Philosophical Theology

The four part drama of creation, fall, redemption and consummation is not just soteriological but eschatological and covenantal. This is to say, the whole of redemptive history is according to promise and fulfillment. Yet perhaps less familiar to many of us is that redemption in Christ has made the future now present.

With respect to promise and fulfillment, at the heart of God’s redemption is a foretaste of things to come – a spiritual reality that is enjoyed now in proportion to the extent in which it is perceived and believed. As we await the final adoption of our bodies on the last day, believers have already entered into the age to come. As enlightened believers who are born from above, the communion of saints on earth already taste of the heavenly gift, the word of God, and even the powers of the world to come as members of Christ’s body who share in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:23; Hebrews 6:4-5)

Back to the garden, a refresher on how it all began:

The first covenant God entered into with man was a covenant of works. (Hosea 6:7) Although life was promised to Adam and his posterity upon the condition of one man’s perfect and personal obedience, the terms of the covenant were nonetheless a matter of divine condescension. Adam was the recipient of unmerited favor by virtue of having been created in original righteousness, holiness and with natural religious affections. Perpetual faithfulness would have ultimately resulted for Adam and his offspring in further blessedness, perhaps even consummated communion with his Maker. Yet in God’s unsearchable wisdom, Adam fell from his original state of sinlessness according to God’s eternal and unchangeable design.

After our first parents plunged themselves and the human race into sin, misery and death, God revealed his eternal decree pertaining to the redemption of creation. In the protoevangelium God speaks into existence a deep seated enmity between two seeds, Christ and Satan. As a result of the fall and by divine fiat, the spiritual antithesis would now extend beyond the King of Kings and the prince of darkness unto their respective spiritual offspring – God’s ordained objects of divine mercy and wrath. (Genesis 3:15; 2 Corinthians 11:3; WSC 13)

Grace without the sacrifice of righteousness:

The second covenant, more commonly known as the Covenant of Grace, was established with the incarnate Son and, through eternal identification, those chosen in him. Christ, the second Adam by divine appointment, would be the chosen race’s new representative before God. It is Christ who would perfectly obey God’s law and take upon himself the curse of the covenant, even vicariously on behalf of those given to him by his Father. Accordingly, the terms of the second covenant were not discounted. There was nothing cheap about the second covenant compact. Christ would indeed earn the redemption of his people, even as life was offered to Adam beforehand. (Genesis 17:7; Galatians 3:16,29; Romans 9:8; WLC 31)

Similarities with striking differences:

Although the second covenant is called a Covenant of Grace, its gracious nature would not pertain to the second Adam but only to the recipients of his vicarious work on their behalf. The difference between the two covenants is all the more striking precisely because its righteous demands were not lessened. The incarnate Son took on the demands of the covenant of works on behalf of sinners, even in an oath of self-malediction. (Genesis 15:17)

Yet with the fall of man life alone could no longer be offered, for there were none righteous from below. Any offer of life would now have to be accompanied by an offer of deliverance from sin’s penalty and power. If life were to be offered, it would be accompanied by salvation through One who must come from above.

Not just perfect obedience but covenantal curse must be obtained by the last Adam for all he would represent as Federal Head. Accordingly, no longer through personal obedience but instead by both the passive and active obedience of another could one be restored to fellowship with God unto life everlasting. (Justification of sinners contemplates not merely imputed righteousness but pardon for sin through the life giving, sin bearing cross of Christ.)

So, unlike before, the blessed reward would now be given to those who had already earned their damnation. Furthermore, not through personal merit but through faith in another could the benefits of Christ be received. Yet even the single requirement of child like faith would be effectually granted to all the second Adam would represent by his blood.

In summary, the second covenant is all the more gracious than the covenant of works in four significant ways. 

1. It was established with sinners in Christ rather than with Adam who was upright. 

2. It was substitutionary in nature as opposed to personal. 

3. The fruition of Christ as one’s blessedness and reward would be received no longer by personal works of righteousness but by child like faith alone. 

4. Lastly, the mere requirement of faith would be effectually gifted by God the Holy Spirit.

Creation, fall, redemption and consummation:

Just as the redemption of the elect cannot be severed from the Covenant of Grace, neither can it be from the last days. The grace of covenantal redemption is eschatological in nature. In other words, redemption is with an eye toward consummation. Just as believers will one day in unison receive final adoption in their glorified bodies, the history of creation awaits its final end. (The redemptive parallel precludes full-Preterism.) The summing up of all things is in Christ. Consequently, it is only through redemption in Christ does the recreation swallow up the first creation.

