Nehemiah Coxe : A Discourse of the Covenants that God made with men before the Law

created by Brandon Adams
See also the Evernote version of the outline.
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  1. Chapter 1: Covenant Relationships to God in General
    • General Introduction
      • All true religion must be sought by divine revelation
        • Mystery progressively revealed until perfectly revealed in Christ
          • Thus Christ must be central in our study of Scripture
            • Thus best interpreter of the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit speaking through the clearer revelation of the New
            • But cannot understand New without the Old
      • Coxe not addressing every detail of covenant theology - only what has not been sufficiently dealt with by others
    • God's Covenant Proposed to Men and their Response
      • God initiates & sets terms
        • thus they are called the "Lord's covenant" Ps 25:14; Is 56:4, 6, etc
      • Man restipulates
        • "It is a mutual consent of the parties in covenant that [in]states and completes a covenant relationship."
      • Yet not mutual in the way men are mutual to each other
        • Because every man depends upon God for his very being. There is nothing they have not received from Him.
        • "the most perfect of them can render nothing to him but what is due by the law of their creation"
          • "therefore none can oblige God or make him their debtor unless he condescends to oblige himself by covenant or promise" (LBCF 7.2)
    • The General Notion of a Covenant and its Inferences
      • "A declaration of his sovereign pleasure concerning the benefits he will bestow on them, the communion they will have with him, and the way and means by which this will be enjoyed by them."
        • God condescends ("not from any necessity of nature')
        • a covenant adds assurance to a promise (foundation of a special relationship)
        • God makes covenants to better the state of men
        • strengthens our love of God beyond law of creation (also increases transgression)
        • therefore we are obligated to restipulate
        • yet manner of restipulation determined by each particular covenant
          • if of works, then restipulation by obedience to law
            • thus reward is of debt according to terms of the covenant
        • if of free & sovereign grace, then restipulation by believing
          • thus reward is immediately and immanently of grace
        • glory of any covenant determined by its promises and terms
          • better promise = better covenant1
    • God has Always Dealt with Men by Way of Covenant
      • God has not kept His distance, but has condescended to come to terms with him
        • thus all worship and obedience has been accepted on covenant terms
          • once covenant broken, man cannot yield any acceptable obedience on those terms if under broken covenant
          • and thus much more without strength towards a more excellent covenant
          • "Therefore, spiritual strength and ability to please God cannot in any way be restored to them except by a new covenant interest and that new creation which is its adjunct"
    • God's Covenant Always Transacted with a Representative Head
    • General Directions to Rightly Understand Covenant Transactions
      • Our knowledge of God's covenants depend upon His revelation
        • "Our sentiments in things of this nature must be strictly governed by this rule, seeing the nature of them is such as transcends the common principles of reason or natural light."
          • "learning and strength of parts not guided by Scripture light in these inquiries can only form an ingenious error and lose a man in the labyrinth of his own imagination and uncertain guesses"
      • Covenant errors affect all our theology
      • "We must manage all our inquiries with earnest prayer to God for that Holy Spirit of light and truth, who only can lead us into all this truth and bring us to a clear acquaintance of the mind of God concerning it."
  2. Chapter 2: God's Transactions with Adam - The Importance of this Study
    • foundational - "If a man misses the right account of this, he is certainly bewildered in all further searching for that truth which most concerns him to know."
