Thank God for the encouraging reminders at the Westminster Shorter Catechism class at my church last evening. It was the first time I attended the Class together with my sister-in-Christ, Grace Lim. Pastor JJ was lecturing on question 20:
Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 20: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, - from all eternity, - elected some to everlasting life, - did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
Pastor JJ reminded us that God has established a covenant of grace with His people. He is a covenant keeping God and He will not break His covenant/promise/contract with us. Despites our sins and failures, God remains unchanging! Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 20 : Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, - from all eternity, - elected some to everlasting life [1], - did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeember.[2]
Proofs
[1] Ephesians 1:4 "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: "
[2] Romans 3:20–22
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Galatians 3:21–2221 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Comments from Pastor JJ
This question teaches us about God’s provision for the salvation of fallen men. Under the first covenant, eternal life was offered on the basis of personal, perfect and perpetual obedience to the Law of God, but the entrance of sin makes it impossible for the natural man to obey any of God’s Law perfectly.
It would appear that man was then destined to perish in their sin and misery, except for the fact that as God did ordain the Fall, He also did elect some that they should not perish but have everlasting life. Note that this election is made out of God’s “mere good pleasure, from all eternity” or in other words, unconditionally. The Arminian teaching that election is based on God’s fore-knowing that a person will repent when the Gospel is preached has no basis in the Scripture, makes a mockery of the meaning of election, and denies the absolute sovereignty of God.
In order to effect the redemption of the elect, a second covenant, known in our Confession as the Covenant of Grace, was effected between the Persons of the Godhead, with Christ as the mediator of the Covenant and the representative of the elect. (This covenant was made in eternity past, even before the Covenant of Works was made with Adam; and it is frequently called the Covenant of Redemption, though the phraseology is usually applied by those who are supralapsarians and who would subsume the Covenant of Works under it.)
The first covenant was made with Adam, the second covenant was made with Christ as the second Adam (1 Cor
It should be noted that according to biblical chronology, the Covenant of Grace begun to be implemented in Genesis 3:15 and is displayed both in the Old and the New Testaments, though there were subordinate covenants that manifest the eternal covenant, e.g., the Adamic Covenant (Gen 3:15); the Noahic (Gen 9); the Abrahamic (Gen 12, 15, 17); the Mosaic (Ex 19–20); the Davidic (2 Sam 7:12–16); and the New Covenant (Jer 31:31–34; Heb 8:10–12; 10:16–17; Mt 26:28, etc.). In all these subordinate covenants the object of faith is always Christ (see Acts
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