Covenant of Works

Definition and Meaning

The covenant of works is a term used in Reformed covenant theology. A covenant is a relationship of promise that God establishes with human beings. This theology holds that God made a covenant with Adam before the Fall. Under its terms, life was promised to Adam and his descendants on condition of his perfect obedience, and death would follow if he disobeyed.

Covenant theology treats this covenant as the counterpart to the "covenant of grace," which is given after the Fall through Jesus Christ. The same arrangement is also called the "covenant of life" or the "covenant of nature."

Biblical and Historical Background

The principal supporting texts are the following:

• Genesis 2:16-17: God commands Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and warns of death.
• Hosea 6:7: The New Korean Revised Version renders the verse "like Adam they have transgressed the covenant."
• Romans 5:12-21: Paul contrasts Adam and Christ as the respective representatives of humanity.

The concept is generally said to have been systematized among Reformed theologians in the late sixteenth century. It later became standard doctrine in the Presbyterian tradition when chapter 7 of the Westminster Confession of Faith stated explicitly that "the first covenant made with man was a covenant of works."

There is disagreement even within the Reformed tradition. Karl Barth criticized this distinction. Some Reformed theologians have proposed using an alternative expression, such as "Adamic administration," instead of the word "covenant." Other scholars, by contrast, vigorously defend the concept as a foundation for the doctrine of justification, pointing out that Christ rendered, in Adam's place, the obedience in which Adam failed.

Practice in Korean Churches

Presbyterian: Most Korean Presbyterian denominations accept the Westminster Standards as their doctrinal standard. Accordingly, the covenant of works is covered in seminary courses in dogmatics and in doctrinal instruction. The Shorter Catechism (Question 12), used in catechumenal and baptismal instruction, presents it as the "covenant of life."

Baptist: Some Reformed-leaning Baptists accept covenant theology. Other streams do not place this framework at the center of their theology.

Methodist and Holiness: These denominations stand in the tradition of Wesleyan theology. Because they do not organize their soteriology within the framework of covenant theology, they use the term relatively rarely.

Dispensationalism: Churches influenced by dispensationalism tend to describe the Edenic period not as a covenant but as a single dispensation, the "Dispensation of Innocence."