Comments on: Merit and Moses (Part 1) https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/  Informing Minds. Moving Hearts. Directing Hands. Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.41 By: What Does Republication Have to Do with Christotelic Hermeneutics? Quite a Lot, Actually | Allkirk Network https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46531 Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:51:10 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46531 […] by Andrew Elam et al. (Wipf & Stock, 2014), and with blog posts by Reformed scholars like David Murray and Mark Jones. Opponents of republication are not always united in every area of theology, but […]

]]> By: Martin https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46364 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:44:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46364 Hello Martin,
There are two prerequisites for the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28. Blessings come to those who fully obey, and curses come to those who disobey. there is no mention of apostasy at all, just disobedience. I cannot find any place under the Old Covenant that would suggest that an Israelite can voluntarily opt out of the covenant; they could certainly worship other gods, but this did not remove them from the Mosaic Covenant, only being put to death could do that. They remained under the covenant, even if they did worship other gods. So the curses were for Jews who disobeyed and they are a provision within the covenant for people under the covenant.
If you are of the view that certain people did obey the terms of the covenant and consequently receive blessing from God as a consequence of it, you may find yourself in conflict with Paul who believes that there was no Jew who was righteous according to the Law – apart from the glorious Lord.
Regards,
Martin

]]> By: Martin https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46363 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:38:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46363 Hello again Martin,
Martin is my real name, if you want more details, post your email address and I will send them to you. I have a policy of not putting any unnecessary information on the Web – it is a good policy and I am sticking with it. I don’t know why you can’t accept a discussion from someone you don’t know; I don’t believe I am being discourteous or defaming anyone. I am simply discussing the Scriptures with you. Whether you choose to reply or not is your prerogative, but please do not mistake wisdom for cowardice.
Concerning the WCF, 19.1 & 2 speak of a law that was a covenant of works. WCF 19.2 commences with “This law”, which I assume refers to the law just described in WCF 19.1. If you believe it to be another law you should explain how. But it does not end there. WCF 19.6 declares that true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works. Any fair reading of this would suggest that the law was in its default mode, a covenant of works, for everybody else, especially Israel.
WCF 7.5 Refers to different administrations of the covenant of grace. It suggests that aspects of the law could be used by the Spirit to instruct the Elect concerning the covenant of grace. It does not, however, say that the law is a covenant of grace or an administration of it.
The horrible outcome for covenantal disobedience under Moses is Deut 28:53-57.
Regards,
Martin

]]> By: R. Martin Snyder https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46362 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:16:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46362 If you are referring to the Deuteronomy passage You are missing the preceding passages. The abandoning of the Covenant of Grace. Apostasy. There are many passages in the New Testament that deal with sin and apostasy.

]]> By: R. Martin Snyder https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46361 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:03:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46361 Were does the WCF make clear that the Mosaic Covenant is not an administration of the Covenant of Grace? And what is your name Martin? Your real whole name. I don’t have much appreciation for those who post anonymously. I usually don’t reply to such.

Would you please supply me with a reference of the Covenant requiring the consumption of children? That would help me answer you better. Thanks.

]]> By: Martin https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46352 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 02:17:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46352 Good explanation Christopher,
thanks

]]> By: Martin https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46351 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:35:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46351 Sorry David, you will need to explain further. Do you mean to say that God punishes severely those who are in the New Covenant (Covenant of Grace) for there transgression, or do you mean that God punishes severely those who have departed from the New Covenant? It would appear to me that if a person is in Covenant with Christ in the NC, then they are secure. If a person was in the Covenant of Moses however, they can be punished in any number of ways for their transgression – even being removed from His book (Exod 32:33). Even in Exile, Israelites were still in the Mosaic Covenant. They did not rejoin when they returned.
Hope the camp went well,
Martin

]]> By: Martin https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46350 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:27:00 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46350 The Mosaic Covenant is not an administration of the covenant of grace, as the WCF makes clear. The covenant of grace can be found within it, but the covenant itself is a Covenant of Works. Murray made the case that there are only gracious covenants, and that is where the Reformed community went off the rails. Why can’t you answer the question, even though ‘if’ is a qualifier. You accept that the Law is gracious, now explain how a gracious covenant requires the consumption of your children in the inevitable event of non-compliance. You can slam-dunk the argument if you can explain this.
Respectfully,
Martin

]]> By: Merit and Moses (Part 4) https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46321 Sun, 17 Aug 2014 04:09:57 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46321 […] idea that the Mosaic covenant is, in an important sense, a republication of the covenant of works (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Today I’d like to offer some concluding comments about the […]

]]> By: Merit and Moses (Part 3) https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/08/11/moses-and-merit-part-1/#comment-46313 Fri, 15 Aug 2014 04:08:45 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=18556#comment-46313 […] MM), a response by three OPC pastors to The Law is Not of Faith (hereafter TLNF). You can read part one here and part two here. Today I look at the third and final main section of the book which looks at […]

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