The Covenant
What is the covenant?
Most would answer by speaking of a contract or an agreement. They would say that God’s covenant with man is of the same sort as a human covenant, such as that between Isaac and Abimelech (Gen. 21:27-32), with various duties, promises and penalties.
Such a covenant is made by two parties, depends to some extent on each party and can be broken by either party. Adam, it is said, was the original “covenant-making party” with God, but now that Adam has fallen, Christ has replaced him.
But God’s covenant with men is not such a covenant. Man can never be a party with the living God in making a covenant of that sort. Because God is GOD and man is a creature, owing his very existence to God, there are no duties man can assume by way of a “special agreement” beyond those duties he is already obliged to perform simply as God’s creature.
Nor can man ever merit anything with God in such a covenant by his own works or by fulfilling certain “conditions.” For when he has done “all” that is required of him, he is still “an unprofitable servant” (Luke 17:10).
Certainly man could not, as some teach, “merit eternal life” in the covenant. Eternal life comes only through Him who is “the Lord from heaven,” our Lord Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:47-48).
Scripture teaches, then, that the covenant is not an “agreement,” but a sovereignly established bond or relationship between God and His people in Christ. This is clear from the often repeated words of Scripture by which God reveals His covenant: “I will be thy God and ye shall be my people” (cf. Gen. 17:8; Ex. 6:7; II Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3).
These words, found in slightly different forms, function as a covenant “formula” throughout Scripture. They show that a particular passage is speaking of the covenant and remind us that the covenant is a relationship between God and His people.
Other passages also describe such a relationship between God and His people. Consider, for example, Genesis 5:22-24, 6:9, 18:17-19, Psalm 25:14, James 2:23 and I John 1:3.
This relationship is sovereignly established by God. He makes and guarantees it. In no sense does it depend on man as a second party, but is wholly the work of God. The covenant, therefore, is a covenant of grace. Rev. Ron Hanko
Forgiveness and the Judgment Day
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isa. 43:25).
“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14).
The two texts already quoted are examples of others submitted by a reader of the News. Isaiah 44:22 and Micah 7:19 were cited to show that God forgives all our sins, while Matthew 12:36 and Romans 14:12 were mentioned in support of the truth, taught throughout Scripture, that all men must give an account of their deeds in the judgment day.
The question is obvious: How can our sins be “forgotten” and “blotted out,” and yet we must give an account of them in the judgment day? It is an important question. Many have lived in great fear of that day, recoiling at the thought that all their sins will be publicly exposed and judgment passed upon them. Some have even denied that the righteous will be judged at all.
Yet such will be the case. Scripture is clear, as the passages already mentioned show. First, it must be established that the sins of God’s people are indeed forgiven. They are objectively forgiven in the cross of Jesus Christ. He gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin, so that the penalty of sin was completely removed. When Christ finished His work, all the sins of all God’s people, throughout all history, were fully paid for. The sacrifice of Christ is perfect. It is a marvellous truth: all my sins—past, present and future—were paid for by my Christ on Calvary.
Furthermore, the child of God who confesses his sins and flees to the cross has the assurance that he is forgiven, that his sins are no more and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is his. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). This gives the believer confidence, so that he may say, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Ps. 32:1).
At the same time, Scripture teaches that everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ when He comes again on the clouds of heaven at the end of the world (II Cor. 5:10; Matt. 24:30; Rev. 1:7). On that great and awful day, every man’s sin will be revealed and everlasting judgment pronounced (Eccl. 12:14; Rom. 2:16; Rev. 20:11-15).
How can this be?
The final judgment is not the first time God judges a man’s deeds. At every moment of life, God judges what a man does. He judges not only in heaven, but also in a man’s conscience, so that every man knows whether God approves or condemns his actions.
God also judges at death, for then a man goes immediately to heaven or hell, though without the body. He judges again in the resurrection preceding the final judgment, for the wicked are raised with bodies fitted for hell and the righteous with bodies fitted for heaven.
