The Path of Faith: A Biblical Theology of Covenant and Law (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology)

by Brandon D. Crowe

in this book I make four key points. 1. All people are obligated to obey their Creator. 2. Though he did not have to, from the beginning God freely entered into a covenant with humanity to offer a reward upon the condition of perfect obedience. 3. Only Jesus perfectly obeys God’s law, which is necessary for eternal life. Eternal life is granted by grace through faith on the basis of Christ’s work. 4. Even though we can’t perfectly obey God’s law, the law continues to guide us in how we should live. Obedience to God’s law is still required. And yet obedience is not a burden but the path of blessing.

Whatever title one wants to give this first covenant, it establishes early in Scripture the coordination of law keeping and life. The pattern is already evident that blessing follows upon obedience, whereas curse follows upon disobedience. This needs to be appreciated as fully as possible, since so often law keeping (in the theological sense) is considered primarily to be a burden. The law is indeed prominently portrayed as a slave master to drive us to Christ (e.g., Rom 7:10; Gal 3:23). But there is also a fundamental sense in which law keeping leads to blessing. This continues to be true, even though we cannot obey God’s law perfectly.

It’s also important to recognize that Adam was not created already experiencing the highest, most blessed life. He stood with the goal of greater life before him.13 The fancy term for this is eschatology. Eschatology is often associated with the end of the world. This is valid, but eschatology is a rich concept that applies much more extensively to the teaching of Scripture as a whole. Eschatology is quite important for understanding law and covenant, for covenants have in view a final goal.

In these early chapters of Genesis, obedience is correlated to worship of the true God, and thus to covenant keeping. Genuine covenant members obey the LORD. This is true even before the Mosaic law was given. Even before Moses, God’s people (and indeed, all people) had some awareness of God’s requirements. In the beginning Adam was created righteous (Eccles 7:29), and as such he had the law of God written on his heart. In the New Testament Paul states that all people know to some degree what God requires (see Rom 1:18-32; see also Rom 2:14-15).

Scripture is a bit fuzzy on the details of these early laws before the law of Moses, but all people are created in the image of God and are obligated to obedience. Even before the Mosaic law was given, all people, to some degree, knew the law later inscribed in the Ten Commandments. Such laws were, at the least, inscribed on the conscience of all those created in the image of God,19 though true worshipers of God may well have had a clearer apprehension of God’s requirements.

God requires full obedience, but everyone born naturally since Adam is a sinner. The covenant of grace speaks of the way that God provides an answer to sin and a gracious way to covenant fellowship for sinful humanity. Once Adam failed and sin entered the world, then no one who was descended naturally from Adam could meet the covenantal requirement of perfect obedience for eternal life. Even so, the requirement had not been dissolved. From Genesis 3:15 onward, we see God providing a gracious way of salvation for his people—a covenant of grace with Christ as its representative, or head. All subsequent covenants are thus to be understood in relation to this overarching covenant of grace (see figure 1.1).

The laws given to Noah, just like the covenant itself, apply to all of creation and abide in perpetuity.

God works through families. We see this in the contrast between the ungodly lineage of Cain and the godly lineage of Seth. Disobedience often begets disobedience; obedience often begets obedience. We also see this in the way that Noah and his family were saved from the flood by means of the ark. This pattern will continue throughout Scripture, and even provides parents motivation and comfort in the rearing of children: the covenant promises keep the next generation in view. Even so, physical lineage does not guarantee covenant fidelity, for from the same family come covenant breakers and covenant keepers. We should pray with and for our children, teaching them the ways of God that they may turn to him and choose the path of life.

When the LORD enters into a covenant with Abraham, he also calls him to walk faithfully before him.

Clearly Abraham is described as a righteous man who obeyed the voice of his covenant God. Yet Abraham’s obedience was not the foundation of his acceptance before God since Genesis 15:6 states that Abraham’s faith in God resulted in righteousness. Abraham’s obedience did not earn him a righteous standing before God, though we will see in what follows that Abraham’s faith was indeed a faith that obeyed. Hebrews 11:8 captures it well: “by faith Abraham obeyed.”

Being made in the image of God entails knowledge of who God is and what he requires.

Paul will later use this example to illustrate the wrongheadedness of trying to please God in our own strength, in contrast to living by faith (Gal 4:21-31).

Circumcision did not guarantee anyone true faith—it was applied to all males in the covenant community.

Though God chooses Abraham apart from any goodness in him, Genesis also says that God blesses Abraham because he kept the commandments of God (Gen 26:5). In the context of the covenant, obedience and blessing go hand in hand. Abraham is a model of faith, showing that faith bears the fruit of obedience.

