The Seed of the Woman? The Surprising Logic of Redemptive History

[DialecticSkeptic]

The Seed of the Woman? The Surprising Logic of Redemptive History​

WARNING: The following is not something that I have read anywhere, but rather it is something I have deduced from interrelated doctrines of Christian orthodoxy. That is not to say that nobody else has ever made the same connections, but only that I've never seen this set forth anywhere else. I hope it's not truly unique. Any theological, doctrinal, or confessional errors found in this tapestry that I have woven together from those servants of God whose works I have read are entirely my own. I welcome your patient review and critical analysis of the following theological synthesis.

Introduction​

In the ruins of Eden, as judgment fell upon the serpent, the woman, and finally the man, a word of hope pierced the darkness. God promised enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed, and foretold the crushing of the serpent's head by that promised seed (Gen. 3:15). This protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel—is often recognized as the dawn of the covenant of grace. And yet its covenantal and federal significance runs far deeper than is often appreciated.

It is not merely incidental that God spoke of the seed of the woman. In fact, that should be jarring. In ancient Israel, lineage was reckoned through the father. Tribal inheritance, priestly succession, and royal dynasties all flowed through the male line. But here, in the first articulation of salvation, God bypasses the man. He points forward to a redeemer who will come through the woman.

The stain of Adamic headship​

When Adam sinned, he did not merely plunge himself into ruin; he implicated all who were represented by his federal headship. Paul teaches that "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). Standing as the federal head of the human race, his disobedience rendered all those in him guilty and corrupt by nature (Rom. 5:12–19). Redemption could not come through ordinary generation, as all those born of Adam are necessarily defiled by the same corruption. We are all born into this world as covenant-breakers—polluted, guilty, and unfit and unable to destroy the works of the devil. No son of Adam, bearing his fallen image (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49), could ever rise to destroy the serpent.

A profound problem therefore emerges: How can salvation arise from a humanity already condemned? How can a covenant-keeping head emerge from Adamic humanity which gives birth to covenant-breakers?

The answer God gives in Genesis 3:15 is that the promised seed will come through the woman, not through the man. This subtle, sovereign act signals that redemption will not proceed by the natural course of human generation. It will come by divine intervention—a new work of God that interrupts the fallen order.

The virgin birth and the severance from Adam​

This stark covenantal reality finds its fulfillment in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Matthean gospel, Mary "was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:18). Luke likewise testifies that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her (Luke 1:35). Christ was conceived apart from a human father, severing the line of federal descent from Adam.

In the virgin birth, God sovereignly preserves true humanity—Christ is "born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4)—while breaking the transmission of covenantal guilt and corruption. The new covenant head must be truly man in order to redeem men, but he cannot be born of Adam's corrupted seed. In this way, Christ is born fully human and yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). He bears our human nature but not our sinful nature; he shares our flesh but not our depravity. He is suited to stand as a second Adam, a new federal representative, who can fulfill the demands of righteousness and crush the head of the ancient serpent.

• Christ is fully man, able to redeem men.
  
  ​
• Christ is without sin, able to be the spotless covenant-keeper.

This is no mere accident of history. It is the outworking of the eternal purpose of God, who ordered all things to reveal the supremacy of his grace. Christ's miraculous conception is the visible manifestation of God's invisible decree that salvation would be entirely of the Lord, as fallen humanity cannot save itself.

The formation of a new humanity​

By being born of a virgin with no earthly father, the promised seed inaugurates a new humanity distinct from the fallen mass of Adam's race. According to covenantal headship, those born in Adam are by nature covenant-breakers (sinners); by contrast, those born-again in Christ are by grace covenant-keepers (righteous). When believers are united to Christ, they are no longer reckoned under Adam's condemned headship but placed under Christ's righteous headship. Just as all those in Adam die, so all those in Christ are made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)—which was foreshadowed by the promise spoken by God of the woman, whom Adam subsequently called Eve, the mother of all the living.

In Genesis 3:15 we find the inauguration of the covenant of grace. After the fall, God sovereignly institutes a new covenantal structure, one centered on the promised seed. This covenant is not made in the context of Adam as a private individual, nor in the context of humanity as capable covenant-keepers, but in the context of Christ as the appointed Mediator of all those in him. From the very outset, redemptive history is structured not by human effort or potential but the redemptive plan of God's sovereign purpose. The God who ordains the end also ordains the means, from the virgin conception to the sinless life, atoning death, the victorious resurrection of our only Redeemer. Every element of salvation is rooted in God's gracious reconstitution of humanity under a new covenant head—the seed of the woman.

