God & Adam, Reformed Theology And The Creation Covenant (An Intro To The Biblical Covenants, A Close

by Rowland S. Ward

A Detailed Survey Of The Development Of What Was Commonly Called The Covenant Of Works. About 40 Authors From The 17th Century Are Allowed To Speak For Themselves. All Relevant Creedal Statements Are Included And Compared As Appropriate. Some Material Has Been Translated For The First Time. As An Orientation To The Presentation Of Covenant Theology From A Biblical Viewpoint.

Genres: Theology

208 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a helpful resource for discussing the covenant of works in Reformed theology. Ward traces the development of the doctrine from the 16th century to the 20th with quotes and excerpts from important theologians contextualized and presented in a general chronological and topic format. It's similar to Heppe's Reformed Dogmatics, but focused on one specific doctrine and emphasizing the development of that idea over time.

[Russell Sigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful overview of various views on the covenants throughout Reformed history. The layout is pretty hard to follow, and I found some chapters quite helpful and others distracting, but overall a fine book.

[Parker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must admit that I don't see what Ligon Duncan, Carl Trueman, and J. V. Fesko (all theologians I admire) see in this book. The theology is good, sure. The presentation, on the other hand, is just awful.

The purpose of the book is to give a survey of the development of the Covenant of Works since the Reformation. Ward does provide this survey, though the organization leaves much to be desired. It's generally laid out chronologically from Calvin up to today, but chapters are also divided by ecclesiastical traditions, geographical regions, and sub-topics. The result is that, although the broad progression is from the 16th to the 20th centuries, the timeline is jumbled up along the way.

There is also an unhelpful mixture of other covenant theological concepts in the book, which are perhaps necessary for the argument (e.g., the relationship of the Mosaic administration to the Covenant of Works), but because of the organizational problems noted above, they feel like rabbit trails.

The book reads like reference material. Names of theologians in bold print are followed by paragraphs summarizing their views, sometimes with full quotations. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make for frequently repetitive reading, as so many of the men discussed were in substantial agreement with one another.

Moreover, the formatting of this book is an eyesore. Margins are perhaps an eighth of an inch thick, page numbers are housed in unsightly grey boxes in the bottom corners of pages, and chapter numbers are presented in one of the ugliest, messiest fonts I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I found myself consistently fighting against the formatting just to take the book seriously as a scholarly work.

There were nuggets within this book that I found helpful. I'm sure most of those nuggets could be found in better books, though. As I said at the beginning, the theology here is solid, and the historical survey is helpful in a few ways. The presentation simply ruins everything.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very helpful little book concerning the discussion of covenants and how the theological study of them evolved over time.

[Neil McKinlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rowland S. Ward’s God and Adam: Reformed Theology and the Creation Covenant (2019) is timely reprint and updated version by Tulip Publishing of the previous 2003 publication.

Covenant Theology needs to be discovered by more Christians. What the old Adam broke, the new Adam fixed. Nay, not only did Jesus perfectly keep the Adamic pre-Fall covenant on behalf of His people, but He graciously paid the awful price they each owed, ie, the wages of sin.

Ward eloquently interacts with the history of Covenant Theology with a plethora of quotes from those involved in its development from Scripture.

This is a must read if you are trying to get a handle on Covenant Theology, especially the Covenant of Works. Adam broke the Covenant of Works but Christ kept it to our salvation, and for those who want to know what Christ was really doing on that cross as the Last Adam.

TULIP Publishing is republishing this great and readable book - https://tulippublishing.com.au/

[Andrew Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I understood Covenant Theology until I read this. Extremely readable: a model of readability, making difficult (for me) concepts easy to understand).
Short.
Covers a lot!
Not sure I agree with the classic Reformed covenant theology or not (having been influenced by New Covenant Theology), but this presentation of the development of the covenant doctrines from the reformation until now was excellent.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did clarify covenant theology on many points, and gives the development of covenant theology and other related views well. So it was great on history, and great on the main points of covenant theology. Pretty tough read, but happy to have it as a reference work.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a very useful historical study of the covenant of works. Surveys some pre-reformation historical views similar to covenant of works in seed form and focuses primarily on various reformed authors' articulation of the covenant of works. The discussion of different views historically held on the Mosaic covenant was helpful and the last few chapters discussing the more recent trend of some reformed authors rejecting the covenant of works was helpful.

I would disagree with the author on two points.

He does mention some reformed baptists briefly in his book such as Nehemiah Coxe and John Tombes as well as comparing the first and second London baptist confessions with other historically reformed confessions. He does distinguish their views from more modern views of New covenant theology and dispensationalism. Ward does unfortunately misrepresent what has been called 1689 federalism at several points and he views it as a departure from historic covenant theology and historically as leading to modern dispensationalism (pg. 201-203). Another misrepresentation of 1689 federalism is found in chapter 18 under the heading Appendix - legacy issues (pg. 155). Ward mentions John Tombes' rejection of paedobaptism and argues that he follows the argument of Robert Bellarmine, a well known papist. In a footnote he cites his source as Joel Beeke's, A Puritan Theology, pg. 736. It would have been useful if Ward had cited some contemporary studies on Tombes such as some articles in JIRBS (Journal of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies) and other recent reformed baptist studies rather than using paedobaptists to define their views.

