A Biblical-Theological Review of Michael Allen's Sanctification - Part 5: Chapter Four - Covenant
Chapter 4: Covenant
Allen surveys Rudolph Otto’s
phenomenological and Mary Douglas’s cultural anthropological approaches
(91-93). He tips his hat to their potential benefits but insists we must read
Scripture as “instances and instruments of divine action--as the very word of
God” which “bears a prescriptive force and not merely a descriptive
opportunity” (93). Scripture teaches that “fellowship or communion with God is
the fundamental basis and goal” and the “canon’s central episode. Jesus is
Immanuel.” (94, 96). While fellowship is the telos of the gospel,
covenant frames that communion. Within Reformed tradition, the “covenant of
works” describes “this relational order and vocational telos of human
existence before God” (100). Consequently, James Torrance’s seven critiques of
federal theology are addressed at length (101-110). He concludes that the
covenant of works informs our understanding of the course of creaturely holiness
and sanctification in four ways: 1) Humans were created for fellowship with the
triune God; 2) God designed this communion to involve a corporate head; 3)
communion with God is bound by the commands of God; and 4) communion is based
upon humans entrusting themselves to their Creator (110-12).
Affirmation
Allen’s work with covenant as a category for reflecting on
sanctification helped me by shifting what had seemed an alien intrusion to a
central feature. Allen’s dialogue with Torrence et al. crystallized my
essential objection to the classic formulation of the “covenant of works” while
moving me closer to seeing an Edenic covenant or covenant of creation as
theologically viable.
I
resonate deeply with Allen’s articulation of faith in the relationship between
unfallen humanity and God: “The deepest calling of
the covenant of works is the summons to consistent and perfect, unceasing and
constant trust in the God who created, who promised, and who gives again and
again. … This covenant does include other commands … yet we do well to note
that the heart of its call is a matter of trust” (112).
Critique
The role and significance of love is present but muted
throughout the book. Its muting here is acute. The nature of our fellowship with
God as loving intimacy in marriage and family is noted, but its implications are
undeveloped.[1] In
Scripture, grace-inspired love is the dynamic of human holiness. It is the
center-piece of divine-human fellowship. It is a central feature of
inner-Trinitarian life and thus of divine holiness. This chapter is poorer for
its omission.
Allen uses the phrase “covenant of creation” and
“covenant of works” interchangeably. He recognizes the weakness of the standard
formulation of this covenant—that God promised Adam life on the grounds of his perfect
obedience—but sticks to traditional Reformed terminology. I find the
standard “covenant of works” construct so flawed as to be unusable.
Second,
since the tree of life was given to them for food, there was no condition that
needed to be met for their appropriation of immortality. Thus, immortality is
not a promised covenantal benefit.
Third,
what the implied covenant of creation made explicit was that the perpetuity of
life was contingent upon persistence in faith that manifests itself in loving
obedience. In this regard (faith working by love), the Edenic “covenant” is, at
least on an Arminian reading, indistinguishable from the Mosaic and the New
Covenants. The difference resides not in works vs grace as means of obtaining
life. The difference resides in how union with Christ fulfills and empowers
covenantal faithfulness. Adam and Eve’s being was upheld in Christ, but being
unfallen, they would not have been united with Him in his death, burial, and
resurrection. Perhaps it could be argued that the implied reward of persistence
in obedience for Adam would have been glorification, but the text itself gives
no warrant for this argument. That Christ obeyed perfectly, was perfected
through suffering, is now glorified, and will bring all things into subjection
to the Father via His reign in the kingdom of God fulfilled all that the first
Adam was to do.[2]
Extension
Holiness as the condition for fellowship, the context of
fellowship, and the consequence of fellowship could be addressed. Allen does
present covenant as defining the path toward human holiness. Yet, holiness is
also a prerequisite for covenantal relationship, within which the path of
holiness is trod. We cannot be in relationship with God without first being set
apart to Him. In theological terms, positional holiness grounds personal and
progressive holiness.
[1] Dennis
Kinlaw’s explorations of these metaphors in Lectures
in Old Testament Theology (Warner Press, 2010) are helpful.
[2] Thanks
to Brian Collins for pointing out that Thomas McComisky raises similar
objections in The Covenants of Promise: A Theology of
the Old Testament Covenants (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985), 218-19.
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