Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Monday, August 19, 2024
A worldwide church is a clear indicator that the Seed of the woman has crushed the serpent’s head, which should encourage us to pray and persevere in a world that is hostile to Christ and his gospel. Second, Paul told the church in Rome that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). This statement takes Christ’s victory over Satan from the end of Genesis 3:15 and combines it with the separation of the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed in the middle. Christ gained victory over sin, death, and Satan for his people, and his people share in his victory over Satan. Through sin, Satan was our “father,” and when we sinned we did his will instead of God’s (John 8:44). Friendship with the world, the flesh, and the devil is enmity with God (James 4:4).

The Covenant of Grace
Our friendships say a lot about who we are. For example, the righteous should choose their friends carefully, knowing that the ways of the wicked lead them astray (Prov. 12:26). Friendships can make or break people, shaping who we are and making us better or worse for the experience. We tend to become like our friends, and our friends become like us. The covenant of grace is about making enemies with sin and Satan, and restoring friendship with God and his people, making us ultimately like Christ, who laid down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Most of the Bible is about the covenant of grace, and the covenant of grace is about Christ (the Son). Westminster Larger Catechism 31 says, “The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.”1 We need a better representative than Adam; we need new hearts, and we need to be like God. Put differently, we need Jesus to be our Savior, the Spirit to dwell in our hearts, and God to be our Father. Genesis 3:15 through Revelation 22 is a single story about how God does this great work. Genesis 3:15 gives us the basic ideas of the covenant of grace, serving as a gateway into the rest of the Bible, making it a key to seeing the breathtaking unity of Scripture. This may be both the most basic and most blessed verse on covenant theology in the Bible. To understand Genesis 3:15, we need to get oriented to who’s who.
The text says,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
There are three contrasts in this text: the woman and the serpent, the Seed and the serpent, and the Seed and the seed.2 “Offspring” in the ESV and “seed” in my translation mean the same thing here. First, beginning where the problem started, Eve fell into sin by making friendship with the serpent and eating the forbidden fruit. God would put an end to this alliance by putting “enmity” between the serpent and her, breaking her friendship with sin and Satan. “Enmity,” like the word “enemy,” means the opposite of friendship. By sinning, Eve acted in enmity toward God, treating Satan as her friend, but God would break this relationship.
Second, skipping to the end for a moment, the serpent would crush the Seed’s heel, while the Seed would crush the serpent’s head. Translating the idea here can be tricky, but “bruise” is a bit weak. “Crush” ups the stakes a bit more appropriately. The Seed is singular, and he singularly suffers and undoes the curse of sin that the serpent brought on humanity. Since the serpent would crush the Seed’s heel but have his head crushed, the serpent gets the harsher outcome of the encounter. Third, in the middle of the verse the seed is also plural, pitting Satan’s (or the serpent’s) people against the woman’s people. This sets the pattern for the division of nations in Genesis, pitting the seed of the woman against the seed of the serpent. Just as the church is associated with Christ, so the world is associated with Satan. This is where the notorious ten chapters of genealogy in 1 Chronicles becomes relevant. Chronicles, and other places in the Bible, mark off the serpent’s seed from the woman’s seed, which marks the division between the world and the church. Though sacraments come later in the story, they will point to the Son saving the seed, following the outline established in this verse. So how does Genesis 3:15 put the covenant of grace in a nutshell? When God saves sinners, he ends our alliance with sin and Satan, like he did with Eve.
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Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Friday, June 28, 2024
The second commandment forbids making images of anyone in the category of God. Therefore, we cannot make images of God the Son. Making images of Christ creates thorny dilemmas. Either we depict the person of the Son and violate the second commandment, or we depict his humanity by divorcing it from his divine person.