    • Man's Original State and the Law
      • God made man reasonable (Gen 1:26) and righteous (Ecc 7:29)
        • eternal law written on Adam's heart (revealed innately)
          • sum of this law delivered in ten words on Mt. Sinai
          • and more briefly by Christ: love God & neighbor (Matt 22:37-40)
          • (See Baptist Catechism questions 13, 45-47 & LCF 19.1-2)
        • God added a positive precept (not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden of Eden)
          • Adam obligated to obey because of natural law
            • "There can be no transgression of a positive precept without the violation of that eternal law that is written in his heart)
          • this law threatened death (Gen 2:17)
            • this sanction (death) belonged to both the natural and the positive law
              • "the demerit for transgressing this law [of nature] is known to man by the same light as the law itself is known to him." [cf. Rom 1:32]
                • Men today have a natural sense of right and wrong; reward and punishment
                  • therefore Adam must have in his upright state
          • and offered reward
            • "If he had fulfilled this condition, the reward would have been due to him by virtue of this compact into which God was pleased to condescend for the encouraging of man's obedience and the manifestation of his own bounty and goodness." (LBCF 7.1)
    • The Promise of a Reward Proved
      • Adam placed on trial
      • Men naturally expect a reward from God for obedience (both covenant and law of creation revealed to man together)
      • Tree of life: a sign and pledge of eternal reward
        • Rev 2:7
        • blocked from tree after the fall Gen 3:22-
        • Moses' law serves as a memorial of creation covenant, and it contained both curse and reward of life
    • The Reward and Punishment of the Law - Adam capable of a greater degree of happiness
      • reward attached to the law is "of mere sovereign bounty and goodness" (covenant) while punishment is "a debt to justice" with reference to God apart from covenant. Thus all men still deserve punishment for their continual sin, though the covenant was broken and hope of reward lost (Rom 6:23).
      • Scripture's account emphasizes the curse, though the reward would have been equally clear to Adam
    • Adam a Public Person
      • both federal and natural root of all mankind
      • Rom 5:19 (type of Christ)
    • God's Transaction with Adam a Covenant
      • positive law part of a covenant transaction elsewhere in Scripture
      • reward not possible apart from covenant
      • fall of all mankind, represented by Adam, not possible by bare law, but only covenant
        • cannot know this apart from Scripture
    • The General Nature of the Covenant with Adam
      • of works
      • of friendship
      • of rich bounty and goodness (reward)
      • no mercy
      • "He was a perfect, but mutable creature"
        • Adam had
          • posse non peccare (ability to not sin)
          • posse non mori (ability to not die)
        • Adam did not have
          • non posse peccare (inability to sin)
          • non posse mori (inability to die)
    • The Sin of our First Parents
      • transgression completed by eating of tree
        • mankind lost by breach of positive law
        • thus more conspicuous
        • "necessarily infers a violation of the eternal law of his creation" (1 John 2:16)
    • The State and Condition of Fallen Man
      • lost all hope of reward, only under wrath
      • lost friendship with God, thus happiness - depraved
      • full curse of the law in everlasting punishment of body and soul due to him
        • Romans 1:20; 2:6-16 teach eternal punishment for violation of natural law
          • Adam had this law also, therefore the death threatened for eating tree was eternal death
        • if punishment was just, it must be eternal (for it was a sin against God)
        • whole visible creation liable to destruction as an inheritance forfeited by treason
        • man utterly helpless before God without remedy
    • God's Mercy to Fallen Man
      • God foresaw the fall from eternity, but from eternity planned the redemption of fallen man
        • eternal plan was the "covenant of redemption" [cf LBCF 7.3]
          • includes the Father's promises to the Mediator
          • includes the Redeemer's "restipulatory engagements" (conditions)
      • As a result of the Covenant of Redemption, "the government of the world" put in the hands of Son of God, who prevented its utter ruin
        • Son managed all future transactions for the good of man
        • God's kindness to fallen man only possible "in a mediator"
    • A Promise of Redemption in a Treaty
      • curse of serpent = promise of man's redemption