Conclusion​

When we read the protoevangelium, we are not simply hearing the first whisper of hope; we are witnessing the announcement of a new cosmic order. God, in his infinite wisdom, ordained that salvation would come not through the polluted stream of Adam's sons but through a miraculous intervention in the womb of a woman, the seed who would crush the serpent's head, undoing the works of the devil and establishing a new creation in himself. The virgin birth is not an ad hoc isolated miracle but the covenantal logic of redemptive history, marking the point where the old Adamic world gives way to the new creation in Christ.

Through the seed of the woman we are brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col. 1:13). Through him we are made righteous, holy, and heirs of eternal life—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God (if you will allow me to repurpose a well-known passage). To God alone be the glory, who has done this, from before the foundation of the world, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

This answers a question raised by Donald Spoto in his 1998 book The Hidden Jesus: A New Life (emphasis mine):

The silence of the biblical witness on this matter [of the virginal conception] (except for the brief mention in Matthew and Luke) suggests either that this "fact" was not known and admitted in the first-century church or that it was not regarded as essential for a profession of faith in Christ. In any case, it would be difficult to hold that belief in Jesus necessarily includes an affirmation of the literalness of his virginal conception and birth.
​

It no longer seems difficult, in my estimation.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I thought this is what was taught. I agree it's what the Bible certainly teaches, and I have been teaching it in light of that.

post hyperlink

For the whole law to have been followed the entity fulfilling the whole law then had to stand every day of their life in accordance with God's moral law in thought, action, and nature.

Jesus' humanity, being a product of God's Holy Spirit and Mary, did not inherit the sin nature of Adam. The sin nature is inherited from Adam's federal headship and Jesus Christ did not have "Adam" as His father, God was His Father.

Jesus Christ in his humanity wasn't born under the federal headship of Adam, but under the Federal Headship within the Godhead itself.

Think being judged according to the sin of our fathers and the promise of a day we would not be (Jeremiah 31:29-30) Man is the federal head of woman. Not the other way around.

In other words, our sin nature since the fall comes from our actual father's, not our mother's, though our mother's have a sin nature themselves from their father

Your thread is awesome. I'll refer to it in the future for sure.

 

[3 Resurrections]

We are all born into this world as covenant-breakers

This is the lone statement in your entire post that I believe could benefit from a bit of revision. Not only are we all born into the world as covenant-breakers, all of humanity from the moment of conception forward are covenant-breakers. It's quite probable that you would agree with this. But those who believe that infants while still in the womb are not yet sinners with Adam's fallen nature might turn your statement as it stands into a springboard from which to argue their point.

 

[Arial]

The Seed of the Woman? The Surprising Logic of Redemptive History​

Introduction​

In the ruins of Eden, as judgment fell upon the serpent, the woman, and finally the man, a word of hope pierced the darkness. God promised enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed, and foretold the crushing of the serpent's head by that promised seed (Gen. 3:15). This protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel—is often recognized as the dawn of the covenant of grace. And yet its covenantal and federal significance runs far deeper than is often appreciated.

It is not merely incidental that God spoke of the seed of the woman. In fact, that should be jarring. In ancient Israel, lineage was reckoned through the father. Tribal inheritance, priestly succession, and royal dynasties all flowed through the male line. But here, in the first articulation of salvation, God bypasses the man. He points forward to a redeemer who will come through the woman.

The stain of Adamic headship​

When Adam sinned, he did not merely plunge himself into ruin; he implicated all who were represented by his federal headship. Paul teaches that "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). Standing as the federal head of the human race, his disobedience rendered all those in him guilty and corrupt by nature (Rom. 5:12–19). Redemption could not come through ordinary generation, as all those born of Adam are necessarily defiled by the same corruption. We are all born into this world as covenant-breakers—polluted, guilty, and unfit and unable to destroy the works of the devil. No son of Adam, bearing his fallen image (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49), could ever rise to destroy the serpent.

A profound problem therefore emerges: How can salvation arise from a humanity already condemned? How can a covenant-keeping head emerge from Adamic humanity which gives birth to covenant-breakers?

The answer God gives in Genesis 3:15 is that the promised seed will come through the woman, not through the man. This subtle, sovereign act signals that redemption will not proceed by the natural course of human generation. It will come by divine intervention—a new work of God that interrupts the fallen order.

