The Covenant Of Life Opened

With keen insight, Samuel Rutherford unfolds the manner in which God save sinners seen through the three theological and biblically centered covenants found in the Bible: the Covenant of Life, the Covenant of Grace, and the Covenant of Redemption. --from publisher description.

How does God save sinners? This fundamental question is of the highest importance for every human being that has ever lived. The answer is given in the Bible – God is a covenant keeping God who saves sinners through the work of Jesus Christ – the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace. With keen insight, Samuel Rutherford unfolds the manner in which God save sinners seen through the three theological and biblically centered covenants found in the Bible: the Covenant of Life, the Covenant of Grace, and the Covenant of Redemption. This work is one of the most significant of Rutherford’s treatments of the biblical covenants, containing some of Rutherford’s most mature thoughts. This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.

A Comprehensive Exploration of the Biblical Covenants This book forms an overview of the biblical teaching on covenant as well as the practical significance of covenant for the Christian life. A host of 26 scholars shows how covenant is not only clearly taught from Scripture, but also that it lays the foundation for other key doctrines of salvation. The contributors, who engage variously in biblical, systematic, and historical theology, present covenant theology not as a theological abstract imposed on the Bible but as a doctrine that is organically presented throughout the biblical narrative. As students, pastors, and church leaders come to see the centrality of covenant to the Christian faith, the more the church will be strengthened with faith in the covenant-keeping God and encouraged in their understanding of the joy of covenant life.

The doctrine of "the covenant of works" arose to prominence in the late sixteenth century and quickly became a regular feature in Reformed thought. Theologians believed that when God first created man he made a covenant with him: all Adam had to do was obey God's command to not eat from the tree of knowledge and obey God's command to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth. The reward for Adam's obedience was profound: eternal life for him and his offspring. The consequences of his disobedience were dire: God would visit death upon Adam and his descendants. In the covenant of works, Adam was not merely an individual but served as a public person, the federal head of the human race. The Covenant of Works explores the origins of the doctrine of God's covenant with Adam and traces it back to the inter-testamental period, through the patristic and middle ages, and to the Reformation. The doctrine has an ancient pedigree and was not solely advocated by Reformed theologians. The book traces the doctrine's development in the seventeenth century and its reception in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Fesko explores the reasons why the doctrine came to be rejected by some, even in the Reformed tradition, arguing that interpretive methods influenced by Enlightenment thought caused theologians to question the doctrine's scriptural legitimacy.

The Life I Now Live recounts the life and ministry of J. Gresham Machen, the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary (1929), the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1936), and the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (1933). This book takes you on a journey back to the early twentieth century when historic, Evangelical Christianity was met with intense opposition by the Theological Liberals known as Modernists. The Presbyterian Church (USA) in the North split over the "Fundamentalist-Modernist divide," and the leading institutions of the day did the same, including Princeton Theological Seminary. Many key leaders in the Protestant Church theologically criticized the person and redeeming work of Jesus Christ and the Bible, which is the inerrant, inspired, and authoritative word of God. J. Gresham Machen led the Evangelical Church amidst much turmoil, confusion, and deconstruction with absolute integrity and a steadfast spirit. Though he was well known and beloved within the Evangelical Church in his own day, the story of how he defended the historic Christian Faith has been largely forgotten a century later. The Life I Now Live explores Machen's defense of the gospel, his teaching and preaching ministry, and his evangelistic zeal. It is also written in commemoration of his classic work Christianity and Liberalism (1923). But it is so much more than just a biography! This book encourages "ordinary" Christians to see themselves as those who can indeed defend the Truth in today's age of Postliberalism (Postmodernism), unbiblical Gender Ideology, Critical Race Theory, and Deconstructionism. The Evangelical Church is now in a moment of crisis in which we must choose today whom we will serve. Will you serve the Lord God? And if so, how will you defend the Faith in today's culture? Read this book to find out how!