Abraham continues to be the model of faith for New Testament believers as well. Abraham was justified by faith (Rom 4:1-3; see also Gal 3:15-18), and he walked in the ways of God. Abraham shows us the way of the covenant is the way of faith, and this faith manifests itself in obedience to God (Jas 2:20-24).

The laws that Moses mediates to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai (including but not limited to the Ten Commandments) must be viewed in the context of what has come before. The covenantal, Creator God reveals himself to Abraham and then to Moses. He begins to speak more specifically about one family who becomes one nation, and he shows this family and nation how they are to live in covenant with him. The Mosaic covenant, in particular, highlights God’s grace and provision, directing God’s people how they should live before him. In fact, the law given through Moses provides Scripture’s most thorough exposition of what God requires of us.

This covenantal LORD takes the initiative to save his people. Before the Mosaic law is given, the people are redeemed that they may worship the LORD (Ex 4:22-23). This observation is crucial, since too often it is assumed—even by Christians—that the Old Testament is a religion of works whereby the Israelites had to obey the law before God would save them. Not so! In the exodus we see the pattern of redemption, which we also find in the New Testament, that God intervenes to save his people in accord with his faithfulness to his covenant promises. God’s people in the Old Testament were saved by faith in Christ, just as believers are today. Likewise, God’s people in the Old Testament were called to obey him from the heart, just as we are today.

Israel was not granted salvation on the basis of obedience. There is only one way of salvation.

The covenant with Moses—including the law of Moses—must be understood as part of God’s one covenant of grace. Moses therefore does not teach a different way of salvation than the New Testament. If only perfect obedience meets the standard for eternal life, then no natural person since Adam can meet this requirement.

The pattern of redemption in the exodus—first deliverance (“indicative,” what God does for us), then the giving of the law leading to worship (“imperative,” what we are to do)—provides the structure for law and covenant in biblical theology (see figure 3.1). Moses himself instructs the people to recognize this pattern. When Israelite parents teach their children the reason for the laws they follow, the parents are to place these in the context of God’s saving actions to deliver them from Egypt (Deut 6:20-24).

The law of Moses is not therefore entirely new, though it is the fullest explanation we have in Scripture of what God requires of us. But we also have to read it carefully in the context of the whole Bible.

And yet the Ten Commandments are much more than only a law for an ancient people; they are the summary of God’s moral law, which is binding on all people in all places at all times.3 The Ten Commandments articulate what God originally required of Adam and what Israel was called to embody: true righteousness and holiness before the LORD and (for Israel) in the midst of an ungodly world.4 The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on tablets of stone as an abiding testimony and record of the law of God.

As God’s covenant people, Israel’s descendants were called to walk faithfully before their covenant Lord, reflecting God’s character to those around them.

sinners)—Israel was called to a redeemed way of life that mirrored God’s created order.

They were called to life of faith that resulted in obedience, just as God’s covenant people are throughout history. Already in the Old Testament, God’s people were called to true obedience from the heart (Deut 10:16).

The Ten Commandments summarize the moral law of God, referring to that aspect of the law of God that does not change across covenant administrations. The moral law was binding for Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, and it remains authoritative today.

where there is no kingdom, God’s civil law is not the rule of the land (e.g., Esther). Even so, ceremonial and civil laws, while not in effect, continue to instruct us in what God requires, because they reflect the character and will of God. So, while a threefold division of the law may segment the law of Moses too sharply, we can at least speak of the threefold dimensions of the law.

Understanding the law of God in the context of covenant is crucial if we are to appreciate the purpose of the law and its ongoing relevance today. The people of Israel were already God’s covenant people when they received the law; the law was not given that they might become God’s people on the basis of obedience. They were to live by faith, and obedience was to flow out of their faith toward God. The law was given to teach the people what God requires and how they ought to live. It was a good and gracious thing for God to give his laws to his people, that they might understand who he is and how to please him. The law was for them—as the moral law continues to be today—a guide for righteous living.

This means the Mosaic law is best understood both as part of the covenant of grace, and as a means to train God’s people that they need a deliverer.

Deuteronomy shows quite clearly the way that covenant and law should relate.

In terms of law, Deuteronomy shows us that the law is a blessing. It is not a burden God’s people had to keep to earn God’s love; it is the proper response to the love that God had shown them. The law is given “to guide [Israel] towards the fullest enjoyment of life.”

son. As covenantal son—a people redeemed by and in covenant with God (see Ex 4:22-23)—Israel is commanded to love its divine Father (see esp. Deut 8:1-6). This makes sense in the context of the covenant, for in the covenant, love and obedience go hand in hand. In short, to love God is to obey God.

Obedience and love are inseparable.19 Deuteronomy leaves no room for someone to say, “I love God, but obedience is optional.” Practical obedience and true love are required in response to God’s gracious acts in history. This covenantal love and loyalty of a son to a father is the appropriate response to God’s election and redemption of Israel.