Writing against visual images of Christ is hindered without explaining some history.
Many prominent Christians rejected such images for about eight centuries until the Second Council of Nicaea (AD 787) ruled in favor of images, including their “veneration.” Though Eastern and Western Christians argued against worshiping images (for obvious reasons), the fact that Eastern Christians bowed on their faces before paraded icons, and Western Christians wove images of the Father and Spirit into artwork, should give us pause: Maybe making images—even if we’re not worshiping them—hasn’t worked out too well.
While the ultimate question is what Scripture says about the matter, the tendency to fall into errors like these has always been why the triune God prohibited making images of himself.
Here are three key arguments against images of Christ.
1. The Second Commandment
The second commandment (Ex. 20:4; Deut. 5:8–10) prohibits images of Christ. A simple syllogism illustrates the point:
1. God forbade making images of himself.2. Christ is God.3. Therefore, God forbade making images of Christ.
Deuteronomy 4:15–24 is a commentary on the second commandment. Moses explains to Israel that even though God appeared to them, they must not make any kind of image of him (vv. 15–18) because their hearts were bent toward idolatry (v. 19) and because making such images violated his covenant with them (vv. 23–24).
Unfortunately, Israel broke the command to the letter by making a golden calf representing Yahweh (Ex. 32:1–6). As the NKJV reads, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (v. 4), resulting in “a feast to the LORD” (v. 5) before it. Jeroboam later one-upped Aaron by making two calves to represent Yahweh (1 Kings 12:28–29), which “became a sin” (v. 30).
In both cases, Israel broke covenant with God by imaging him. Since Jesus is God the Son, should we not hesitate before repeating the pattern?
2. Old Testament Theophanies
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God often appeared to his people in human form. Again, the argument is simple:
1. God appeared to his people in human form.2. God prohibited his people from making human images of him.3. Therefore, God appearing in human form doesn’t permit us to make images of him.
Deuteronomy 4 helps us again.
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Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Sunday, June 23, 2024
We should live in light of Christ’s return, under the power of His intercession. Christ sits at the Father’s right hand to secure a place for us. He intercedes for us to make sure that we arrive there safely. He shall return in glory to receive us to Himself and to judge the world. All of life has meaning and purpose because its meaning and purpose lies in Christ’s final exaltation, which encompasses the salvation of His people.

Every good story has an end. This world has an end as well. The effects of sin in every area of life lead many people to ask whether there is meaning in any area of life. Yet, everything that God made has a purpose. He created all things and He governs all things, directing them to the right goal. This means that our salvation has an end or purpose as well. The purpose of all things is to glorify God. God glorifies Himself most greatly in Christ’s work of purchasing our salvation, and in the Spirit’s work of applying our salvation. Creation is marching towards its perfection and glorious completion in Christ at the resurrection and final judgment (Rom. 8:18–26; Col. 1:20). While many things are wrong in the world today due to the effects of sin, God will ultimately set all things right when Christ returns to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). The exalted Christ will ultimately exalt the glory of God in every way, both in heaven and on earth.

Christ’s resurrection and ascension are not the only parts of His exaltation. Westminster Larger Catechism 54–56 teaches that God exalts Christ in His session, intercession, and return in judgment. These things are important because Jesus’ place in heaven secures ours, His intercession for us makes our prayers acceptable to God, and He is coming as Judge to receive us to Himself.
How Is Christ Exalted in His Session?
After making purification for sins, Christ sat at the Father’s right hand (Heb. 1:3). Like a worker who sits down after finishing a hard day’s work, Christ sat at the Father’s right hand and rested from His work (4:10). Yet Christ did not rest from His work because He was tired but because God exalted Him by seating Him. His session is thus part of His glory. The catechism explains this in two ways.
First, Christ received the Father’s favor and honor. Sitting at a monarch’s right hand is the highest place of honor. None can add to or take away from the eternal Son’s glory. Yet as the incarnate Son, He was “advanced to the highest favor with God the Father” (Phil. 2:9). The man Christ Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). The highest favor God gave Him was the “name that is above every name,” ensuring that every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” to the Father’s glory (Phil. 2:9–11). Just as He rejoiced in spirit at the Father’s will on earth (Luke 10:21), so He has “fullness of joy” at the Father’s right hand in heaven (Ps. 16:11). In His session, the Father answered Jesus’ prayer that the Father would glorify the Son and that the Son would glorify the Father (John 17:1) by glorifying Him with the glory that He had with the Father before the foundation of the world (v. 5). As the Son of Man, Jesus was invested by the Father with “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18; see Dan. 7:13–14). Christ is Head over all things for the sake of the church (Eph. 1:22), which is good news for those belonging to the church. Christ’s session at the Father’s right hand is the seat of the highest honor and power.

