One Covenant

Rev. Ronald Hanko

[Source: Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer on Reformed Doctrine – RFPA, 2012]

If God’s covenant is everlasting, and Scripture often says that it is, then there can be only one covenant. A temporary covenant can be replaced, but God’s covenant is not temporary.

Also, if the covenant is unbreakable, there can be but one covenant. That it is unbreakable, Scripture testifies in Judges 2:1, Psalm 89:34, Jeremiah 33:20–21, and many other passages. It is therefore also the only covenant.

If the covenant is God’s covenant, and if God’s covenant is the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity, then, too, the covenant must be one, because God is one.

We hold to one covenant over against dispensationalism, with its many covenants. And we teach one covenant over against the Baptist position, which distinguishes between the old covenant and the new, at least as far as the sign of the covenant is concerned. We also reject the older teaching that there is a separate and distinct “covenant of works” with Adam.

The many Scripture passages that speak of an everlasting covenant (singular) prove this. We refer our readers to such Scriptures as Genesis 17:7, 2 Samuel 23:5, Psalm 105:8–10, Isaiah 55:3, Ezekiel 16:60–62, and Hebrews 13:20.

But what about all the passages that speak of covenants in the plural (Rom. 9:4; Gal. 4:24; and others)? And what about the passages that speak of an old and a new covenant (Jer. 31:31–33; Heb. 8:6–13)?

Unless we are willing to accept the idea that the Bible can contradict itself (and that therefore God can contradict himself), we must reconcile these passages with those that teach one covenant. Scripture helps us do that by some of the language it uses.

Scripture speaks of God’s remembering his covenant (Lev. 26:42; Luke 1:72), giving his covenant (Num. 25:12; Acts 7:8), declaring it (Deut. 4:13), and keeping it (1 Kings 8:23). These expressions help us see that when God establishes his covenant or makes a covenant, he is not discarding the old and bringing in an entirely new covenant, but only giving a new revelation of his one covenant of grace. In that sense only are there old and new covenants, or more than one covenant.

This one covenant can never be anything but a covenant of grace. There is no other basis on which we can live in a relationship with God except his undeserved favor toward us. Even Adam, though he by his obedience could continue to enjoy a covenant relationship with God, was not in that relationship by merit.

We reject, therefore, the teaching that the covenant with Adam was a covenant of works based on merit, and not on grace. Especially we reject the idea that in that covenant Adam could have merited eternal life by his obedience.

Luke 17:10 destroys every possibility of merit when it says, “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable [unmeriting] servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” The everlasting covenant of God is all of grace.