QUEST. XXXI. _With whom was the covenant of grace made?_
ANSW. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam; and in him, with all the elect, as his seed.
As the covenant of grace is opposed to that which was made with Adam, as the head of mankind, so it is considered in this answer, as made with the second Adam, and, in him, with all his elect, who are described, by the Psalmist, as a _seed that should serve him, which should be accounted to the Lord for a generation_, Psal. xxii. 30. and the prophet Isaiah, speaking of them, says, _He shall see his seed_, Isa. liii. 10. In explaining this answer, we shall consider,
I. What we are to understand by a covenant in general, and more particularly how it is to be understood, as used in scripture. The word commonly used in the Old Testament,[89] to signify a covenant, being taken in several senses, may be better understood, by the application thereof, in those places, where we find it, than by enquiring into the sense of the root, from whence it is derived. Sometimes, indeed, it signifies such a compact between two parties, as agrees with our common acceptation of the word, especially when applied to transactions between man and man; as in the covenant between Abraham, and those neighbouring princes, that were _confederate with him_, where the same word is used, in Gen. xiv. 13, and in the covenant between Isaac and Abimelech, mentioned in Gen. xxvi. 28, 29. and in that between Jonathan and David, in 1 Sam. xx. 16, 17. in all which instances there was mutual stipulation, and re-stipulation, as there is in human covenants; and, for this reason, some apply those ideas to the word, when it is used to signify God’s entering into covenant with man.
But there is another acceptation thereof when God is represented as making a covenant with man which is more agreeable to the divine perfections, and that infinite distance there is between him and us; therefore we find in several places of scripture, that when God is said to make a covenant there is an intimation of some blessings which he would bestow upon his people, without any idea of stipulation, or re-stipulation, annexed to it: thus we read, in Jer. xxxiii. 20. of God’s _covenant of the day and night_, or that there should be day and night _in their season_; and, in Gen. xi. 9, 10, 11. of God’s establishing _his covenant with Noah, and his seed, and every living creature, that all flesh should not be cut off any more, by the waters of a flood_. And, in Ezek. xxxiv. 25. when God promises to cause _evil beasts to cease out of the land_, and that his people should _dwell safely in the wilderness_, and that he would confer several other blessings upon them, mentioned in the following verses; this is called, his making with them _a covenant of peace_. And, when God promises spiritual blessings to his people, in Isa. lix. 21. he says, _This is my covenant with them; my Spirit that is upon thee, and the words that I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and for ever_.