Second, Christ is seated to gather and defend His church. His work in doing so reflects His threefold office as Prophet, Priest, and King. As King, He subdues us to Himself by His Word and Spirit, and He subdues His and our enemies, putting them all under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). The kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of the seated and reigning Christ (Rev. 11:15). As Prophet, He furnishes “his ministers and people with gifts and graces” (WLC 54; Ps. 110:1; Eph. 4:10–12). He teaches through His ministers (Rom. 10:11–17) so that those who hear Him are taught by God (Isa. 54:13; John 6:45). As Priest, He intercedes for His people (Heb. 7:25). The seated Christ stood to receive Stephen to Himself (Acts 7:56). The seated Christ still stands in our place to make sure there is room for us in God’s eternal house (John 14:2). Christ’s three offices converge in His session. He is the King who takes captives and distributes teaching gifts to the church to fulfill His prophetic office. The primary content of this prophetic office is His priestly work, culminating in His death on the cross (1 Cor. 2:1–5).
Christ is seated at the Father’s right hand to secure a place for us in heaven.
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Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Thursday, June 13, 2024
We should read the Bible as one story, of one covenant of grace, with one church united in Christ, with Gentile salvation in view from the beginning. Yet we should also believe that God has a future plan for ethnic Jews, not by giving them a separate destiny as a separate people of God but by bringing them back to Jesus Christ through faith.

Israel is often on people’s minds. Unrest ebbs and flows in the Middle East, with Israel front and center, giving rise to practical and theological questions. Are Israelites a people of God distinct from the church? Is God with them, whether or not they believe in Christ? What is their destiny? How should Christians relate to Jews? The list goes on and, frankly, I hesitate to enter the fray.
When the most recent conflict in Israel broke out, someone at a church fellowship said to me, “You are the doctor of theology here. What should we think and do about Israel?” I stand by my reply: “I am neither competent nor able to speak to politics, but I can point people to Christ through Scripture.” The Bible’s covenant theology has something to say about the relationship between Israel and the church. Rather than politics, biblical answers tell us more about the breathtaking unity of Scripture and how Jews and Gentiles relate to Christ than other questions we might have. Ultimately, there is one people of God, including the salvation of the nations from the beginning, and Israel has a special place in God’s plan for the church.
Is There One People of God?
Moving the elephant in the room out of the way, Scripture does not teach that Israel and the church are two peoples of God with two destinies, one earthly (Israel) and one heavenly (the church). “Covenant” highlights the breathtaking unity of Scripture, making Jews and Gentiles one people of God in Christ (Eph. 2:15).
From the “first promise” of the “seed of the woman” who would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15) to one of the last promises of God’s heavenly dwelling with his people as their God (Rev. 21:3), covenant theology pulls together everything in between. The result is that we view the Bible more like a grand, epic narrative than like a collection of short stories. Seeing God’s promise to undo the ruin Satan brought through sin ties together all the pages of Scripture like a seamless thread. In this light, the promise to Abraham, that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:18), fits both Genesis 3:15 and Galatians 3:14, in which “the blessing of Abraham” applies to believers now. The “seed of the woman’s” suffering in the place of his people resurfaces in important passages like Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Romans 16:20.
Moses’s leading the people out of Egypt, and everything else he did, flowed from God’s remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex. 2:24–25). David looked to God to forgive sins and change hearts (Ps. 51), and he pleaded that the deliverer would come through one of his descendants (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89; Ps. 132). Solomon celebrated God’s faithfulness in establishing his seed (of the woman) over the ends of the earth, bringing blessings to all nations (Ps. 72). Peter urged believers to look to Christ’s return, teaching them that God preserves the world now for the sake of the elect, just as he did in Noah’s covenant in Genesis 6–9 (2 Pet. 3:8–9).
Covenant theology is a blessing because whatever book of Scripture we find ourselves in, every part reminds us of other parts. The entire book is about God’s covenant with his people, always pointing them to Christ (Lk. 24:44–46). Not only does the Old Testament fit with the New but the New starts to look like an inevitable result of the Old, without which the story would be incomplete.1
A single covenant of grace envelops both Jews and Gentiles in eternal life in Christ: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:28–29). Whether we consider God’s covenant with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, or with believers today under the new covenant in Christ, the “blessing of Abraham” (Gal. 3:14) comes on all believers, Jew and Gentile, who are “baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27).2
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Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Gospel ministry should mirror the Spirit’s ministry. He calls people to Christ generally and particularly, externally and internally. He calls sinners through preaching, even though some resist His call (Acts 7:51). Yet He calls the elect also through this general call, ensuring that they will answer it by extending to the elect the internal call as well. The Spirit opened Paul’s mouth to preach Christ, but He opened Lydia’s heart to receive Christ (16:14). Maybe our hang-up is that while we tell people, “Jesus died for you,” the Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