        • this promise = the first foundation of the church (which was raised out of the Devil's kingdom; 1 John 3:8)
      • continual war between church (collective seed) and Satan (collective seed) (Genesis 4; 1 John 3:12)
      • modification of curse: eternal death delayed (for sake of elect alone)
        • work of Christ delivers from eternal death, but not suffering in this life
        • suffering in this life not the full wrath we deserve
        • suffering is sanctifying to believers, but judgment to unbelievers
          • temporal death would not exist without "a day of patience" from God
          • sacrifices instituted to teach about imputed righteousness
      • Covenant of Grace was revealed to Adam, but no formal covenant transaction with Adam
        • thus no one is saved through Adam's faith but Adam himself
    • The State and Condition of Adam's Posterity
      • all born in original sin (in fallen Adam's image) and under broken covenant
      • but still obligated to obey law of creation as reasonable creatures
      • full curse delayed/men under dispensation of mercy
        • while God sends out the gospel for the effectual salvation of the elect
      • at the close of Christ's kingdom, all mankind will be resurrected to life or death
  3. Chapter 3: God's Covenant with Noah: A New Relationship Established
    • redeemed believers are accepted in Christ and stand on terms of faith/believing, not on doing of a law
    • God's Revealed Word is Men's Rule of Faith
      • God revealed how to worship him (clean/unclean animals)
      • prophets (Enoch; prophetic names of Seth's line; Noah)
    • Enoch
      • his translation to heaven was "an eminent discovery to the rest of the believers of that age" of their inheritance
      • Enoch was 7th from Adam, signifying Sabbath rest
      • happened soon after Adam's death
      • He was known by all believers because a prophet (prophesied the flood)
        • Flood was a type of future judgments, especially destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 as prelude to final judgment
    • The General Propagation of the Church
      • generally through the line of the promised seed, but not exclusively
      • church kept themselves separate (Gen 4:26)
      • until entangled with Cain's offspring (Gen 6:26) bringing the flood
    • The Ark as a Type
      • The gospel was preached by types and dark shadows in extraordinary acts of providence
        • history of Abraham & his offspring (1 Cor 10:3-4)
      • ark = type of Christ (like Mosaic ark), or of church (saved from wrath)
        • ark built in the shape of a coffin
          • antitype = baptism (1 Peter 3:19, 20)
        • ark covered with pitch = make atonement (Hebrew word)
      • some general knowledge of this was conveyed to the minds of the faithful
        • thus Noah became an heir of the righteousness of faith by building the ark and entering into it (Heb 11:7)
    • God Establishes His Covenant with Noah
      • Gen 6:18; 9:11 (one covenant)
        • promise: preservation of Noah and all in ark
        • restipulation (requirement): believe God's promise of the coming flood and build the ark
      • Necessary for the fulfillment of the Gen 3:15 promise, thus God assures Noah he cannot prevent its accomplishment
        • this, plus the typology = covenant of eternal salvation darkly shadowed and implied under the Noahic covenant
    • The Noahic Covenant Developed
      • sacrifice offered & accepted = following covenant blessings secured (Gen 5:29)
      • graciously from God's heart (Gen 8:21; 9:8-9; Is 54:9)
      • benefits
        • fruitfulness for the replenishing the earth
        • dominion over creatures & for food
        • never flood again
      • rainbow as sign
      • Dispensation of mercy (delay of world's ruin; Gen 3:15) "now ratified by a solemn covenant"
      • foreshadowed the covenant of grace by Christ
      • covenant made with Noah's offspring
        • everyone to the end of the earth is included, regardless of their immediate parents
        • Noahic covenant only typified the new covenant, thus offspring not included in new covenant
    • Blessing and Curse to Noah's Sons
      • blessing of Shem and curse of Canaan = Abraham's offspring displacing Canaanites
      • blessing of Shem = promised seed limited to Shem
      • blessing of Japheth with Shem foreshadowed Gentile inclusion with Israel in new covenant
    • Babel and the Confusion of Tongues
      • same corruption as before the flood
      • rather than a flood, rebellion against God interrupted by confusion of languages
        • original Hebrew language preserved in Heber, grandson of Shem who receives special acknowledgment in Gen 10:21
          • thus Abraham's posterity are Hebrews
