The first covenant revealed in Scripture (though not expressly stated) is the ‘covenant of redemption.’ Its parties were the distinct persons of the triune God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; its subject was human salvation. The covenant of redemption was executed in eternity and revealed in time through Scripture.
The covenant of redemption is the eternal agreement between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father makes the Son the head and Redeemer of the elect, whom the Father gave Him. The Son voluntarily serves as the unconditional surety of the elect, and the Holy Spirit effectuates the works of the covenant as the instrumentality of the divine will.
Without expressly stating such, the Word of God often represents the elements of the covenant of redemption by articulating its essential elements (i.e., sent by the Father, according to the Father’s will, God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, the Father who sent Him, Jesus as surety, Jesus’s sacrificial death, to cleanse believers’ sins, etc.). Scripture proves its existence as a real covenant (Ps. 40:7, 8; John 17:4, 18; Luke 2:49; Gal. 4:4, 5; Heb. 10:9, 10; 1 John 4:9, 10).
The phrase ‘covenant of redemption’ appears nowhere in the Bible, nor does the term ‘Trinity,’ for that matter. Nevertheless, the concept of both appears throughout Scripture. This covenant formed in eternity is referred to, for example, in Psalm 2:7-9 which states, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
SCRIPTURAL PROOF
Evidence of the eternal divine plan of redemption is found in Isaiah 53:10-12.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Ephesians 1:3-14 describes the roles each person of the Trinity assumed to bring about the divine plan of salvation before the foundation of creation.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guaranteed of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus tells us that the Father sent Him (10:40; Mark 9:37; Luke 9:48, 10:16; John 5:23, 24, 30, 37, 6:39, 7:16, 18, 28, 33, 8: 16, 18, 26, 28, 29, 9:4, 12:45, 49, 13:20, 16:5). Jesus says that the Father sent Him to do the Father’s will (John 6:38, 16:28).
Scripture teaches that the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16, 11:13; John 1:33, 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7, 20:22; Acts 2:33, 5:32; 2 Cor. 5:5; Gal. 3:5; Eph. 1:17; 1 John 1:14). Jesus describes what the Father has given Him, namely, “all things” (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 3:35; 6:39, 13:3; 17:7); “all authority” (Matt. 28:18; John 17:2); “a kingdom” (Luke 22:29); “authority to execute judgment” (John 5:27); “works to accomplish” (John 5:36); “all the elect”[1] (John 10:29, 17:6, 9, 12, 22, 24, 18:39); “the cup” (John 18:11, 6:37); “life” (John 5:26); and He tells us that He “lost none that He gave me” (John 18:9).
Finally, Scripture reveals that the eternal covenant existed before creation (Ps. 2:7-9; Matt. 13:35, 25:34; John 17:24; Eph. 1:4, 2:10; Heb. 4:3, 9:26;1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8, 17:8). This eternal covenant is described in John 6:38-40.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
THE COVENANT CONFIRMED
Scripture teaches that there was indeed a covenant. When God gave works for Christ to perform with a promise of reward upon completion of the works, a covenant existed. There were parties to an agreement, a promise by God, and a condition for Christ to fulfill. The Holy Spirit was included in this covenant as the instrumentality in completing the works (e.g., regeneration).
Just as God established a covenant with Adam (i.e., the covenant of works), so did He establish a covenant with Christ (the ‘second Adam’) and the Holy Spirit. Adam was the head of the human race, and Christ was the head of the children of God. The apostle Paul writes about God’s relationship with fallen human beings and His administration of the plan of redemption.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:12-21).
Scripture explains that the covenant of redemption was an agreement among three persons of the godhead in eternity before the foundation of the world set forth by the godhead to redeem the elect humans. Each person of the godhead agreed to perform roles in the plan of salvation. These roles were different but equally significant. The apostle Paul wrote, “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints… this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26, 27).
Christ came to fulfill the will of God as unconditional surety for His chosen ones. Jesus summarized His work of the covenant of redemption in the High Priestly Prayer (John 17:1-26). He announced the completion of the works He was sent to do when He said, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4).
THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION vs. THE COVENANT OF GRACE[2]
Many commentators consider these two covenants to be one. They are closely related, but they are easily distinguished from each other:
- The covenant of redemption is the eternal prototype of the covenant of grace, which is temporal in nature.
- The covenant of redemption is an agreement among the triune godhead, while the covenant of grace is a compact between God and the elect.
- The covenant of redemption is the foundation of the covenant of grace.
- The covenant of redemption provides the means for the covenant of grace.
[1] The elect – sometimes called the chosen of God. Berkhof (see Berkhof, 104) has described the doctrine of election as “that eternal act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients of special grace and of eternal salvation.” God chooses certain people, but not all people, before creation, whom He will regenerate and convert to believe in Jesus Christ, by which they will receive eternal life.
[2] Bibliographic note: see also Berkhof, Systematic Theology; Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol II.
