Did Adam and Elect Angels Merit Under Covenant of Works?
Some have supposed these views to be inconsistent with the terms of the Covenant of Works between God and the elect angels, and God and Adam. They say that Paul, (Rom. 4:4, 5; 11:6), in drawing the contrast already cited between works and grace, assigns condign merit to a perfect service done under a Covenant of Works. “To him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace, but of debt.” I reply: this of courser is true of works done under a covenant of works. But to overthrow the Reformed argument, they must show that it would be true also of works done under the natural relation to God, as Lord before any covenant of promise. When once God has gratuitously condescended to promise, a claim of right for the perfect service rendered does emerge; of course. It emerges out of Gods fidelity, not out of commutative justice. And when the creature, as Gabriel for instance, complies with the covenanted terms perfectly, and in his own strength, he gets his reward on different terms from those