    • The Evils in the Confusion of Language
      • made "civil conversation difficult for the future" and made natural knowledge more difficult
        • virtually a kind of excommunication from the church (who retained Hebrew tongue)
        • excluded from subsequent oracles of God delivered in Hebrew (Eph 2:12)
          • door opened again at Pentecost gift of tongues
        • those born after the flood lived half as long as those before, and those born after Babel lived half as long as those before
  4. Chapter 4: The Covenant of Grace Revealed to Abraham: God Specially Honors Abraham by this Covenant
    • Same covenant of grace revealed darkly in ages before was made with Abraham personally
      • but in so doing, God gave Abraham a unique role/designation in the covenant of grace
    • Abraham's History and Apparent Incapacity
      • Shem still alive through this time
      • moral incapacity: an idolator (Josh 24:2-3; Ezk 16:3)
      • natural incapacity: Sarah was barren (Gen 11:30)
      • no impediment for God (Rom 4:17)
    • Abraham's Double Role in the Covenant
      • The father of all true believers
      • the father and root of the Israelite nation
      • two seeds were intermixed for a time
      • not "father" as an ordinary believing parent or head of a particular household
    • The Covenant of Grace Revealed to Abraham
      • Gal 3:6-9, 16, 17
    • The Timing of the Covenant and its Inferences
      • 430 years before Sinai = Gen 12:2-3 (cp Ex 12:41)
        • Covenant of Grace confirmed with Abraham in Gen 12
        • Israel's redemption in Egypt flowed from this
        • same calendar day as Israel redeemed out of Egypt and Christ died on cross
    • All Spiritual Blessings Included in the Covenant
      • "I will bless you, and you will be a blessing" = all spiritual and eternal blessings given to Abraham for himself and his spiritual offspring
    • The Covenant Confirmed in Christ
      • this covenant was made with Abraham in and through Jesus Christ (as its head) (Gal 3:16)
        • Some say Gal 3:16 is quoting Gen 17:7
          • promises made to carnal seed as typical of spiritual seed (cp John 19:36 with Ex 12:46)
        • but rather Gal 3:16 is quoting Gen 22:18 (Acts 3:25)
          • matches Gen 12:3, which Paul specified in Gal 3:8
          • refers to Christ personally, not Christ spiritually/mystically/corporately
    • Abraham a Root of Covenant Blessings and Parent to Believers
      • Abraham entered the covenant through Christ, but subsequent believers received Christ because he was promised to Abraham, thus Abraham is their father
    • The Way of Salvation by faith in Christ in this Covenant
      • justification and acceptance with God found as heirs of covenant made with Christ
        • not by natural descent from Abraham, but by Abraham's faith (Rom 4:13)
        • thus no subsequent revelation could overturn this way of salvation (Gal 3:17)
    • The Promise Given before Circumcision
      • thus no outward sign or token of the covenant of grace
      • the promise gives Abraham the seed and the blessings of that seed
      • sum of all gospel blessings comprised in this promise
        • thus no external and temporary new covenant privilege
      • believers receive blessings of the new covenant as Abraham's seed, not as equal in standing to Abraham (i.e. as a believing parent)
        • "Each is not made by this covenant the father of a blessed seed as Abraham was the father of the faithful. Neither can they claim the promise for themselves and their seed according to the substance of Abraham's covenant and as he might." (Gal 3:29)
  5. Chapter 5: The Covenant of Circumcision (I): The Promises to Abraham for his Natural Offspring
    • Covenant of Circumcision revealed by degrees in several parts
    • Abraham Called out of Ur
      • Gen 12:2 God promises spiritual blessings (previously discussed) and numerous offspring by natural manes ("I will make of you a great nation"; Num 14:12)
        • Abraham embraced these promises by faith (Heb 11:8)
    • Abraham's Journeys and Renewed Promises
      • Reveals promise of the land of Canaan (Gen 12:6-7)
      • Goes to Egypt and comes back
      • When Lot separated, God renewed promise of Canaan (Gen 13)
        • told to walk through and survey it to possess it by faith (Acts 7)
    • How the Promise of Canaan was Made Good to Abraham
      • made to first directly to Abraham, then to his seed (Gen 13:15); but he died without it
        • "to you and to your seed" Hebrew word properly translated not "and" but "that is" (1 Chron 21:12; see Ainsworth)
        • a right jus ad rem vs jus in re
        • "That the fathers embraced the promise in this sense is put beyond doubt by the express limitation of the time of its accomplishment in Genesis 15:13, 16."