The Virgin Birth and the Severance from Adam​

This stark covenantal reality finds its fulfillment in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Matthean gospel, Mary "was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:18). Luke likewise testifies that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her (Luke 1:35). Christ was conceived apart from a human father, severing the line of federal descent from Adam.

In the virgin birth, God sovereignly preserves true humanity—Christ is "born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4)—while breaking the transmission of covenantal guilt and corruption. The new covenant head must be truly man in order to redeem men, but he cannot be born of Adam's corrupted seed. In this way, Christ is born fully human and yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). He bears our human nature but not our sinful nature; he shares our flesh but not our depravity. He is suited to stand as a second Adam, a new federal representative, who can fulfill the demands of righteousness and crush the head of the ancient serpent.

• Christ is fully man, able to redeem men.
  
  ​
• Christ is without sin, able to be the spotless covenant-keeper.

This is no mere accident of history. It is the outworking of the eternal purpose of God, who ordered all things to reveal the supremacy of his grace. Christ's miraculous conception is the visible manifestation of God's invisible decree that salvation would be entirely of the Lord, as fallen humanity cannot save itself.

The formation of a new humanity​

By being born of a virgin with no earthly father, the promised seed inaugurates a new humanity distinct from the fallen mass of Adam's race. According to covenantal headship, those born in Adam are by nature covenant-breakers (sinners); by contrast, those born-again in Christ are by grace covenant-keepers (righteous). When believers are united to Christ, they are no longer reckoned under Adam's condemned headship but placed under Christ's righteous headship. Just as all those in Adam die, so all those in Christ are made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)—which was foreshadowed by the promise spoken by God of the woman, whom Adam subsequently called Eve, the mother of all the living.

In Genesis 3:15 we find the inauguration of the covenant of grace. After the fall, God sovereignly institutes a new covenantal structure, one centered on the promised seed. This covenant is not made in the context of Adam as a private individual, nor in the context of humanity as capable covenant-keepers, but in the context of Christ as the appointed Mediator of all those in him. From the very outset, redemptive history is structured not by human effort or potential but the redemptive plan of God's sovereign purpose. The God who ordains the end also ordains the means, from the virgin conception to the sinless life, atoning death, the victorious resurrection of our only Redeemer. Every element of salvation is rooted in God's gracious reconstitution of humanity under a new covenant head—the seed of the woman.

Conclusion​

When we read the protoevangelium, we are not simply hearing the first whisper of hope; we are witnessing the announcement of a new cosmic order. God, in his infinite wisdom, ordained that salvation would come not through the polluted stream of Adam's sons but through a miraculous intervention in the womb of a woman, the seed who would crush the serpent's head, undoing the works of the devil and establishing a new creation in himself. The virgin birth is not an ad hoc isolated miracle but the covenantal logic of redemptive history, marking the point where the old Adamic world gives way to the new creation in Christ.

Through the seed of the woman we are brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col. 1:13). Through him we are made righteous, holy, and heirs of eternal life—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God (if you will allow me to repurpose a well-known passage). To God alone be the glory, who has done this, from before the foundation of the world, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I have seen the things you put forth here, though I could never have articulated it so well and so completely. I take exception to only one thing and that is where you say Gen3: 15 was the inauguration of the Covenant of Grace. I see it as the inauguration of the Covenant of Redemption that existed within the Godhead before creation. And that Covenant of Redemption flows like a river, steady and true, through every word, every historical event, every Psalm, wisdom, prophecy from cover to cover of the Bible. It never diverges or bends but flows straight and true and strong, the River of Life, towards the new creation and the new creature in Christ.

The purpose of the virgin birth and the seed of the woman, is central to redemption, and I have of late, been flabbergasted with its perfection. The perfection of God in all he does. You articulated that perfection very well. Thanks.

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

This is the lone statement in your entire post that I believe could benefit from a bit of revision. Not only are we all born into the world as covenant-breakers, all of humanity from the moment of conception forward are covenant-breakers. It's quite probable that you would agree with this. But those who believe that infants while still in the womb are not yet sinners with Adam's fallen nature might turn your statement as it stands into a springboard from which to argue their point.

Well spotted, thank you. I will revise my personal draft to say that we are conceived in this world as covenant-breakers.

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

I have seen the things you put forth here, though I could never have articulated it so well and so completely.

I appreciate your kinds words and thank you for them. But all glory goes to God from whom all talents come and who gives generously.

I take exception to only one thing and that is where you say Genesis 3:15 was the inauguration of the covenant of grace. I see it as the inauguration of the covenant of redemption that existed within the Godhead before creation.

