God's Provision in the Garden of Eden: The Covenant of Life

God made provisions by giving Adam to eat from every tree from the garden, except for the one, probationary tree. God instituted marriage. It was a holy institution and was meant for mutual help of husband and wife, the propagation of children, and the avoiding of sexual immorality.

There was communion with God. When they heard God coming, they knew who it was. The Sabbath was provided for man to meet the physical and spiritual needs of rest. It was also a way to provide communion with God.

2. What was the Covenant of Works (or, Covenant of Life)? Summarize its four essential parts, or aspects.

The Covenant of Works was a divinely instituted agreement between God and man. It is union and communion; it is relationship. Adam was placed in a covenant; it was a covenant of works, but not a covenant of law. By virtue of man's creation in the image of God, was placed in covenant relationship, therefore, it was a gracious covenant. It is called a covenant of works because Adam was placed in an environment where he was tested, and in that testing he had to prove himself faithful.

There are four aspects of the Covenant of Works.

The first aspect of the Covenant of Works is the issue of parties. God, Himself, was a party to the covenant. He was the initiator. Adam was the second party to the company. He was the representative of the entire race. Everything that was said to Adam as a punishment for breaking the covenant is applied to the entire race. Death is passed on to all men. There is a curse on the ground, hard work and painful childbirth that has become the lot of all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, and not just Adam himself. Christ is the second Adam. The first Adam was a covenant breaker, while the second was a covenant keeper, and even as we became covenant breakers through the first Adam, even so in Christ we are made alive and once again become covenant keepers.

The second aspect of the Covenant of Works is the conditions of the covenant. The probation, which Adam was given, particularly regarded the abstinence from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This probation regarded the whole law, which was impressed on man and His general creation. Adam, as the creature of God, was to obey God and engage in loving fellowship with Him for all the days of his life. He was to offer up all of his works to God in obedience. The condition was perfect obedience, and nothing less was acceptable.

The third aspect of the Covenant of Works is the promise. The implied promise is life. We see this when we consider the presence of the Tree of Life, which man would have had access to, if he had sustained the probation. The penalty of covenantal disobedience is death.

The fourth aspect of the Covenant of Works is the threat. The treat of covenantal disobedience is death. Life is being in communion with God. That being the case, then death is separation from Him.