In the covenant of grace (which includes the law of Moses) the proper path is always one of faith that yields obedience. And though many of the laws given through Moses had particular application to the nation of Israel, we would be quite at a loss today to know what God requires of us if we did not have the law of Moses.

The Ten Commandments remain a guide for righteous living in the New Testament era. Without the law of God, we would be greatly impoverished to know how we ought to live today.

In popular culture it’s not uncommon to hear of people longing for a life of no rules—pining for a place where there are no Ten Commandments. Yet to throw off the Ten Commandments leads not to joy but to destruction. As a rule for life, the law of God is like railroad tracks.25 For a train to move efficiently and properly, it needs the rails. This is not a burden; this is how a train was designed to work. Few methods of transportation are as efficient as trains. Yet a train off the rails goes nowhere. Just as trains need the tracks, so the law of God shows us what God desires of us as we live in a covenant relationship with him. The law is like railroad tracks showing us how we are designed to live.

To be sure, our relationship to the law changes when Jesus comes. For example, no longer do its ceremonial aspects govern the practice of God’s people. Jesus’ death puts an end to the need for ongoing sacrifices (Heb 10:14), and he himself teaches that all foods are clean (Mk 7:19). But neither has he come to abolish the law altogether (Mt 5:17). The moral aspects of God’s law, seen summarily in the Ten Commandments, continue to govern the practice of God’s people.2

In these texts Jesus teaches that true covenant blessing comes through rigorous obedience to the law of God in fellowship with Jesus himself—the one who obeys the law perfectly.

Yet the Sermon on the Mount is not so different from other parts of Scripture addressing the law of God. In the Sermon on the Mount we see what God truly requires of his people: true obedience to the law of God. Obedience brings blessing, whereas rejection of God’s law brings curse. In the new covenant it remains true that the life of blessing is a life of conformity to the law of God.

But there’s more. The term “blessed” also refers to the blessing of being redeemed by God. In fact, the last recorded words of Moses speak of the blessing of those who are redeemed by God (Deut 33:29).3 This reminds us that the proper context for living by God’s law is redemption: God’s people are redeemed in order that they might obey. At the beginning of the Sermon of the Mount, we’re reminded of redemption.

The Sermon on the Mount is not an exhaustive checklist for the Christian life that gives us formulaic answers for specific scenarios. Instead, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus provides a paradigm for life in covenant with God. The life of blessing is the life of obedience.

Jesus states that those who build on the rock are not those who only hear the words of Jesus, but those who put them into practice.

The path of those who follow Jesus must be the path of obedience to the law of God.

This is not contradictory to the rest that Jesus brings, for Jesus also encourages us that the life of blessing is the life of law conformity (see Mt 5:3-12). Like a train running smoothly on railroad tracks, the law of God sets forth the path of blessing. Even though we cannot obey the law of God perfectly, it continues to be the path of blessing. For it is the path of fellowship with God (see 1 Jn 1:5-8).

We live in an in-between time, in which we already experience rich blessings of fulfillment, but we also face temptations and suffering since final deliverance has not yet come. Much of the New Testament is written to help us live practically in this interim period.

Acts and Paul also show us that obedience to God’s law remains a requirement for his people, even if there are aspects of how we relate to the law that are different now that Christ has fulfilled the law. The grace of Christ is deeper than we can fathom, but this does not negate the need for true obedience. As we have seen throughout the Scriptures, in these books we find a familiar pattern: the life of blessing is the life of obedience to God’s law. And as we saw in the previous chapter, this obedience must be obedience in and through Christ himself.

These warnings illustrate the new covenantal context from which Paul operates: as in the old covenant, so in the new—not all those in the covenant community are true covenant members (see 1 Cor 5:9-13).

At the same time, the new covenant is not simply a continuation of what has come before. It is new.

Hashing out the newness of the new covenant is a difficult task, and it’s no surprise that Christian traditions do this in slightly different ways. Yet some things do not change. The God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament. The New Testament’s teaching of salvation by grace through faith is not a new way of salvation but continues the path of salvation by grace through faith from the Old Testament. Likewise, the call to obey God’s law, which has been necessary from the beginning, continues to bind all people—especially Christians—in the new era marked by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Yet despite the newness and “betterness” of the new covenant (Heb 7:22; 8:6), Hebrews also speaks of covenant continuity. There is not an absolute antithesis between the old covenant and the new covenant; instead, it is a relative newness. The sacrificial system was sufficient for the old era, but in comparison to and in light of the new covenant, the old covenant is insufficient and ineffectual. Even so, the author of Hebrews has much to say about continuity between the old covenant and the new covenant. For example, when the author warns the people not to fall away from the living God, he appeals to the negative example of Israel’s wilderness warnings (Ps 95:7-11; Heb 3:7-11).