This may be a product of the difference between our theological perspectives. I take a largely supralapsarian view of things—a minority view, I know—wherein it is creation itself that's the inauguration of the covenant of redemption. On this view, the protoevangelium inaugurates the covenant of grace, all of which functions within that intratrinitarian pactum salutis.

The purpose of the virgin birth and the seed of the woman, is central to redemption, and I have of late, been flabbergasted with its perfection. The perfection of God in all he does. You articulated that perfection very well. Thanks.

A very solid amen to that.

 

[Arial]

I appreciate your kinds words and thank you for them. But all glory goes to God from whom all talents come and who gives generously.

I know. And that is who I give the glory to, but it is nice to hear from others that the gift is seen and it hit a mark.

This may be a product of the difference between our theological perspectives. I take a largely supralapsarian view of things—a minority view, I know—wherein it is creation itself that's the inauguration of the covenant of redemption. On this view, the protoevangelium inaugurates the covenant of grace, all of which functions within that intratrinitarian pactum salutis.

That may be. How I usually word it, and I don't know why I didn't here, is that Gen 3:15 is when the Covenant of Redemption is first spoken and promised, and revealed to us.

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

That may be. How I usually word it—and I don't know why I didn't here—is that Genesis 3:15 is when the covenant of redemption is first spoken and promised, and revealed to us.

That still doesn't follow, for me. As I understand it—and, again, this may be a difference between our perspectives—the pactum salutis was an eternal, intratrinitarian covenant, which means nothing of the covenant of redemption would be promised to man. It is strictly between the Godhead.

There is the covenant of redemption between the Godhead on the one hand, which grounds the covenant of grace between the triune God and the elect on the other hand. According to Berkhof, this distinct framing is followed by the majority of Reformed theologians, from Turretin to Witsius and Vos to Bavinck, and so on (i.e., even by us supralapsarians).

It is also worth highlighting the difference between the covenant of redemption and the plan of redemption. The covenant of redemption is the eternal, intratrinitarian agreement concerning the redemption of the elect (the foundation), while the plan of redemption is the historical unfolding of that agreement (the execution), which includes both the prelapsarian covenant of works and the postlapsarian covenant of grace.

Christ, as Mediator—whose office is not merely to redeem but to mediate the entire relationship between God and man according to the terms of the covenants—fulfills the covenant of redemption by accomplishing the redemption of the elect, satisfies the covenant of works on their behalf through his active and passive obedience, and administers the covenant of grace by granting to his people the benefits of his finished work through union with himself. And all of this is the plan of redemption unfolding in history.

 

[Josheb]

The Seed of the Woman? The Surprising Logic of Redemptive History​

Introduction
In the ruins of Eden, as judgment fell upon the serpent, the woman, and finally the man, a word of hope pierced the darkness. God promised enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed, and foretold the crushing of the serpent's head by that promised seed (Gen. 3:15). This protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel—is often recognized as the dawn of the covenant of grace. And yet its covenantal and federal significance runs far deeper than is often appreciated.

Yep

It is not merely incidental that God spoke of the seed of the woman. In fact, that should be jarring. In ancient Israel, lineage was reckoned through the father. Tribal inheritance, priestly succession, and royal dynasties all flowed through the male line.

Yes, that is an old argument, but is it true? Is way lineage was reckoned by ancient Hebrews even relevant? Does it have anything to do with God's thinking at the time He first spoke those words to Adam and Eve?

But here, in the first articulation of salvation, God bypasses the man. He points forward to a redeemer who will come through the woman.

He bypassed the woman, too. If she was just a vessel the God was doing something very similar to what he'd done with the first Adam: making a human without human progenitors. Isn't it important that we read the text as written and try to understand it as it would have been understood by those who first heard those words? Isn't one of the first, the most basic, fundamental rules of interpretation to understand the text as the original audience understood it.

In this case there are two original audiences, the first being Adam and Eve, and the second being the original readers of Moses' writing (since tradition attributes authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses). Perhaps the 14th or 13th century BC audience of Moses' first readers traced lineage through the males, but did Adam and Eve do so? What would "seed of a woman" mean to Adam and Eve?

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.

We know from the verse itself God is speaking of the result, not the origin. God uses the word "he" in reference to the "seed." In other words, it's not a reference to a seed planted, but a seed harvested; the fruit, or offspring of a woman.

What if the Hebraic "tradition" was ignored? Why do we need that to define and understand the verse when those words were spoken centuries before Hebrews reckoned things tribally? Long before God repudiated earthly monarchies for His people (see 1 Sam. 1:8)?

