Sacred Bond Quotes

I finally finished Sacred Bond by Michael Brown and Zach Keele. It is a great introduction on covenant theology.  It was insightful and answered a lot of questions I had about the topic.  I would highly recommend it.  Here are several quotes from the book:

Covenant theology is the Bible's prescribed method of helping us interpret the Scriptures properly. Covenant theology helps us to deepen our understanding of God's salvation of and communion with his people through the person and work of Christ. It is God's way of giving us the big picture of his plan of redemption and showing us that his Word, from beginning to end, is consistent and not contradictory.

we are saved by his merit and not our own. We are acceptable to the Father not because of our obedience, but because of his obedience.

In Christ, God's justice and mercy kiss.

In other words, in both the Old Testament and New Testament the way in which God saves sinners is always the same: by his grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

Thus, God's promise in the one covenant of grace runs from Genesis to Revelation, revealing its continuity and the unifying nature of redemptive history.

Whereas the covenant of works (law) says, "Do this and you will live," the covenant of grace (gospel) says, "Christ did it for you."

God keeping his promise is not dependent on man's performance, be it righteous or wicked.

It is important to notice that this was not a joint or bilateral agreement between God and Abraham...Rather this was a unilateral act performed by God...and made unconditional promises to him...

God's ultimate purpose for the Mosaic covenant was to lead his people to Christ for salvation...it was temporary from the beginning.

Jesus came as the greater son of David to fulfill the Davidic covenant by building a house for God's name...not built with wood and stone but with living people. The spiritual house he built was the church.

God's people would be abundantly fruitful in the new covenant because of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would produce in God's people what they were incapable of producing themselves, causing them to walk in new obedience...the new covenant is permanent...This new covenant would give what the old covenant could not: inward renewal...

So, for example if a Christian is grieved by the fact that he struggles with anger and impatience toward others, he might resolve to try harder at being kind and tenderhearted toward his neighbor, as God commands. In other words, in order to be more righteous, he focuses on the command rather than on Christ, who supplies us with His Spirit in order to obey his commands. The problem with this approach is that it assumes righteousness comes by the law rather than the Spirit, which is really no different from the unbeliever's approach. The contrast between the old and new covenants, however, teaches us the essential lesson that the law cannot produce righteousness, It is incapable of changing the human heart...The law defines the boundaries within which we are to live, and to a certain extent it can restrain sin. But it is powerless to change our hearts. For that, we need the recreative power of the Spirit...