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e. The way of salvation revealed in the covenant is the same. Scripture insists on the identical
conditions all along, Gen. 15:6, compared with Rom. 4:11; Heb. 2:4; Acts 15:11; Gal. 3:6,7; Heb.
11:9. The promises, for the realization of which the believers hoped, were also the same, Gen.
15:6; Ps. 51:12; Matt. 13:17; John 8:56. And the sacraments, though differing in form have
essentially the same signification in both dispensations, Rom. 4:11; I Cor. 5:7; Col. 2:11,12.
f. It is both conditional and unconditional. The question is repeatedly asked, whether the
covenant is conditional or unconditional. This is a question that cannot be answered without
careful discrimination, for the answer will depend on the point of view from which the
covenant is considered.
On the one hand the covenant is unconditional. There is in the covenant of grace no condition
that can be considered as meritorious. The sinner is exhorted to repent and believe, but his
faith and repentance do not in any way merit the blessings of the covenant. This must be
maintained in opposition to both the Roman Catholic and the Arminian position. Neither is it
conditional in the sense that man is expected to perform in his own strength what the covenant
requires of him. In placing him before the demands of the covenant, we must always remind
him of the fact that he can obtain the necessary strength for the performance of his duty only
from God. In a sense it may be said that God Himself fulfills the condition in the elect. That
which may be regarded as a condition in the covenant, is for those who are chosen unto
everlasting life also a promise, and therefore a gift of God. Finally, the covenant is not
conditional in the sense that the reception of every separate blessing of the covenant is
dependent on a condition. We may say that faith is the conditio sine qua non of justification,
but the reception of faith itself in regeneration is not dependent on any condition, but only on
the operation of the grace of God in Christ.
On the other hand the covenant may be called conditional. There is a sense in which the
covenant is conditional. If we consider the basis of the covenant, it is clearly conditional on the
suretyship of Jesus Christ. In order to introduce the covenant of grace, Christ had to, and
actually did, meet the conditions originally laid down in the covenant of works, by His active
and passive obedience. Again, it may be said that the covenant is conditional as far as the first
conscious entrance into the covenant as a real communion of life is concerned. This entrance is
contingent on faith, a faith, however, which is itself a gift of God. When we speak of faith as a
condition here, we naturally refer to faith as a spiritual activity of the mind. It is only through
faith that we can obtain a conscious enjoyment of the blessings of the covenant. Our
experimental knowledge of the covenant life is entirely dependent on the exercise of faith. He
who does not live a life of faith is, as far as his consciousness is concerned, practically outside of
the covenant. If in our purview we include not only the beginning, but also the gradual