Chapter 1: What does the covenant of creation mean for humanity?
When God made a covenant with Adam, it included you and me because Adam represented the entire human race.
What that means is that all human beings who descend from Adam participate in the Adamic covenant. We are by nature, as the children of Adam, necessarily involved in a covenant relationship with God.
But what about people outside the church? There are countless people and religious groups who don't believe in the God of the Bible. Does that mean that they are not in covenant with God? Or is there a common covenant that includes atheists, agnostics, and all non-Christians? Well, that's what we'll find out today.
Chapter 2: How does the Adamic covenant include all human beings?
Welcome to Renewing Your Mind. And this week we're featuring R.C. Sproul's series, The Promise Keeper, The God of the Covenants. Don't forget that you can own the entire 14 message series and the companion book, The Promises of God, when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. Well, here's Dr. Sproul on the creation covenant.
Today I want to focus our attention on the first covenant that God makes with mankind. And actually, when we look at that very first covenant, it is known by different names and for different reasons. Sometimes that first covenant is referred to simply as the Adamic covenant. For obvious reasons, it was made with Adam.
And the second way in which the first covenant is described is that it's often called the creation covenant. Now before I mention the third designation, I want to talk a little bit about these two designations. Obviously, we call that first covenant Adamic because Adam is related to God in it, and the term Adam means man in the generic sense, mankind or humanity, and we know
particularly from our studies of the New Testament, but also can be gleaned from the Old Testament. But when God made this covenant with Adam, it was not a covenant simply between God and a particular historical individual, but Adam was representing the whole of humanity.
Now that's very important for us, particularly later on in our understanding of the history of redemption, because in the role that Adam played initially, he failed as our representative. And so when Christ comes into the world, one of the responsibilities the Father gives to Him is to be the new Adam. And you see the contrast mentioned many times in the New Testament.
Through the first Adam's disobedience, death comes into the world. and through the new Adam or the second Adam's obedience, life comes into the world. So the New Testament makes much of the contrast between the original Adam and Christ as the second Adam because in both cases, both in the original Adam and in Christ, they functioned and worked not as private individuals but as representatives.
Secondly, because Adam represents the entire human race, in the covenant that God makes with him, again it's not with an isolated individual, but it's with the whole of mankind. And what that means is that all human beings who descend from Adam participate in the Adamic covenant. We are by nature as the children of Adam necessarily involved in a covenant relationship with God.
That's a point that is often overlooked and obscured. People say, well, I'm not Jewish or I'm not Christian, therefore I'm in no covenant relationship with God. They can say, I don't even believe in God, so there's no way I can be in a covenant relationship with God. But wait a minute. What the Old Testament is saying here is that you are in a covenant relationship with God even if you deny it.
You can't escape this covenantal relationship that was forged between God and you in Adam. Again, this representative concept of Adam is referred to by Paul in Romans where he talks about in Adam, we all sinned in Adam even though we weren't there. And that raises the whole specter and the mystery that attends the question of original sin and our relationship to the Fall.
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Chapter 3: What implications does Adam's failure have for the human race?
We've heard that loud and clear today from R.C. Sproul on this Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. All this week on Renewing Your Mind, you're hearing a portion of R.C. Sproul's series, The Promise Keeper, The God of the Covenants. In the complete 14-message series, Dr. Sproul helps us understand what covenants are, why God made them with mankind, and how they have shaped redemptive history.
These are foundational concepts of the Christian faith, so I encourage you to continue your own study. The full series and its study guide are available as our way of saying thank you for your donation today in support of Renewing Your Mind, the daily discipleship podcast of Ligonier Ministries. You can give your gift when you call us at 800-435-4343 or at renewingyourmind.org.
And in addition to the series and study guide, we'll send you a copy of the companion book by Dr. Sproul. It's called The Promises of God. So gain access to the series and study guide and a copy of the book when you donate now at renewingyourmind.org or when you use the link in the podcast show notes. Renewing Your Mind has listeners from all around the world.
Why not leave a comment on today's video on our official Renewing Your Mind YouTube channel and let me know what country you're listening from. And if you happen to live outside of the US and Canada, you can still show your support and gain access to all 14 messages from this series when you donate at renewingyourmind.org slash global. Thank you.
Tomorrow, Dr. Sproul will continue teaching on God's covenant with Adam, and whether after the fall, we're still creatures made in the image of God. That'll be Thursday, here on Renewing Your Mind.
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