Sunday school lesson on the covenant of life, 2003-11-23.
Lesson 11 (”question” 12, catechism 16): What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil upon pain of death.
Agenda
Memory verse for 2003-11-30: Gen 2:16-17
Take attendance, hand out “Focus”.
Read verse, read catechism
Remind: God’s works of providence are his “most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.”
Discuss covenants
covenant, a solemn agreement between two or more parties
Have students provide examples of covenants
Read and discuss “who started it?” God initiated the covenant
Read and discuss “the covenant of life”
God initiated the covenant
The covenant was a gift of life to man
Preservation of physical life
Eternal life
Enjoying the presence of God (whose value we see in hindsight, in the separation from God brought by sin)
Read and discuss “the condition of the covenant” perfect obedience
Forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Upon pain of death
Physical death
Eternal death
[other commands not expressed as conditions]
[optional] do “Bible search” exercise from teacher’s guide
Read “a new home”; do exercise
“Adam’s hope (through grace) is to return to paradise — in heaven”; no conditions; enjoy God forever.
Do “summing up” exercise
Teaching notes
God created man
God is sovereign
God is lord, ruler, king
Man is indebted to God for his very existence, and is responsible to God
Piper’s comments
Answer: When God had created man, he made a covenant with him that he should live and enjoy all the benefits of creation, but that he would die if he forsook the obedience that comes from faith. God commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thus forsake his child-like dependence upon God for all things.
Scripture: Genesis 2:15-17; Galatians 3:12; Romans 5:12.
Comment: The “knowledge of good and evil” is the ability to judge independently what is beneficial (good) and harmful (evil) for yourself. What God is forbidding is that man should choose to be independent from God in his evaluation of things. He is commanding man to walk by faith in the wise and loving care of his heavenly Father. (See the use of this phrase in Gen. 3:5, 22; 2 Sam. 14:17; Is. 7:15; 2 Sam 19:35.)
Referenced scripture
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
“And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the Lord your God be with you.’ “
He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.
I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?