      • promised to them "for ever" and "for an everlasting possession." (Gen 17:8)
        • but they have now lost it
        • word does not always meaning for eternity (Num 25:13; Psalm 24:5)
          • "No more is intended than the continuance of these for a long time"
    • The Promise Renewed and Enlarged (Gen 15)
      • Abraham's justification
        • already believed and was imputed righteous before (Gen 12); but God chose to give a more particular tribute
      • explanation and enlargement of promise to his natural offspring
        • their affliction (starting with Ishmael mocking Isaac)
        • redeemed from Egypt (fulfilled in Ex 2:24ff; Acts 7:17)
        • delayed because curse of Canaan (Ham) not yet complete
        • these promises called a covenant
    • The Seed of Abraham
      • seed and land by a gratuitous promise, covenant (before law Sinai or Gen 17 circumcision)
        • severity of subsequent law restrained by this promise
          • although they broke the Mosaic Covenant, they were not utterly cut off until Christ came
      • the use of Hagar was not a disbelieving God's promise
      • no distinction yet made between Abraham's offspring (Gen 17) nor mention of Israel's church-state
      • promises given to Abraham's natural offspring down to remote generations just as much as immediate offspring
    • The Covenant of Circumcision
      • restipulation = circumcision (Gen 17:9-11)
        • required obedience to law for covenant interest to inherit blessings
          • "form of covenant relationship in which the natural seed of Abraham was fully stated by the law of Moses, which was a covenant of works with its condition or terms, 'Do this and live.'"
    • The Promise of the New Covenant Repeated
      • New Covenant revealed in preface to Covenant of Circumcision (Gen 17:4-5)
        • Abraham made father of the faithful prior to Covenant of Circumcision, not by it
          • to remind of preeminence of covenant of grace
            • to remind it wasn't confined to Abraham's physical offspring
          • these promises to carnal offspring were typical of promises to spiritual offspring 
      • covenant of circumcision cannot convey spiritual and eternal blessings
        • just as covenant of grace cannot enright a believer to temporal and typical blessings in the land of Canaan
        • can't claim spiritual blessings for carnal offspring without claiming temporal blessing for spiritual offspring
        • "It can give no more than external and typical blessings to a typical seed."
    • The Distinction of Tribes in Israel
      • Gen 17:6-8 repetition of Gen 13:16
        • fulfilled in natural offspring of Isaac (not Ishmael because Covenant of Circumcision established with Isaac) - 12 tribes (Gen 48:19; Ez 16; Deut 33:5)
    • The Meaning of Everlasting in Relation to this Covenant
      • "everlasting" = same as "everlasting" possession above (for a long time/until the end)
        • "There is, therefore, no more reason to conclude from this term that the covenant of circumcision was directly and properly a covenant of spiritual and eternal blessings, than there is to affirm that the land of Canaan and the good things of it were a spiritual and eternal inheritance."
    • The Church-State of Israel after the Flesh
      • promise to be their God = establishment of ordinances of public worship to walk as a peculiar people in a church-state [God dwelt in the temple] 
        • not just they would be fruitful and multiply, because Ishmael was fruitful; twelve princes, made a great nation
          • same with Esau (Gen 27:39)
      • oracles of God
  6. Chapter 6: The Covenant of Circumcision (II): Two Propositions Laid Down
    • The remote seed interested as much as the immediate seed
      • keep in their generations (Gen 17:7,9,13)
      • did not depend on the faithfulness of their immediate parents
        • as seen in the Wilderness generation
      • "The children of the apostate Israelite were God's as well as those of his faithful servants" (Ez 16:20-21)
      • Account of Mattathias in 1 Maccabees 2:46
      • compare Gen 9:12
      • "everlasting possession" = passed on from generation to generation
      • The Church-State of Israel Built on this Covenant
        • Sinai covenant was "the filling up and completing of" the covenant of circumcision
          • therefore the privilege of the carnal seed rises no higher than privilege of the Jew by virtue of Sinai covenant
        • Circumcision the Door into Israel's Communion
          • obligated to obey law given to Abraham and full law of Moses (Gal 5:3)
        • New Testament says privilege of Israel after the flesh is from the covenant of circumcision (Rom 3:1)
          • Covenant of Circumcision like Levitical covenant, which was later annexed and built on
        • Levi paid tithes in Abraham = Abraham federal head of covenant of Levitical priesthood
        • Israel Brought out of Egypt by Virtue of this Covenant (Ex 2:24, 25; Deut 29:10-13; Neh 9:7-9; Ps 78 with Ps 105; Ex 6 with Gen 17:1)
          • Abrahamic covenant filled up in Sinai Covenant of peculiarity
    • From the beginning, some immediate seed excluded
      • Ishmael excluded
      • Esau excluded
        • sovereign election to covenant of circumcision is an "awe-inspiring type of his sovereignty in the later dispensation of the grace of the gospel."