I am a strange Calvinist. The idea that atonement is limited to the elect is the last stumbling block for many, but it was one of my first steps into Reformed theology. While many people readily accept that we are totally depraved, that God chose us unconditionally and eternally in Christ, that we believe in Christ only by the Spirit’s irresistible grace, and that the triune God preserves us to persevere to the end, they find it harder to swallow that Christ died for the sins of the elect only. I came to Christ by understanding that God counted our sin to His Son in order to count His incarnate Son’s righteousness to us (2 Cor. 5:21). As soon as someone pointed out that all people must be saved if Christ did these things for all people, I was sold on limited atonement.

As a children’s catechism says, “Christ died for all who were given to Him by the Father.” The issue is the triune God’s design or intent in the atonement. We can best understand the fact that Christ came to save His people, and them only, from their sins (Matt. 1:21) by rooting Christ’s death in the saving work of the whole Trinity, and by answering two common questions.

The united work of the Trinity shows clearly why Christ died for the elect only. The Father chose believers in Christ before time began (Eph. 1:4–5). The Holy Spirit is the Father’s seal of ownership on the elect (vv. 13–14). No one receives the things of God or confesses that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10–16; 12:3). The Father calls His elect to Christ by His Word and Spirit (2 Cor. 3:16–18; James 1:18). The Trinity is undivided and indivisible. Christ’s death extends as far as the Father’s electing purpose (Acts 2:23) and the Spirit’s effecting power (13:48). It is not that the Father chose some and the Spirit changes some while Christ died for all. The Father saves by particular election, the Son by particular redemption, and the Spirit by particular calling. The Son will not be the broken link in the chain. Neither is Christ’s work divided.
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Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Thursday, April 14, 2022
The Bible teaches that sin is our fault, not God’s. While God is in control of every detail of this evil world (Isa. 45:7), He can neither sin nor be tempted by sin (James 1:13). The Westminster Larger Catechism reminds us of three biblical truths about the fall: (1) Adam and Eve could and did fall; (2) this came through Satan tempting them; and (3) they destroyed themselves by it.

Everyone is aware that we live in a sinful world, though not all people recognize that sin is the culprit. Sin shows its effects in the moral evils we see in society, and sin results in “natural evil” in the afflictions and miseries of this life. In light of these unmistakable facts of life, unbelievers often deny that God exists, or that sin exists, or both. Yet even when they ask how a good God could allow evil in this world, they assume that good exists, an assumption that is the backdrop against which we understand sin in the first place.1 This question and related assumption will either drive us back to the good God, who is good and does good (Ps. 119:68) and who is the fountain of goodness, or it will drive us to deny both God and ultimately good and evil. Yet evil still troubles us, and neither the Christian nor the atheist is comfortable living in a world full of evil.