Thus judgment has already been pronounced before the final day. What, then, is the purpose of that day? It is what has been called theodicy: the day in which God will be publicly justified in all that He has done, especially in the eternal punishment of the wicked and the everlasting blessedness of the righteous.
That the judgment is already determined is evident from passages such as Matthew 25:31-46, where the sheep and the goats are already distinguished, and Revelation 19:11-21, where Christ comes in judgment with His saints, the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean (14).
Why, then, are the sins of all men revealed? The sins of the wicked are revealed to show that their condemnation is just, so that God is justified. But the revelation of the sins of the righteous serves a different purpose. Objectively, their sins are revealed to show that they are perfectly covered by the blood of Christ, and to make manifest the greatness of His one perfect sacrifice. Subjectively, their sins are revealed so that they may know them more fully than now, seeing their true horror as sins against God. At the same time, this deeper knowledge will serve to show for all eternity that salvation is wholly of grace. Nothing we have done has saved us. All is of Christ and by the grace of God. The riches of God’s grace will be seen against the background of our sin, and in this God will be fully glorified. Christ will be exalted as the only Saviour, in whom are revealed all the riches of God’s everlasting love and mercy.
Therefore, although all our sins will be revealed in that day, we need not fear. They will be revealed as covered in the blood of Christ, and only to show the greatness of the grace by which we are saved. Then it will be seen even more clearly that we are sinners saved by grace. John speaks of this love of God when he says, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (I John 4:17-18).
Clinging to the cross, we need never fear, for everlasting bliss is ours through Christ. Prof. Herman Hanko
Does the Bible Teach Eternal Security?
A reader has asked us to comment on the doctrine of “eternal security,” the doctrine sometimes defined as “once saved always saved.” We appreciate the question since it is often asked and deserves careful consideration.
First, we should note that the doctrine has other names. In the five points of Calvinism it is called “perseverance of the saints.” Closely related is the name preferred by some, “the preservation of saints,” emphasizing the sovereignty of God.
We have no objection to the name “eternal security” as such. The name simply emphasizes the comfort believers have from this doctrine—that their salvation is secure throughout this life and into eternity.
There are those, however, who think that eternal security means “once saved, always saved, no matter how a person lives.” Some even speak of something called a “carnal Christian”—one who has made some sort of profession but who shows none of the fruits of the Spirit and is not interested in holiness. (This class of “Christians” has been invented, we believe, to justify the many false professions received by those who accept a mere show of hands, going to the front of a meeting, or recitation of the sinner’s prayer as proof of salvation.)
For this reason we prefer the name “perseverance of the saints.” It emphasizes that only saints (i.e., those who are holy) persevere, and that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). That name also teaches, then, the important biblical truth that perseverance is in the way of holiness. It also teaches that God’s people have a responsibility to persevere, that is, to continue in holiness.
Scripture clearly teaches that those who are saved can never lose their salvation—that once saved, they are always saved. There are a host of passages that teach this, emphasizing God’s preserving grace as the reason for perseverance (cf. Ps. 37:23-24, 28; Isa. 45:17; Jer. 32:40; John 6:39; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:35-39; I Cor. 1:7-9; II Cor. 4:8-9; Phil. 1:6; II Tim. 2:19; 4:18; Heb. 7:25; 10:14; I Pet. 1:23).
But there are also just as many passages that emphasize the responsibility that every believer has to persevere and to be holy (cf. Gen. 18:19; Ps. 119:33; Phil. 2:12-13; Heb. 10:35-39; I Pet. 1:13-16; I John 5:18). We would mention in this connection especially I John 3:2-3. The apostle John first speaks of the hope of believers, that they shall see and be like Christ when He comes. Then he adds: “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
To speak of the responsibility of believers at this point is not a denial of grace, but rather a way of magnifying grace. The point is that God’s grace that brings salvation is ONE. The same grace that brings forgiveness also brings holiness and obedience and eternal glory in the way of holiness. That is why Paul can say in Romans 6:1-2 that it is impossible that those who are dead to sin can live any longer therein. The one grace of God will not allow it. Amazing grace, is it not? Rev. Ron Hanko