 

[EarlyActs]

The Seed of the Woman? The Surprising Logic of Redemptive History​

Introduction​

In the ruins of Eden, as judgment fell upon the serpent, the woman, and finally the man, a word of hope pierced the darkness. God promised enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed, and foretold the crushing of the serpent's head by that promised seed (Gen. 3:15). This protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel—is often recognized as the dawn of the covenant of grace. And yet its covenantal and federal significance runs far deeper than is often appreciated.

It is not merely incidental that God spoke of the seed of the woman. In fact, that should be jarring. In ancient Israel, lineage was reckoned through the father. Tribal inheritance, priestly succession, and royal dynasties all flowed through the male line. But here, in the first articulation of salvation, God bypasses the man. He points forward to a redeemer who will come through the woman.

The stain of Adamic headship​

When Adam sinned, he did not merely plunge himself into ruin; he implicated all who were represented by his federal headship. Paul teaches that "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). Standing as the federal head of the human race, his disobedience rendered all those in him guilty and corrupt by nature (Rom. 5:12–19). Redemption could not come through ordinary generation, as all those born of Adam are necessarily defiled by the same corruption. We are all born into this world as covenant-breakers—polluted, guilty, and unfit and unable to destroy the works of the devil. No son of Adam, bearing his fallen image (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49), could ever rise to destroy the serpent.

A profound problem therefore emerges: How can salvation arise from a humanity already condemned? How can a covenant-keeping head emerge from Adamic humanity which gives birth to covenant-breakers?

The answer God gives in Genesis 3:15 is that the promised seed will come through the woman, not through the man. This subtle, sovereign act signals that redemption will not proceed by the natural course of human generation. It will come by divine intervention—a new work of God that interrupts the fallen order.

The virgin birth and the severance from Adam​

This stark covenantal reality finds its fulfillment in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Matthean gospel, Mary "was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:18). Luke likewise testifies that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her (Luke 1:35). Christ was conceived apart from a human father, severing the line of federal descent from Adam.

In the virgin birth, God sovereignly preserves true humanity—Christ is "born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4)—while breaking the transmission of covenantal guilt and corruption. The new covenant head must be truly man in order to redeem men, but he cannot be born of Adam's corrupted seed. In this way, Christ is born fully human and yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). He bears our human nature but not our sinful nature; he shares our flesh but not our depravity. He is suited to stand as a second Adam, a new federal representative, who can fulfill the demands of righteousness and crush the head of the ancient serpent.

• Christ is fully man, able to redeem men.
  
  ​
• Christ is without sin, able to be the spotless covenant-keeper.

This is no mere accident of history. It is the outworking of the eternal purpose of God, who ordered all things to reveal the supremacy of his grace. Christ's miraculous conception is the visible manifestation of God's invisible decree that salvation would be entirely of the Lord, as fallen humanity cannot save itself.

The formation of a new humanity​

By being born of a virgin with no earthly father, the promised seed inaugurates a new humanity distinct from the fallen mass of Adam's race. According to covenantal headship, those born in Adam are by nature covenant-breakers (sinners); by contrast, those born-again in Christ are by grace covenant-keepers (righteous). When believers are united to Christ, they are no longer reckoned under Adam's condemned headship but placed under Christ's righteous headship. Just as all those in Adam die, so all those in Christ are made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)—which was foreshadowed by the promise spoken by God of the woman, whom Adam subsequently called Eve, the mother of all the living.

In Genesis 3:15 we find the inauguration of the covenant of grace. After the fall, God sovereignly institutes a new covenantal structure, one centered on the promised seed. This covenant is not made in the context of Adam as a private individual, nor in the context of humanity as capable covenant-keepers, but in the context of Christ as the appointed Mediator of all those in him. From the very outset, redemptive history is structured not by human effort or potential but the redemptive plan of God's sovereign purpose. The God who ordains the end also ordains the means, from the virgin conception to the sinless life, atoning death, the victorious resurrection of our only Redeemer. Every element of salvation is rooted in God's gracious reconstitution of humanity under a new covenant head—the seed of the woman.

Conclusion​

When we read the protoevangelium, we are not simply hearing the first whisper of hope; we are witnessing the announcement of a new cosmic order. God, in his infinite wisdom, ordained that salvation would come not through the polluted stream of Adam's sons but through a miraculous intervention in the womb of a woman, the seed who would crush the serpent's head, undoing the works of the devil and establishing a new creation in himself. The virgin birth is not an ad hoc isolated miracle but the covenantal logic of redemptive history, marking the point where the old Adamic world gives way to the new creation in Christ.

