Saturday 6 June 2009

The Spirit in Adam, the Covenant of Grace

Hey people.. I never really had a chance to vocalise my thoughts on the nature of Adam's faith, so here are some (non-detailed) bullet-points..

  • When Adam was made of dust, he was 'good' but just like the rest of creation, is still awaiting the type of New Creation perfection.. total unity of heaven and earth, rather than just the garden of Eden
  • What this means is that redemption and new creation is not a return to Eden, but is better than Eden
  • So Adam, pre-fall, is less than what we inherit post-new creation
  • Despite Adam pre-fall inheriting no sin, he was our head in whom we committed the same things (Hebrews 7 - the point on us tithing through Abraham to Melchizedek)
  • He had the covenant of grace mediated to him via Christ the Redeemer PRIOR to his fall, not after... so Christ had already been his Mediator whether or not he sinned
  • And so it was necessary that all of mankind be banished to death to gain this new life, just as the natural plantation and etc had continual 'reincarnation' of seeds new life death seeds new life death... a prophecy of our death long before Adam had even sinned
  • Every good thing in Adam's faith prior to the fall was invoked by the Spirit Who was not only indwelling, but was possibly MORE than that... it was a natural and organic type of relation to Adam (re: Abraham Kuyper on the Spirit), he was more intimate with God then than he was after the fall when he still had the Spirit, but merely as a deposit... and the Spirit thereafter finds it hard to strive long in men
  • Thus the mediation between Adam and the Father through Christ shifts from that represented by the covenant of grace in the tree of life to the covenant of works in the tree of good and evil... from Christ's mediation of the Trinitarian communion to Adam usurping the role of Christ and becoming part of the covenant of works which only Christ could have performed as part of the working Trinity
  • We were never meant to be part of the covenant of works... Adam had enjoyed Sabbath immediately after he was created; but only Jesus Christ, the Father and the Spirit could live lives of purity and holiness within this covenant of works... something which a man from earth/dust could never accomplish and never partake... but he took part in it anyway
  • Hence the necessary fall... for our greater redemption! death is a blessing in disguise, but indeed a curse of the greatest heresy if we live daily as if we were partaking in an enduring covenant of works..

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