My second disagreement is Ward's discussion of Norman Shepherd in chapter 25 (pg. 219-226). Ward never cites a single primary source to present Shepherd's views. He only cites conversations with Norman Shepherd in his footnotes and recommends to his reader's Ian Hewiston's book on the Shepherd Justification controversy. No mention is made of Norman Shepherd being Greg Bahnsen's advisor for his thesis and his influence on theonomy. No mention is made of O Palmer Robertson's critique of Shepherd's view on justification. The whole section on Shepherd is one sided and fails to cite sources from both sides of the debate.

[Chris Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book outlining the particulars and nuances of Covenant Theology (CT). The primary thesis of the book is that both Adam and Christ are 'federal heads' representing humanity. Adam sinned and disobeyed God resulting in a fallen nature, enmity toward God and a predisposition to sin rather than obedience. The Incarnation was necessary that Jesus, the Messiah/Christ would fulfill the 'Covenant of Works' which Adam failed to do, 'Do this and live'. That is, to obey the Covenant stipulations of God. Christ conversely, fully obeyed the stipulations of the Covenant of Works on behalf of the elect providing the righteousness whereby we may stand forginen before God. Further, Christ paid the penalty for our sin, thus we have the imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ to the elect.

This is a great book of 233 pages (of content) exploring and advocating for the federal headship of both Adam and Christ.

Ward outlines an overview of CT in simple terms. The meat of the book is the examination of CT, and its nuances from the 1500, pre-Westminster through to the New Perspectives on Paul and nascent New Covenant Theology. In brief mini-chapters Ward examined and contrasts various understanding of the interpretations of CT and advocates for a more traditional reformed understanding of CT.

The various comparisons of the confessions were beneficial along with the plethora of quotes relating to CT. The Great strength of the book is the ultimate focus on the 'double imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ'. The implications of this for modern Christian life was not within the scope of this book there as a follow-up l would recommend :

Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ in the Westminster Standards by Alan Strange.

As an educated lay-person, 8 subjects in theology and l read a bit, l found the book mostly understandable but the nuanced differences requiring much thought. It is a book l would like to return to. It is also great as a reference to guiding further studies in understanding the historical development of CT.

I heartily reccomend this book.

[Lachlan Shead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I walked into reading God and Adam unsure of whether I agreed with the formulation of covenant theology. I ultimately disagreed, but can hardly let that unfairly bias my review; I walked away with a much clearer understanding of what covenant theology entails. R.S. Ward is to be commended for his work.

The book has four sections I'd crudely summarise as follows:
1. A summary of covenant theology as it unfolds in the Bible.
2. A survey of covenant theology as expressed in literature and creeds throughout history.
3. An overview of the prevailing (and sometimes diverging) views of Reformed theologians on specific aspects and impacts of covenant theology, up to the 18th century.
4. The development of covenant theology since then. (This section was slightly more disjointed than the rest by virtue of its structure; sometimes it explores by country or region, sometimes by a smaller time period. However, that's not unwarranted, and certainly forgivable.)

I do think the book would also benefit from help to the skeptical/unsure reader, but that can be found elsewhere. For what Ward is trying to do, God and Adam certainly delivers.

[Justin McLarty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical evaluation of Reformed Covenant Theology. Full of quotations from Patristics, Medieval, Reformers, Puritans, and a quick evaluation of modern covenant theologians. Also goes into the rise of Dispensationalism.

I still do not feel 100% confident that I could argue for Covenant Theology accurately. It is not a good book to prime oneself on Covenant Theology, but helpful to see how deeply saturated in history Covenant Theology is.

[John Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid historical work. His own intro on covenant theology felt a little rushed, but overall good.

Read on the kindle. Bolding the names of different authors was an extremely helpful addition. Made it much easier to read.

He convincingly showed that the CoW is vital to Reformed theology and has clear historical precedent.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and accessible book on the covenant of works. I don’t know that I would have picked it up if it hadn’t been required reading, but a good book for Covenant Theology class and for anyone wanting to learn more about the topic.

[Camden Garrett]

Okay this is essentially an exhaustive survey of scholars’ comments on covenant of works and related topics throughout the centuries. The first part was excellent. The next part was kinda boring but if you’re looking for a thorough survey this is your book!

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview of the history of covenant theology.

[Anne Michal]

Read for class. Honestly had never thought about the history behind the formation covenant theology.

[Bruno Morato · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very poorly structured.

[Tyler Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a deep dive into the history of how Reformed theologians have thought about the covenant with Adam. The introductory chapters are helpful and offer some positive insights. The last 3 parts are difficult. It’s mostly just quotations from various writers with little or no comment from the author. Honestly, it created more questions than it answered.

[Cody Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful little book in which Rowland shows the Covenant of Works has deep roots within the history of Covenant Theology and in the pages of Scripture. Good stuff.