62 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP, VIIT.
which it threatens is answered. Hence, if any man believeth not, “the wrath of God abideth on him.” For its commands and curse depending on the necessary relation between God and man, with the righteousness of God as the supreme governor of mankind, . they must be answered and fulfilled. Wherefore it was never abro- gated formally. But as all unbelievers are still obliged by it, and unto it must stand or fall, so it is perfectly fulfilled in all believers,— not in their own persons, but in the person of their surety. “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might ~ be fulfilled in us,” Rom. viii. 3,4. But as a covenant, obliging unto personal, perfect, sinless obedience, as the condition of life, to be performed by themselves, so it ceased to be, long before the introduction of the new covenant which the apostle speaks of, that was promised “in the latter days.” But the other covenant here spoken of was not removed or taken away, until this new covenant was actually established.
3dly. The church of Israel was never absolutely under the power of that covenant as a covenant of life; for from the days of Abraham, the promise was given unto them and their seed. And the apostle proves that no law could afterwards be given, or cove- nant made, that should disannul that promise, Gal. iii, 17.4 But had they been brought under the old covenant of works, it would have disannulled the promise; for that covenant and the promise are diametrically opposite. And moreover, if they were under that covenant, they were all under the curse, and so perished eternally: * which is openly false; for it is testified of them that they pleased God by faith, and so were saved. But it is evident that the cove- nant intended was a covenant wherein the church of Israel wallted with God, until such time as this better covenant was solemnly introduced. This is plainly declared in the ensuing context, espe- cially in the close of the chapter, where, speaking of this former covenant, he says, it was “become old,” and so “ ready to disappear.” Wherefore it is not the covenant of works made with Adam that is intended, when this other is said to be a “better covenant.”
[2.] There were other federal transactions between God and the church before the giving of the law on mount Sinai. Two of them there were into which all the rest were resolved :—
Ist. The first promise, given unto our first parents immediately after the fall, This had in it the nature of a covenant, grounded on a promise of grace, and requiring obedience in all that received the promise.
Qdly. The promise given and sworn unto Abraham, which is ex- pressly called the covenant of God, and had the whole nature of a covenant in it, with a solemn outward seal appointed for its con-
VER. 6 EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. ; 63
firmation and establishment. Hereof we have treated at large on the sixth chapter.
Neither of these, nor any transaction between God and man that may be reduced unto them, as explanations, renovations, or confir- mations of them, is the “first covenant” here intended. For they are not only consistent with the “new covenant,” so as that there was no necessity to remove them out of the way for its introduc- tion, but did indeed contain in them the essence and nature of it, and so were confirmed therein. Hence the Lord Christ himself is said to be “a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,” Rom. xv. 8, As he was the mediator of the new covenant, he was so far from taking off from, or abolishing those promises, that it belonged unto his office to confirm them. Wherefore,—
[3.] The other covenant or testament here supposed, whereunto that whereof the Lord Christ was the mediator is preferred, is none other but that which God made with the people of Israel on mount Sinai. So it is expressly affirmed, verse 9: “The covenant which I made with your fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” This was that cove- nant which had all the institutions of worship annexed unto it, Heb. ix. 1-3; whereof we must treat afterwards more at large. With respect hereunto it is that the Lord Christ is said to be the “mediator of a better covenant;” that is, of another distinct from it, and more excellent.
It remains unto the exposition of the words, that we inquire what was this covenant, whereof our Lord Christ was the mediator, and what is here affirmed of it.
This can be no other in general but that which we call “the covenant of grace.” And it is so called in opposition unto that of “works,” which was made with us in Adam; for these two, grace and works, do divide the ways of our relation unto God, being dia- metrically opposite, and every way inconsistent, Rom. xi. 6. Of this covenant the Lord Christ was the mediator from the founda- tion of the world, namely, from the giving of the first promise, Rey. xiii. 8; for it was given on his interposition, and all the bene- fits of it depended on his future actual mediation. But here ariseth — the first difficulty of the context, and that in two things; for,—