The Bible says that sin and the evil resulting from it came into the world through humanity—through Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1–7). It describes their alienation from God, which was death to their souls, and the effects of sin in this life (Gen. 3:8–23). It clearly reveals that sin deserves God’s wrath and curse (Gen. 6:5–8), making Noah’s flood an object lesson of the wrath to come (2 Peter 3:1–7). Ecclesiastes 7:29 says simply, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” Adam fell from innocence, broke the covenant, and ruined mankind. Westminster Larger Catechism 21–23 summarizes this truth by stating the fact of the fall, its scope, and its effects. In this article, I will focus on the fact of the fall, leaving its effects for later essays. Understanding the fact of the fall is important because it shows us that our real need is not freedom from affliction, but reconciliation to God in Christ.
The Fall into Sin is a Fact
Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, through the temptation of Satan, transgressed the commandment of God in eating the forbidden fruit; and thereby fell from the estate of innocency wherein they were created. (WLC 21)
The Bible teaches that sin is our fault, not God’s. While God is in control of every detail of this evil world (Isa. 45:7), He can neither sin nor be tempted by sin (James 1:13). The Westminster Larger Catechism reminds us of three biblical truths about the fall: (1) Adam and Eve could and did fall; (2) this came through Satan tempting them; and (3) they destroyed themselves by it.
First, God left our first parents to the freedom of their own wills. Only God is unchangeable and unchanging (Mal. 3:6). All other things are changeable, including human beings. While we do not know how a good creature with a good heart could desire evil instead of good, we know that the good hearts of these good creatures did change to prefer evil. No one compelled them, not even God, to follow their own wills instead of His.
Second, Satan tempted them to trust themselves and his word over God and His Word. God told them that they would die (Gen. 2:16); Satan told them they would not die (Gen. 3:4). God had already made them like Himself in His own righteous image (Gen. 1:27); Satan told them that they would become like God through sin (Gen. 3:5). By rejecting God’s prohibition to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they put their faith in Satan’s word instead of God’s.2

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“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:10–18)
This is what it looks like to be “dead” in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). All sin is rooted in failing to glorify God as “the true God and our God” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 47). It is bad to be sinners before a holy God, but it is even worse to be unaware of who we are and why we need Christ to save us.
However, the Bible not only teaches that we are born dead in sin, that we are averse to living for God’s glory, and that we are inclined to evil, but it also teaches that all humanity died in Adam because all sinned in Adam (Rom. 5:12, 15, 19; 1 Cor. 15:22). This is what the church has called original sin. In order to understand this truth, I will show what original sin means and how it leads to all actual sins that we commit against God’s law. I will use Westminster Larger Catechism questions 24–26 to help us think through Scripture on the nature of sin and original sin. These issues are important because without understanding the nature, depths, and extent of our ruin, we cannot understand the glory of God’s remedy for sin in Christ.
What Is Sin?1
Before considering original sin, it is important to ask what sin is. For some people, sin means “brokenness” or “poor choices.” This misses the mark, focusing on the effects of sin on our lives rather than on the nature of sin itself. The Apostle John wrote, “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). While we can understand “brokenness” or “poor choices” without referring to God, we cannot understand sin without God and His law. It is not stones and trees or even animals that break God’s law but human and angelic beings.
We break God’s law negatively and positively. Negatively, sin is “want of conformity unto” the law. The First Catechism defines “want of conformity” as “not being or doing what God requires.”2 We should love God supremely, and we should love Him while we love others and above others. Failing to be worshipers and servants of the true God, trusting in Christ as our Savior, and depending on the Spirit to trust and obey God makes everything we think, do, or say sinful by definition.