Apr 22
17
Baptist Catechism 15
Q. 15. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. (Gen. 2:16,17; Gal. 3:12; Rom. 5:12)
Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:4–17
“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:4–17, ESV)
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Introduction
Question and answer 15 of our catechism presents a very important doctrine. I think it is safe to say that the story of redemption that is found in the pages of Holy Scripture cannot be properly understood without the doctrine that is summarized here.
The whole story of the Bible can be told in four parts: creation, fall, redemption in Christ, and consummation. And you will notice that here in question 15 of our catechism we are still talking about how things were in the very beginning after God created man, but before man fell into sin. We are still laying foundations, therefore. And if we do not get the foundational things right, we will not be able to understand the things that come later in the story. This is why you do not show up to the movies late, or start to read in the middle of a book. If you miss the beginning, you will certainly be lost as you consider the middle and the end.
Again, the question is, What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created? When we talk about the estate (or we might say “state”) wherein man was created? We are talking about man as God made him in the beginning – man as he came from the hand of God – man in the garden – man before his fall into sin. And our catechism is asking, what special act of providence did God exercise towards man in that state of being?
We have already defined God’s providence, remember? When we speak of God’s providence we are talking about the way that God preserves and governs the things he has made. We know that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, and after he created the heavens and earth, he began to uphold and govern his creation to bring about his eternal purposes. He preserves and governs his creation in many ways, generally speaking. But here we are talking about a special act of providence. Did God do anything special in the beginning to govern man? Did he go beyond the created order of things to guide and direct man? The answer is yes!
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God Entered Into A Covenant With Man
Specifically, we confess that when God created man he entered into a covenant with him.
Genesis 1 tells the story of creation in a general way. There we learn that God made “all things of nothing, by the Word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good”(BC, 12). There we also learn about the creation of man. “God created man male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures” (BC, 13).
But Genesis 2 tells the story of creation from another vantage point. In Genesis 2 the focus is on the covenant that God made with man in the beginning. Take special notice of this: when God created man in the beginning he did not merely leave them alone on earth to live as his creatures. No, took them somewhere special and he entered into a special arrangement with them, wherein he offered them something special – that is to say, something more than what they possessed has his creatures.
As I have said, Genesis 1 tells us about creation in a general way, but Genesis 2 tells us about creation with special attention given to the covenant that God made with man in the beginning. God planted a special garden and placed the man there. And in the garden, God entered into a special arrangement with man. He gave man a special mission and set apart special trees to function in a symbolic way.
Here is the point: first God created man, and then afterward he entered into a covenant with him. This covenantal arrangement is said to be a special act of providence because it was not an original part of the natural order of things. No, the covenantal arrangement was added after creation. What was the natural relationship that excited between God and man in the very beginning? God was the Creator and man was the creature? What did man owe God as his creature? Everything! Man owed God obedience and worship. And what did God owe to manas his Creator? Nothing! Except for justice. But God did something extra. God entered into a covenant with man. God offered man something more than what he had as God’s creature.
I’ve said that God entered into a covenant with man. Genesis 2 tells the story of that. But what is a covenant? A covenant is simply an agreement between two or more parties. Concerning the covenants that God has made with man, we may say that covenants are “declarations of [God’s] sovereign pleasure concerning the benefits he will bestow on [man], the communion they will have with him, and the way and means by which this will be enjoyed by them.” The word covenant is not used in Genesis 2, but the substance of a covenant is certainly
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God Entered Into A Covenant Of Life With Man
So, what were the benefits that God offered to man in the beginning?
The benefits were symbolized by the tree of life. Life was offered to Adam and to his posterity should he keep the terms of the covenant that God made with him. This might sound strange to some. Some might reason, but wasn’t Adam already alive? And wasn’t he alive in paradise with a right relationship with God? Well, yes he was. But eternal life was the thing offered to Adam – eternal life in the blessed presence of God was offered to him – glory was offered to him. The life that was offered to Adam through the covenant that God transacted with him in the beginning was the same as the life that will be ours in the new heavens and earth when Christ our Savior comes again to make all things new. That is the life that the tree of life signified – life eternal.
This is why our catechism refers to the covenant that God made with Adam as the Covenant of Life. This covenant goes by many names. It is sometimes called the Covenant of Creation because it was made in the beginning after God created the heavens and the earth. It is also called the Adamic Covenant because the covenant was transacted with Adam as the federal head. And many refer to it as the Covenant of Works, because this is how the blessing of this covenant would be received – through Adam’s work, or obedience. All of these names for the covenant emphaisize different aspects of it, but our catechism calls it the Covenant of Life so that we might remember what the promised reward of keeping this covenant was.
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Upon Condition Of Perfect Obedience
Notice that our catechism answers the question, how would Adam come to receive the promised blessing of this covenant with the words, “upon condition of perfect obedience…” What was the promised reward? Eternal life. And how would that promised reward be obtained? Through perfect obedience.
Adam was to worship and serve the lord perfectly. He was to expand the garden temple and protect it from all evil. He was to faithful work to expand the garden and to fill the earth with his offspriiong, and he was to rest and worship one day in seven. In brief, Adam was to faithfully serve as God’s prophet, priest, and king during this time of testing. And having passed the test, he would have been permitted to eat of the tree of life to enter into life eternal. The condition of the covenant of life was perfect and perpetual obedience.
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Forbidding Him To Eat Of The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil
And what was forbidden? In this covenant, Adam was forbidden “to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”
I’ve already said that these two trees – the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – were sacramental. By that, I mean that there was nothing special about these trees until God set them apart as special. The tree of life was not magical, nor was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil poisonous. They were just trees. But God set them apart to signify something. In brief, the tree of life signified Adam’s obedience and the reward that would come as a result of it, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signified Adam’s rebellion and the cure that would come as a result of that.
What is meant by the name, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Well, by eating of that tree Adam would be claiming to decide for himself what is good and evil instead of submitting himself to the word of God. Furthermore, by eating from this tree Adam would come to know good and evil in another way. Through obedience, Adam would know what is good experientially, and what is evil through abstinence. But through disobedience, Adam would come to know what is evil experientially.
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Upon Pain Of Death
And lastly, what was the guaranteed curse for breaking the terms of this covenant? The pain of death. And certainly, on the day that Adam ate of this forbidden tree, he and Eve passed from the state of perfection and into the state of sin and death. They, and all of the posterity, came under God’s curse, wee cast out of Eden, and barred from the tree of life which had been offered to them. If they were to enter into life now, then it would have to be by the grace of God and by the work of another who was sinless and greater than them.
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Conclusion
I think you can see why I have said, if we do not understand this doctrine then it will be difficult for us to understand the rest of the story that is told in the pages of Holy Scripture. If the Bible tells the story of creation, fall, redemption in Christ, and consummation, then we must know about this covenant. Stated differently, if we do not know about this covenant made with Adam in the beginning, then we will not be able to understand the fall, redemption in Christ, or the consummation of the kingdom of God in the new heavens and earth which he will bring about.
Q. 15. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. (Gen. 2:16,17; Gal. 3:12; Rom. 5:12)
