Monday, July 7, 2014

The Unity of the Covenant of Grace

From A. W. Tozer  The Knowledge of the Holy (p. 102):

"...Grace made sainthood possible in the Old Testament days just as it does today.  No one was ever saved other than by grace, from Abel to the present moment.  Since mankind was banished from the eastward Garden, none has ever returned to the divine favor except through the sheer goodness of God.  And wherever grace found any man it was always by Jesus Christ.  Grace indeed came by Jesus Christ, but it did not wait for His birth in the manger or His death on the cross before it became operative. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of world.  The first man in human history to be reinstated in the fellowship of God came through faith in Christ.  In olden times men looked forward to Christ's redeeming work; in later times they gaze back upon it, but always they came and come by grace, through faith."

Clarified by Michael Horton in his article "Who Saves Whom?"

"Thus, there is no true Israel apart from faith in Christ. Only those who cling to him in faith are chosen; the rest are judged along with the Gentiles (Ro.11:5-10). "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham," Paul instructed the Galatians (Gal.3:7). There are no Jews who ever have been saved, are now saved, or who ever will be saved who were not chosen members of the church in both testaments--the ancient (Old Testament) church looking forward to Christ and the modern church looking back to Christ and forward to his return."

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