Bavinck on the Noahic Covenant: The Covenant With Nature

Herman Bavinck is most helpful when it comes to explaining the details of the Noahic covenant. First of all, he puts it in volume III of Dogmatics, under the covenant of grace instead of volume II where he puts the covenant of works. Speaking of the covenant of grace and the post-flood administration, "we must …

The Sinaitic/Mosaic Covenant: Works or Grace? Turretin Explains…

Francis Turretin is most helpful in the sometimes heated discussion of whether the covenant God made with the Israelites on Sinai was simply the covenant of grace renewed, or simply the covenant of works republished, or something else (a third thing). Turretin first rejects the "third covenant" opinion, which the "celebrated man, John Cameron" (the …

Muller on Reformed Scholasticism

I appreciate the work of Richard Muller. Here is part of the reason why: He said, The identification of the covenant of works as a consequent doctrine [in protestant scholasticism] surely accounts for: 1) The varied terminology (covenant of works, nature, creation, innocence), associated with it 2) For its absence from some of the major Reformed theological systems …

R.L. Dabney’s (Re?)definition of the Covenant of Works

I came across a somewhat strange formulation of the covenant of works (COW), expressed by R.L Dabney in his Systematic Theology. Dabney, a 19th century southern Presbyterian theologian, generally has some very intriguing and insightful comments on various loci of systematic theology. His approach to the COW, however, seems like a bit of a departure …

On Defining Covenant

One of the factors of the current covenant conundrum that is casting an ominous fog over Reformed churches is the difference in defining "covenant."  Very recently, some such as A. Hoekema and H. Hoeksema before him have defined covenant as a redemptive relationship or salvific friendship.  In other words, these two men (and others with them) in …