertson demonstrates the unity of the covenants in historical experience by pointing to the occasions of covenantal inauguration. God established His covenant with Abraham and consequently Abraham’s descendants lived under the Abrahamic covenant, which in turn lays the groundwork for future covenants. When Moses instituted the Mosaic covenant, God did not nullify the Abrahamic covenant, but rather built upon it. When Israel cried out from Egyptian bondage, “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Exodus 2:24). The deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the bringing of them into the promised land is in fulfillment of the covenant promise to Abraham respecting the possession of Canaan (Exodus 3:16, 17; Exodus 6:4-8; Psalms 105:8-12, 42-45; Psalms 106:45). The Abrahamic covenant then provides the historical impetus for the institution of the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20:1).

Robert Reymond echoes this argument in his New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith:

Once the covenant of grace had come to expression in the spiritual promises of the Abrahamic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant became salvifically definitive for all ages to come… So significant are the promises of grace in the Abrahamic covenant, found in Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 13:14-16; Genesis 15:18-21; Genesis 17:1-16; Genesis 22:16-18, that it is not an overstatement to declare these verses, from the covenantal perspective, as the most important verses in the Bible. The fact that the Bible sweeps across the thousands of years between the creation of man and Abraham in only eleven chapters, with the call of Abraham coming in Genesis 12, suggests that the information given in the first eleven chapters of the Bible was intended as preparatory “background” to the revelation of the Abrahamic covenant. Revelation subsequent to it discloses that all that God has done savingly in grace since the revelation of the Abrahamic covenant is the result and product of it. In other words, once the covenant of grace had come to expression in the salvific promises of the Abrahamic covenant - that God would be the God of Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:7), and that in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; see Rom. 4:13) - everything that God has done since to [sic] the present moment he has done in order to fulfill his covenant to Abraham (and thus his eternal plan of redemption).²

The institution of successive covenants did not therefore annul the Abrahamic covenant, but rather reinforced its necessity. As God’s plan progressed, Israel’s history after Sinai continued to center on the original promises made to the patriarchs (Exodus 32:13-14). In accord with the Mosaic covenant, the institution of the Davidic covenant maintained and re-established the previous covenants. A number of texts demonstrate this interconnectivity. God’s words to David (together with David’s response) in 2 Samuel 7 reflect on God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt (2 Samuel 7:6, 23). David’s song at the time of the ark’s entrance into Jerusalem identifies this event as a fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises to Abraham (1 Chronicles 16:15-18). It is important to understand that Israel’s national devastation after the establishment of the Davidic covenant can only be understood in terms of the Mosaic covenant (2 Kings 17:13ff). David’s remarks near the time of his death also allude to the unified nature of the covenants. Illustrating the necessity of the Mosaic covenant as a precursor to the Davidic, David tells Solomon to obey God’s laws (a reference to the Mosaic covenant) so that the Lord may carry out His promise made to David (1 Kings 2:3ff).

In Genealogical Administration

Another strong case for the unity of the covenant of grace can be found in the covenant’s genealogical administration. Each successive covenant is instituted with members from the same genealogical group - the descendants of Abraham. This genealogical principle is present in all three major covenants (Genesis 15:18; Exodus 20:56; Deuteronomy 7:9; 2 Samuel 7:12) and carries with it the idea of eternal succession (Psalm 105:8-10; Deuteronomy 7:9). The genealogical provisions even extend into the new covenant (Acts 3:25) and go beyond mere externalities (Isaiah 59:21) as the Spirit is given to new covenant believers as a fulfillment of the covenant promises to Abraham (Galatians 3:13ff).

Robertson closes his argument from genealogical administration by emphasizing two main points: 1) the grafting principle and 2) the pruning principle. Just as foreigners could be grafted into the covenant people of Israel in the Old Testament (Genesis 17:12-13), believers in the New Testament may also be grafted in (Romans 11:17, 19; Galatians 3:29). Conversely, God demonstrates His sovereignty in election by pruning those physically (though not spiritually) identified with His covenant people (Romans 9:13; Malachi 1:2-3; Genesis 25:23). Again, Reymond summarizes Robertson’s argument from the genealogical principle as it relates the church of Jesus Christ:

The church of Jesus Christ is the present-day expression of the one people of God whose roots go back to Abraham. The church of Jesus Christ in its earliest “personnel make-up” was Jewish in nature and membership (see Acts 1:8; Acts 2:5-6, 14, 22, 36), and it was only after the passage of some years that this Jewish church began to evangelize the nations (Acts 10). But even after Jewish Christians within the church became a minority because of the sheer number of Gentiles who were being converted, the New Testament makes it clear, in conformity to the details of the “new covenant” prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (see Luke 22:20; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8-13; 9:15), that, when Gentiles became Christians, they entered into the fellowship of that covenant community designated by the “new covenant” prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31 as “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”³

Unity Incorporating the New Covenant

After demonstrating the unity of the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants, Robertson addresses the new covenant. The new covenant represents the consummate fulfillment of the earlier covenants. Jeremiah’s prophecy clearly relates the new covenant to its Mosaic precursor (Jeremiah 31:31ff) and also ties in the Abrahamic covenant. (Jeremiah 32:39-41)

The prophecies of Ezekiel also connect the new covenant closely with the previous covenants. For example, Ezekiel 34:20ff relates the new covenant to the Davidic covenant. Perhaps the most demonstrative passage containing allusions to all four covenants, however, can be found in Ezekiel chapter 37:

²⁴“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd [Davidic]. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes [Mosaic]. ²⁵They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived [Abrahamic]. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever [Abrahamic and Davidic]. ²⁶I will make a covenant of peace with them [New Covenant]. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. (Ezekiel 37:24-26, ESV; annotations added)

Unity Extending to the Covenants Made with Noah and Adam

Finally, Robertson addresses the Noahic and Adamic covenants. The Noahic covenant provides the preservative framework for all the successive covenants (Genesis 8:22). Had the Noahic covenant not been established, each successive covenant would not have been possible. Similarly, the curse pronounced soon after the Fall was at the same time a commitment by God to redeem a people to Himself (Romans 16:10; cf. Genesis 3:15).

Even the Creator-creature relationship can be viewed as evidence for the unity of the covenants. Given that man is [still] created in the image of God, the covenantal relation (including the mandate to multiply and subdue the earth) that was established at creation is still in effect and provides the ground for God’s redeeming a people to Himself.

Summary

Both Robertson and Reymond provide compelling cases for the structural unity of the covenant of grace. Only select arguments were used in this summary. For a fuller representation of the relevant arguments, we encourage the reader to study the cited material. In addition to the two books cited, the reader may find the following works useful:

Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1932).
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1960).
Murray, John. The Covenant of Grace (London: Tyndale, 1953).
Robertson, O. Palmer. The Israel of God (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2000).
Vos, Geerhardus. Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1980).

1. O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1980), 27-52.↩
2. Robert ReymondA New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 512-513. Emphasis original↩
3. Ibid., 525. Emphasis original.↩