A Critique of John Colquhoun's The Law and The Gospel (Pt.8)

Section 2: The Law as given to Adam under the Form of the Covenant of Works?

Moving on from the correction of the presupposition that the Ten Commandments are the moral law, let's address some other errors of Covenant Theology's view of the law under the old form and covenant (Heb.6:1-3). Therefore, I'm not going to spend a lot of time addressing the beginning portion of the following statement, but I do want to quote the whole thing in context to address how they conclude what the law is according to the weakness of our human frailty. John writes, "Eternal life, according to the covenant, will still follow upon perfect, personal, and continual obedience. It still continues to be true 'that the man who does those things shall live by them.' But since no such thing as perfect obedience is to be found now among any of the sons of men, no man can have title to life, (according to the promise) of that covenant. Thus, the law (has become weak) not by any change in itself but because men have not yielded perfect obedience to it."

Now, let's pay careful attention to what he is teaching. Is it true that no man can have a title to life "according to that covenant" when it is written that love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom.13:8-10; James 2:7-13; Gal.5:13-14)? And that Gentiles, who do not have the law, are given life to those who do the things in the law while living outside of that covenant (Rom.2:11-16; 1Jn.5:16-17)? Therefore, again, by what standard of life is given to those who do the law but are not under that covenant of law? It's not speaking of eternal life, is it? Therefore, was it ever intended to give "eternal life" by doing those things of the law since it was a covenant in correlation to (living in the land) associated with the promise (Ezk.18:4-32)? We also see that even under that covenant, it was never the perfection of law keeping since there was always a call to repent. How much more for the Gentiles who never had the law (Jon.4:11; Jn.10:34-36)?

It never teaches that the law was "made" weak because of human weakness as an after-fact, but that the law had been weak from the beginning (Rom.6:19-21), and yet the law is still seen (by God) as "perfect" to fulfill its purpose (Ps.19:7-6; 1Cor.15:55-57; Rom.7:13-14, 24). So, in what way was the law weak (from the beginning) but in such a manner that its purpose never provided "eternal" life? It was perfect for ministering death to the body of sins and our corruption through the first condemnation (Rom.8:3-4; 6:5-6; 7:1-6; Gal.3:21-25), wasn't it? So then, if perfect obedience to the law was never the means of eternal life, by what means did believers under the old covenant receive eternal life? Did the law nullify the promises of the Seed that would save them from their sins (Gal.3:29-4:7; Jn.1:12-14)? Of course not!! Therefore, eternal life had been and will always be through the character and nature of the Son of God, not through the character and nature that the law reveals in us as sinners (Matt.5:48; Col.1:15-23; Rom.3:9-26; Heb.7:15-19).    

What life, then, does the natural man receive by obeying the natural law? He receives natural life and continues to receive the benefits of living in the land by mercy when he is owed death for violation of the eternal law (Ezk.18:4-32; Gal.3:10-14; Heb.13:8; Eph.6:1), which is what his natural worship ransomed him from according to the covenant of the promised land (Ex.13:11-16, 18-20). But Gentiles didn't pay dues to this covenant of mercy (Rom.2:11-16), so how do they receive life when they don't have to pay this ransom (to that covenant), or "did" they (1Jn.5:16-17; Rom.2:22-24; 1Cor.10:20; Gen.15:16; Rev.15:1; Gen.8:20-22; 9:9-17; Isa.43:3-4; Ps.49:5-13; Pr.13:8; 21:18; Hos.13:14; Matt.20:28; 1Tim.2:6; Rom.14:1-9, 15; 13:6-7)?

So then, I do agree with Covenant Theology on certain levels of the continuity of truth, for John writes: "Last, in the law as a covenant of works, there is moreover a penal sanction, and express threatening of death: spiritual, temporal, and eternal" (pg.24). However, I disregard the covenant in terms of works earning the eternal reward of the penal sanction (Rom.6:23; 8:3-4). Gentiles who did not have the law will be judged on what they know concerning life (in the body) outside of the spiritual covenant (Lk.12:47-48), not on what they don't know (Rom.2:13-14), concerning the law itself (Rom.2:15-16), but the Jews are under a heavier yoke (Acts 15:10), having been given the law concerning life in the land and life in the eternal fellowship of God (Rom.3:1-2; 8:10-11). The sins of the Gentiles still lead to death (1Jn.5:16-17), but their self-righteousness (as a law unto themselves) preserves their life (in the body of death) by the ransom of God's mercy (Matt.22:15-22; 6:31-34; ). But the law only promises death to them if they cannot continue in it (Gal.3:10; 5:2-4). Therefore, the law was never to serve life in the resurrection body but to preserve life in the body of our condemnation (Rom.7:10, 13-14, 24).

Therefore, the "do and live" is not to be understood as an eternal reward with life in the fellowship of God but a ransom of preservation, for the Jews demonstrate this perfectly as they receive life in the natural body by mercy but have no fellowship with God in their keeping of the natural law while being found under the curse of the covenant (Jn.8:17-59), for they do not have total control and headship of the glorious and promised land according to the terms of the covenant (Dt.28), for those terms can only be fulfilled through Christ (Matt.5:17-20). Also, it is a false presupposition to conclude that it is by the works of the law that the whole race of Adam is damned (pg.25). The reason the whole race of Adam is damned is that they are born outside of the covenant by being born under Adam's sin. God made no covenant of eternal life to those born in Adam through the "works" of the law.

Therefore, they are damned by being born by Adam's free choice (i.e., the work of the law), whereby he was made responsible for keeping the garden by the knowledge of the two trees that fed either life or death to the partakers. Therefore, Adam was created under grace, not as a slave of works to maintain his life in the fellowship of God. Adam was a natural-born son who sinned and carried illegitimate children into the world in rebellion of God's sovereign grace (Heb.12:8), choosing to be an enemy of God. Therefore, in Adam's rebellion, all are made enemies of God who are raised with the nature to be their own gods (Rom.5:10; Col.1:21), judging what is good and evil as a law unto themselves (Rom.1:18-25), passed down through the conscience of their fathers (Ps.51:5; Jn.8:44), which is why a covenant was made with Abraham (Gal.3:21), through which the Mosaic law was established (Rom.5:20; Gal.3:19), to give Abraham, as a nation, the wisdom to judge between good and evil (Jn.4:11; Jn.10:35; Heb.4:12; 5:12-14).

Adam wasn't given "eternal life" by a covenant of works, for he was free to eat or not eat of the tree of life by his own choice, but he was preserved from death by obedience to the law that "promised" death in rejection of God's Word and loving fellowship (Gen.2:8-9, 16-17). Do you hear the distinction (Gen.3:11)? Adam was not a slave to a covenant of works until he tested God's Word to live by his own word as the standard of life (Gen.3:4-5; Rom.2:14-15). This is the slavery his children were born under in his sin to test God's Word by making himself a law unto himself (Gen.3:21-24; Gen.31:42; Rom.5:14, 19). Therefore, his children were never promised life by a covenant of works but were made slaves to the mercy of their father, who made them slaves to his own word (Gen.9:24-27; 4:9-15; 1Cor.15:22; Eph.6:1; Rom.6:2-3, 16, 20-21; 7:1-4; 1Chr.21:1; 2Sam.24:1). But his word is not near as good as the Word of life given through Jesus Christ (Jn.1:17-18; 10:8; Heb.12:22-24; 1Jn.1:1-5), which was promised to him through repentance after his fall as the true image for the substitution of his life (Gen.3:15, 22; Jn.3:11-15; 1Jn.3:8; Heb.2:14).