Hi OC, Before our posts get overly long I thought we'd better start taking smaller bites rather than risk death by word count. In this one I mainly want to clarify the initial Covenant status you describe at Creation and post-fall.
OC wrote
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I must disagree. From the very beginning in Genesis, God identifies Himself not as the Great Judge, but as Father(cf Luke 3: 38). He also identifies Himself as King, Judge, Creator, and by many, many other titles. But the appeal we see most often in the NT is the Fatherhood of God. Many of the precepts of the NT are placed in a familial setting, such as, for instance, eternal life being described as "the inheritance." That is a familial term, not a judicial term.
I must disagree too. But perhaps not very strongly over this matter. More of an emphasis really. The words "legal" and "judicial" conjure cold severe objective connotations when really we are speaking of the Self -determined "justness" of Almighty God who is accountable to no-one. And you are right, "From the beginning" God is principally revealed as the Creator and yes, in that,as the ultimate Father. But, (my point) when Adam falls, there is a shift to God's dealing with man as fallen in Adam and in need of redemption (an act of love and mercy predicated by justice). The human race is therefore lost, "almost from the beginning". Now the remedial and judicial aspects of the relationship come to the fore as God provides a perfect way of Redemption that will save some fallen men (careful wording so we don't stray off topic!). Since man is the guilty party, having lost his unfallen sonship status, attention is now rightly directed to God as Merciful Judge and ultimately as Redeemer. Interestingly, just at this point, immediately post-fall, how would you describe man's covenantal status? (Let's say from Gen 3:15 on...for clarity). Has Adam broken covenant, or not? If not, which covenant is he under?