    • Circumcision, a Seal of the Covenant
      • "on all, but not to all, that were circumcised" (offspring and slaves)
      • "the positive command of God and not simply covenant interest" was the rule
    • If one claims part of the covenant of circumcision, they must claim all of it
      • if one claims promise for their immediate seed, they must claim it for seed in remote generations
        • and must claim they will be a peculiar nation given the land of Canaan
          • Since no one does this, Abraham must be unique federal root
    • Appealing to covenant of circumcision for paedobaptism inconsistent
      • limit covenant interest to immediate offspring
      • exclude servants and slaves
      • include all immediate offspring, when some of Abraham's were excluded
  7. Chapter 7: The Covenant of Circumcision (III): The True Meaning of the Great Promise
    • "...to be a God to you, and to your seed after you" (Gen 17:7)
      • some claim this is new covenant blessing (Jeremiah 31/Heb 8)
    • Abraham had a two-fold seed
      • spiritual seed in the covenant of grace
      • carnal seed in the covenant of circumcision, given carnal privileges until the Messiah was born
        • "See Dr. Owen's Exercitations on the Hebrews, Vol. 1" [The Oneness of the Church]
      • some Israelites were both the spiritual and the carnal seed
        • they were still under the yoke of Moses' law
        • spiritual blessings not obtained by circumcision or the law
    • Gen 17:7 was a promise to the carnal seed
      • "I will be their God" according to the terms of this covenant of circumcision
        • thus "I will be their God" cannot refer to a grant of spiritual blessing unless a grant of spiritual blessing is specifically stated in the covenant of circumcision
    • A general assurance common to all divine covenants
    • The covenant is not determined by this phrase, but rather the phrase is determined by each covenant
    • The History of Gen 17:7's Accomplishment to Israel
      • God blessed and guided the patriarchs
      • multiplied and miraculously protected Israel in Egypt
      • guided them in the wilderness by His presence
      • established a civil and ecclesiastical polity in the Mosaic Covenant
      • guided Israel through prophetic judges
      • Nehemiah 9, Psalm 105, Psalm 144 with Acts 7
    • The Blessings of Israel after the Flesh
      • the oracles of God (Rom 3:1; 9:4)
      • Christ came from them
      • first recipients of the offer of the gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 3:25, 26; Acts 13:46, 47)
    • Covenant of Circumcision not the Covenant of Grace
      • "This was a covenant of grace and mercy, originating from the mere goodness and undeserved favor of God toward Israel (Deut 7:7-8)... Yet it was not that covenant of grace which God made with Abraham for all his spiritual seed"
      • saints outside of Israel were not obligated to "incorporate themselves into it by circumcision"
        • they would have been obligated if circumcision was a sign and seal of the covenant of grace
      • other righteous men living outside of Abraham's offspring (Lot, Heber, Salah, Shem and their descendants, Melchizedek (a priestly king, thus citizens who were believers)
        • yet not circumcised
        • requiring them to be circumcised would contradict the point of circumcision: to set one line apart from the others through whom the Messiah would come
      • many without interest in covenant of grace required to be circumcised, and many with interest in covenant of grace not required to be circumcised
    • Infant Church Membership Considered
      • we may, using the term loosely, call any family or society of men truly worshipping God, a church of God
        • but "church" first used to refer to Israel's church-state
      • before Abraham's time there was not institution of an outward sign or seal of any covenant
        • thus no solemn right of initiation to church privilege
      • infants were born part of the typical church-state as a carnal privilege
        • which was dissolved by the gospel
      • gospel teaches that the right of membership in the Jewish church could never give to any, either infant or adult, the same right of membership in the gospel church
        • no one ever received into it because of their status in the old covenant
      • circumcision was administered according to positive law
        • so ought baptism to be
  8. Chapter 8: The Mutual Reference of the Promises made to Abraham: The General Design of this Chapter
    • Gospel revealed darkly prior to Christ, intermixed with typological promises
      • "In the prophetic writings it appears that the temporal deliverances of Israel are considered as typical of the spiritual redemption of the church."