Body-soul composite:

Only through an eschatological lens can suffering on the count of personal sin be viewed through an eye of hope as it sets gaze upon the ultimate deliverance from the body of death. Indeed, prior to the second coming of the Lord, for those who have departed this present mortal toil the forensic nature of justification, which lacks nothing in this regard, is accompanied by an intermediate state wherein the spirit of such just men have become perfect; yet eventually even the perfecting of the inner man will come to its complementary-completion in the resurrection of the body on the last day. (Romans 7:24-25; Romans 8:23; Hebrews 12:23)

Jews, dispensationalists and others:

The Jewish mindset was not all that different from that of many Christians. The people of God have at various times believed that the age to come would not begin without the ending of the present age. Messiah, whether through the first and only advent (Jewish mindset), or with his second coming (Christian mindset), has often been expected to put a definitive end to the present age at the time of ushering in the age to come. (Acts 1:6)

Parallel, not sequential realities:

Pauline eschatology will have no such sequence. Biblical eschatology contemplates not that the kingdom of this world would be replaced by the kingdom of Christ, but rather a coexistence of two kingdom realities until the summing up of all things in Christ. (Ephesians 2:19ff; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28)

What the Jews missed is something that too often escapes many evangelicals as well – that Christ’s kingdom is a present reality as the former things are passing away. Far from the final eschaton being placed on hold until the bodily return of Christ, there exists a present reality that one can see and enter into now, yet only through the new birth and faith. (John 3:3,5,7-8; 1 Corinthians 7:31)

Through the Christ event in general and the resurrection more particularly, the inaugurated kingdom, in which the saints on earth do dwell, awaits final consummation in the ascended and reigning Christ. The regenerate Christian lives in this world, yet through existential union with Christ in the recreation and world to come. This is how Paul’s citizenship could be simultaneously in Rome and Zion. (Acts 16:37; Philippians 3:20)

The thousand year reign:

The one and only harvest of the righteous has already begun with the resurrection of Christ. Consequently, the New Testament church age is flanked by the first fruit of Christ’s resurrection and the general resurrection of all the redeemed at his coming. Those who’ve experienced the new birth indeed share in the first resurrection. In resurrected life, all believer-priests reign with Christ in his millennial kingdom now. The Millennium began with the binding of Satan and will finally be consummated when Christ delivers the kingdom to his Father, but not before destroying every rule, authority and power! (Matthew 13:38-39; 1 Corinthians 15:23-28; Revelation 20:6)

The ascended Christ isn’t awaiting his dominion over the cosmos but rather is now reigning at the right hand of God, subduing the nations as he makes all his enemies his footstool. Indeed, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ! (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:29-36; Revelation 11:15)

Latitude, Requirements and Christian Charity:

How citizens of heaven carry out their earthly pilgrimage must be informed by the boundaries of God’s revelation. For instance, that our kingdom is not of this world does not mean that all kings need not kiss the Son or that individual Christians should not be politically informed or active. (Psalm 2:10-12)

All civil magistrates are to punish evil doers according to the general equity of God’s revealed precepts. Notwithstanding, that lesser kings must submit to King Jesus’ sovereign rule does not mean that the institutional church may meddle in the affairs of state, though extraordinary circumstances should rightly yet humbly lead her to do so, even for conscience sake should advice be solicited by civil magistrates. Such decisions must be discerned carefully, prayerfully and in all humility. (Psalm 2:10-12; John 18:36; Philippians 2:3; WCF 19:4; 31:4)

Optimism is not opposed to a realized eschatology, they are complementary:

As the church of Jesus Christ grows in number we may expect more influence to come to bear upon the reclaiming of societies and cultures, as Christ is with his church as she fulfills the commission to disciple the nations. Indeed, the gates of hell will not prevail! (Matthew 13:31-32; 16:18; 28:18ff)

Given that the Father said to his Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession,” the only question is did Christ ask. I believe he did. (Psalm 2:8; 22:27-28; Habakkuk 2:14)

A class taught on this subject.