Covenant of acceptance?

[Carbon]

I was reading that during the time of the emergence of the Reformation, the basic approach to salvation at the time was a Covenant of acceptance, which was proposed by Gabriel Biel (1420-1495) and Robert Holcot, in which human and divine activity were blended for the individual to appropriate salvation.

The term "covenant" in this phrase is not an exposition of scripture but a construction expressing a doctrine. Their slogan was, "to the one who does his very best, God does not deny His grace."
Fallen man has innate dignity to the degree that he can love God above all things.

Heiko Oberman (a Reformed historian) describes this as an "outer structure" of justification by grace alone, with an "inner structure" of justification of works alone.
What does this mean? It means that a fallen person, by an act of will, could prepare himself, with an act of love by God, to receive grace in the sacraments.
Grace would then enable him to do good works formed by supernatural love for God, which God would finally reward with eternal life. At the first moment of this process of justification, it was a fallen, sinful person who moved toward God's grace, not God who moved toward the sinner. This was called the "covenant of acceptance," by which God agreed to accept one's doing "his very best," and which set him on the road to meriting eternal life. They called this "gracious" because God was not obliged to provide this opportunity for sinful humans.


Thoughts?


So, this was the basic approach to salvation as the Reformation emerged.
I can see there were many offshoots from this thought, "Covenant of acceptance," what comes to mind is Arminianism and semi-pelagianism.

 

[Carbon]

I was reading that during the time of the emergence of the Reformation, the basic approach to salvation at the time was a Covenant of acceptance, which was proposed by Gabriel Biel (1420-1495) and Robert Holcot, in which human and divine activity were blended for the individual to appropriate salvation.

The term "covenant" in this phrase is not an exposition of scripture but a construction expressing a doctrine. Their slogan was, "to the one who does his very best, God does not deny His grace."
Fallen man has innate dignity to the degree that he can love God above all things.

Heiko Oberman (a Reformed historian) describes this as an "outer structure" of justification by grace alone, with an "inner structure" of justification of works alone.
What does this mean? It means that a fallen person, by an act of will, could prepare himself, with an act of love by God, to receive grace in the sacraments.
Grace would then enable him to do good works formed by supernatural love for God, which God would finally reward with eternal life. At the first moment of this process of justification, it was a fallen, sinful person who moved toward God's grace, not God who moved toward the sinner. This was called the "covenant of acceptance," by which God agreed to accept one's doing "his very best," and which set him on the road to meriting eternal life. They called this "gracious" because God was not obliged to provide this opportunity for sinful humans.


Thoughts?


So, this was the basic approach to salvation as the Reformation emerged.
I can see there were many offshoots from this thought, "Covenant of acceptance," what comes to mind is Arminianism and semi-pelagianism.

This supposed theology of grace contrasts with the Reformers' idea of grace like night and day. As we know, the chief article of the Reformation was justification by faith alone. Justification is not a recognition of virtue or merit. Justification is a free forensic gift, a declaration of the status of righteousness, not a virtue "in" a person, and it is received by faith alone.

 

[Bruiser]

I was reading that during the time of the emergence of the Reformation, the basic approach to salvation at the time was a Covenant of acceptance, which was proposed by Gabriel Biel (1420-1495) and Robert Holcot, in which human and divine activity were blended for the individual to appropriate salvation.

The term "covenant" in this phrase is not an exposition of scripture but a construction expressing a doctrine. Their slogan was, "to the one who does his very best, God does not deny His grace."
Fallen man has innate dignity to the degree that he can love God above all things.

Heiko Oberman (a Reformed historian) describes this as an "outer structure" of justification by grace alone, with an "inner structure" of justification of works alone.
What does this mean? It means that a fallen person, by an act of will, could prepare himself, with an act of love by God, to receive grace in the sacraments.
Grace would then enable him to do good works formed by supernatural love for God, which God would finally reward with eternal life. At the first moment of this process of justification, it was a fallen, sinful person who moved toward God's grace, not God who moved toward the sinner. This was called the "covenant of acceptance," by which God agreed to accept one's doing "his very best," and which set him on the road to meriting eternal life. They called this "gracious" because God was not obliged to provide this opportunity for sinful humans.


Thoughts?


So, this was the basic approach to salvation as the Reformation emerged.
I can see there were many offshoots from this thought, "Covenant of acceptance," what comes to mind is Arminianism and semi-pelagianism.

It doesn't sound right at all. Grace is always first...