In the covenant of grace, brought by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, God accepts us as His people by faith in Christ’s atoning work alone. These two covenants clarify that works and grace are two different and opposed ways of seeking to secure salvation and right standing with God. Covenant theology then helps us relate grace and works because our works cannot be the basis of our relationship with God, even though good works will be produced in the lives of true believers.

Some topics are covered frequently enough in Reformed churches that it might be easy to lose track of the basics. One such topic is covenant theology. Let’s look at five things that Christians should know about covenant theology.
1. Covenant Theology Is about Our Relationship with Go
A covenant is a formal relationship. Marriage best exemplifies this kind of relationship (Mal. 2:14). Marriage is the most intimate bond two people can have. This supremely personal and loving partnership is also a legal arrangement. Covenants work in a like manner.
Covenant theology helps us better appreciate how God relates to us. Walking with the Lord would be very difficult if He were not clear about what our relationship with Him is like. If we had to guess about things such as how God feels about us, whether He accepts us, how He accepts us, and the best ways to pursue Him, then we would frequently feel uncertain about our standing with Him.
Covenant theology affirms that God clearly explains what our relationship with Him is supposed to be like. Holy Scripture is God’s written, clear revelation of how we can have a right relationship with Him. Because a covenant is a formal relationship, God gives us certainty about our relationship with Him as He commits to us in that fixed bond.
2. Covenant Theology Helps Us Understand the Relationship between Works and Grace
Ephesians 2:8–9 captures a critical aspect of how Reformation Protestants have understood salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Sometimes, we struggle to explain how this free offer of salvation by grace alone relates to the point in verse 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). How do we hold together the freedom grace brings with our responsibility to live well?
In the traditional Reformed understanding, covenant theology distinguishes between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. God made the covenant of works with Adam before the fall, and it had the condition of perfect obedience.
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Written by C. Michael Patton |
Saturday, November 25, 2023
In Luke 19:11-27, stewardship is described as being over “cities.” We shouldn’t be too literal with this, but the fact is that we will have great responsibility. We will have jobs. We have every reason to believe that we will have to be on time to work, have certain job requirements, have a certain skill set, deal with others who are “under” us, and have successes (and possibly, sinless failures). The labor that we do will not be from the sweat of our brow any longer (Gen. 3:19). In other words, we will find joy and contentment in what we are doing. We will all love our jobs! In these things, we will worship and fellowship with God. 

Childhood Expectations of Heaven
Since I was young, I was excited about getting to heaven. We all were. I remember when my mother told my older sister, Kristie (yes, my wife’s name is also Kristie), about heaven. She told her that Christ was going to come someday to take us there. Upon hearing this, Kristie quickly ran out of the room. When my mother called to her and asked her why she was leaving so abruptly, she said, “I am going to get my shoes so I can be ready to go.”
Doubts and Guilt Arising from Traditional Teachings
But I also remember having my hopes dashed by something that produced a great amount of guilt. During a Sunday School session, while we were discussing heaven, the question on the table was if heaven was forever, what were we going to be doing all that time. Wouldn’t we be bored? The teacher responded in a way that is representative of many people’s understanding of heaven: “When we get to heaven, we will be bowing down before the throne of God twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”
The Traditional View of Eternal Worship
Talk about taking the wind out of the Superman sails of a little boy such as myself! I had big plans for heaven (which included flying 3-5 hours a day). It was hard enough for me to bow down before the throne of God for five minutes a day, much less for all eternity 24/7. Simply and unspiritually put, that does not sound like too much fun. The answer was always the same when I would timidly admit my fear of ultimate and eternal boredom: “When you are in heaven, sinless and in perfect submission to God’s will, you will be perfectly and joyfully content bowing before the throne of God all day, every day.”
Revelation and Misconceptions of Heaven
As best I can tell and remember, the primary reason why many people believe this is from the book of Revelation: “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.” And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” (Rev 4:8-11)
A Different Perspective on Heaven
But I don’t believe the Bible presents such a view of heaven. In fact, I think Evangelical “heavenology” is in as much need of a major overhaul as just about any other doctrine. In fact, even my previous hopes about heaven don’t pass biblical muster. I believe with a more systematic and biblical view of heaven things change quite a bit.
Common Misunderstandings About Heaven
Other misunderstandings I have since come to realize were wrong about heaven: The eternal heaven is separate from the Earth; In heaven, we will be able to fly (or do anything we want); In heaven, we will know everything; In heaven, you will not love anyone more than another; In heaven there will be no challenges, advancements, or failure.
Heaven’s Similarity to Earth
I often tell people today that one of the biggest surprises that Evangelicals will have when they get to heaven is not how different it is, but how similar it is.
The Concept of ‘Plan B’ in Heaven
Not “Plan B.” This is the most important thing for us to realize.
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So we evangelicals cannot criticise the Evangelicals for Harris campaign while overlooking Trump’s evil. Voting for the lesser evil in Trump can be a righteous act, but it’s unrighteous to ignore the evil, even if it’s lesser than Kamala Harris’ greater evil. Donald Trump’s position on abortion is deplorable and Kamala Harris’ position is demonic. Despite his great track record on abortion when he was president, Trump isn’t campaigning against abortion. Kamala Harris, however, is campaigning for abortion.

The evangelicals for Harris campaign is a contradiction in terms. “Evangelicals for Harris” is as absurd as Jews for Pharaoh, Christians for Emperor Nero, or evangelicals for Satan.
There is no such thing as “Evangelicals for Harris.” If you’re voting for Kamala Harris, you are not an evangelical. Everyone knows this, including Evangelicals for Harris.
Earlier this week Evangelicals for Harris held a Zoom meeting hosted by Ekemini Uwan, an anti-white and pro-abortion “public theologian” who has said:
“Lets be honest, evangelical really means white Christians. The term has always been problematic because it is narrow in that sense.”
“I don’t classify as an evangelical because it’s tightly bound to whiteness.”
“When I see ‘evangelical’ I know they are not talking about me or my kinsmen.”
“I’ve never considered myself an evangelical.”
So why would a person who doesn’t consider herself an evangelical host a meeting for a campaign called Evangelicals for Harris? 
As Megan Basham says in her bestselling book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, leftists know the best way to lure evangelical voters away from conservatism is to fund evangelical leaders who will frame leftist policies as Biblical precepts.
In the book, Basham writes:
“[in 2012, a left-wing cause named Atlantic Philanthropies] issued a report on its failing efforts to break down opposition to gay marriage in Ireland…the report highlighted the resistance of Ireland’s devout Catholics and Protestants. ‘Organized religion is at the heart of the LGBTI oppression and needs to be deconstructed,’ the authors wrote. But they quickly identified the roadblock they would face in achieving the aim: ‘How can one deconstruct an institution that provides hope and comfort to millions of desperate people?’ Rather than go on opposing churches, the gay lobby would need to co-opt them. “An engagement needs to come from groups within the churches,” the report advised. “LGBTI organizations need to appropriate Christian values for a progressive rights agenda.”
This is why Evangelicals for Harris exists. This is why they are encouraging people who hate evangelicalism to pose as evangelicals.
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