Through the seed of the woman we are brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col. 1:13). Through him we are made righteous, holy, and heirs of eternal life—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God (if you will allow me to repurpose a well-known passage). To God alone be the glory, who has done this, from before the foundation of the world, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I enjoyed this. I think that there is a model in Isaac's conception as well, and that is why the analogy of Isaac in Rom 9 rattles Judaism in the 1st century.

It also means that Gal 4's 'born of a woman' is "enough" of a surprise. No need to pile on the surprise of born of a virgin even though it was the case.

 

[Josheb]

I enjoyed this. I think that there is a model in Isaac's conception as well, and that is why the analogy of Isaac in Rom 9 rattles Judaism in the 1st century.

It also means that Gal 4's 'born of a woman' is "enough" of a surprise. No need to pile on the surprise of born of a virgin even though it was the case.

I believe, like Jesus, Isaac is also called "monogene". I'll have to track down the reference.

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

It also means that Gal 4's 'born of a woman' is "enough" of a surprise. No need to pile on the surprise of born of a virgin even though it was the case.

For me, it turns the virgin conception into an essential doctrine for Reformed covenant theology.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Yes, that is an old argument, but is it true? Is way lineage was reckoned by ancient Hebrews even relevant?

The "Jewishness" of the child is reckoned through the mother (you know factually who she is) and headship and inheritance is reckoned through the father.

This is why Mary's lineage was important to list in Scripture, Jesus' Jewish identity came legally from her, not Joseph.

Jesus would be legally Joseph's adopted son, which gives Jesus full inheritance rights under Jewish law and all the patrilineal inheritance benefits from Joseph.

 

[makesends]

That still doesn't follow, for me. As I understand it—and, again, this may be a difference between our perspectives—the pactum salutis was an eternal, intratrinitarian covenant, which means nothing of the covenant of redemption would be promised to man. It is strictly between the Godhead.

There is the covenant of redemption between the Godhead on the one hand, which grounds the covenant of grace between the triune God and the elect on the other hand. According to Berkhof, this distinct framing is followed by the majority of Reformed theologians, from Turretin to Witsius and Vos to Bavinck, and so on (i.e., even by us supralapsarians).

It is also worth highlighting the difference between the covenant of redemption and the plan of redemption. The covenant of redemption is the eternal, intratrinitarian agreement concerning the redemption of the elect (the foundation), while the plan of redemption is the historical unfolding of that agreement (the execution), which includes both the prelapsarian covenant of works and the postlapsarian covenant of grace.

Christ, as Mediator—whose office is not merely to redeem but to mediate the entire relationship between God and man according to the terms of the covenants—fulfills the covenant of redemption by accomplishing the redemption of the elect, satisfies the covenant of works on their behalf through his active and passive obedience, and administers the covenant of grace by granting to his people the benefits of his finished work through union with himself. And all of this is the plan of redemption unfolding in history.

I tend to agree, because to me the difference between who/what GOD is, compared to the nothingness of man apart from God, doesn't make man worthy of entering into any agreement with God about anything, nor for God to deal with man for man's sake. The intratrinitarian covenant is for GOD'S sake and for HIS own purposes, and man is included in the terms of it.

 

[EarlyActs]

Why is there a warning? About what and to whom? Why not a disclaimer?

Also, I don’t care what systems say. I don’t know why I should. Just the facts and texts , please.

 

[makesends]

Why is there a warning? About what and to whom? Why not a disclaimer?

Also, I don’t care what systems say. I don’t know why I should. Just the facts and texts , please.

This is in response to whom or about what?

What are you talking about, here?

 

[EarlyActs]

This is in response to whom or about what?

What are you talking about, here?

See the OP, see post #1

All systems of theology I know of are clutter in the way of reality, the reality of texts and facts.

 

[makesends]

See the OP, see post #1

All systems of theology I know of are clutter in the way of reality, the reality of texts and facts.

Including yours, then? Frankly, we can't help but categorize, systematize in one way or another. It's what we do. Just thinking and reading, we have presuppositions and habits of thinking that assume what it written necessarily accommodates, or operates according to, x or y or z or whatever.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Including yours, then? Frankly, we can't help but categorize, systematize in one way or another. It's what we do. Just thinking and reading, we have presuppositions and habits of thinking that assume what it written necessarily accommodates, or operates according to, x or y or z or whatever.

This is very true... Lol.