Natural/Supernatural in Adamic Covenant

Mark Karlberg charges that Francis Junius introduced a natural/supernatural scheme into the Reformed doctrine of the covenant of works. In Karlberg's summary, "The covenant, according to Junius, was established with our first parents by God the Father in the love of his Son. It held out the promise of supernatural life for obedience and the curse of death and separation from God for disobedience. . . . Although Adam was obliged to render complete and perfect obedience to the law of God by virtue of his debt as a creature (ex puris naturalibus), the covenantal reward of life eternal was strictly one of grace and mercy (ex pacto)."

This was, Karlberg says, the first "significant revision of Calvinistic doctrine regarding creation and God’s covenant with Adam. No longer was the covenant concept organicalled related to the order of creation. The result was a logical, if not temporal, abstraction of a natural order from a supernatural, covenantal order in creation. On this interpretation the covenantal order was perceived to be superimposed upon the natural. Junius' view of supernatural grace offered in the way of covenant was virtually equivalent to the scholastic notion of the donum superadditum."

Johannes Cloppenburg followed this same line of reasoning. Again Karlberg's summary: "Whereas God's revelation to Adam was both natural and supernatural, Adam's ability to know God and to trust him required the supernatural communication of grace. The covenantal relationship – personal communion and fellowship with God – was not natural to Adam's original state in creation, but rather rested upon a special act of condescension on God's part. Although the covenantal reward of eternal life was contingent upon Adam's compliance with the law of God, the actual granting of eternal life was itself purely a matter of God’s grace. Cloppenburg made use of the distinction between the reward based on 'strict justice' (intrinsic merit) and reward granted in the way of covenant. As image-bearer of God, Adam was a servant of the Creator; his elevation from the status of servanthood to sonship was contingent upon God's covenantal love and condescension."

This is all rather odd, since Karlberg himself, in the same paragraph where he charges Junius with an illegitimate and "speculative" and "scholastic" nature/grace understanding of the covenant, insists on "the fundamental antithesis between the order of creation (law) and the order of redemption (grace)." Elsewhere in his book, challenging John Murray's understanding of the covenant, he commends Murray for retaining "the law principle" that characterizes "the state of nature, man's natural relationship with God," though he concedes that this "dualistic conception" is "unfortunate."

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 05:37 PM

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