    • Clarity of gospel/covenant of grace promises given once Christ came
    • Promises related to each other because the promise of Christ was that he would come from Israel
      • the promise of Isaac's birth was likewise a promise of Christ's eventual birth
    • Abraham commanded to sacrifice Isaac, whom God said would be the father of a numerous seed
    • The Covenant of Peculiarity a Type of the Covenant of Grace
      • Carnal Israel a type of Christ (Gal 4:4; Rom 10:4; Hos 11:1 with Mat 2:15; Is 49:3)
        • "Christ was the seed in whom the substance of the righteousness that was foreshadowed in the circumcision of Israel was to be found."
    • Colossians 2:11
      • circumcised in Christ = justified by Christ's righteousness (plus accompanied sanctification)
      • "the circumcision of Christ" = Christ's obligation to keep the whole law, which he did
      • baptism = sign of communion (union) with Christ (and his benefits)
        • thus signified to "live on Christ alone"
    • Abraham's Family as a Type of the Future Church
      • Ishmael was a type of Abraham's carnal seed under the Old Covenant
      • Isaac was a type of the church under the Covenant of Grace
      • Paul calls the covenant of circumcision "the law"
      • Carnal Israel is excluded from gospel blessings just as Ishmael was excluded from their carnal blessings
    • A Key to Many Promises in the Old Testament
      • during the time of the law, the true church was found within the typical church
      • true church accepted by God on terms of the new covenant of grace
      • the Mosaic economy "promoted the ends of the covenant of grace to the elect"
      • the spiritual relationship to God according to the terms of the new covenant was wrapped in dark shadows and figures and was not as clear as it is now
        • "Therefore, many times the typified things and people are spoken of in the prophetic Scriptures under the names of those things and that people which were the types of them."
    • Romans 4:11 Explained
      • A seal is for confirmation and assurance
        • baptism not a seal
        • Holy Spirit seals believers
      • Circumcision a Seal to Abraham's Faith
        • Covenant of Circumcision includes the previous promise of the covenant of grace (in which God had confirmed his covenant in Christ with Abraham)
          • thus circumcision not limited to covenant of peculiarity, but related to promise of Christ as well
        • Abraham knew covenant of circumcision "was made with him in pursuance of the great promises [of Christ] given earlier."
          • "So the seal of this covenant became to him a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had before"
          • circumcision is subservient to the great end and design of the covenant of grace (which was confirmed to Abraham before he was circumcised)
    • The Conclusion of the Treatise
      • Circumcision means different things to different people
        • Circumcision was "a seal of the inheritance of Canaan to the children of Israel and ensured that promise to them and their seed."
          • But it gave no such right to bond-servants that were circumcised
        • only a seal of the righteousness of faith to Abraham (who stood in a peculiar and extraordinary capacity)
          • it sealed to him that he would be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised
            • Absurd to claim it sealed the same thing to anyone else
      • Circumcision associated with the law in contradistinction from the gospel
        • if circumcision was primarily and immediately related to the covenant of grace, then Paul's argument about its inefficacy does not make sense
          • Acts 5:10; Gal 5:3, 13
        • Circumcision was ordinance of old covenant, directly binding subjects to legal obedience
        • Baptism is ordinance of the gospel, directly obligating gospel obedience
        • Thus they are opposed, not substitutes
      • Jews who had been circumcised as infants were baptized as adults upon profession & repentance
        • why if they are the same covenant sign?