The Mosaic Covenant
Sinai: republication of the covenant of works, or administration of the covenant of grace?
Settled clearly
Background
The Reformed had to account for the relation of the Sinaitic covenant to the bi-covenantal scheme. Two options were live: (1) Sinai is one administration of the covenant of grace, containing the moral law as the rule of life for an already-redeemed people; (2) Sinai is in some sense a republication of the covenant of works in a typological mode, alongside the covenant of grace which continues underneath. The first reading (Calvin, Bullinger, Ursinus) emphasised continuity. The second (developing in Owen, Petto, Boston after the Assembly) emphasised the law's pedagogical function and the typological structure of the OT economy. A third position — the 'subservient covenant' view of Cameron and the Particular Baptists — treated Sinai as a third covenant subservient to grace, distinct from both works and grace proper.
The Assembly’s handling
WCF VII.5-6 places the Mosaic firmly within the covenant of grace as one of its administrations. There is no republication-of-works language. The Mosaic is the time when the covenant of grace was administered 'under the law' — by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the Jews 'all foresignifying Christ to come' — and is unified in substance with the gospel administration which follows. The republication view that would develop after the Assembly is not adopted, though the language does not exclude all forms of it.
Parties
The administration-of-grace drafters
The Mosaic dispensation is one administration of the one covenant of grace, differing from the New Testament administration in form but not in substance. The moral law given at Sinai is the rule of life for an already redeemed people, not a republication of the covenant of works.
- Anthony Tuckney (1599–1670)
- Edmund Calamy the Elder (1600–1666)
- Edward Reynolds (1599–1676)
- Francis Roberts (1609–1675)
Republication-leaning (not pressed at the Assembly)
Sinai re-publishes the covenant of works in a typological mode alongside the covenant of grace; the law functions as a pedagogue driving Israel to Christ. (Developed later by Owen, Petto, Boston, and the 'Marrow' tradition.)
Confessional language
WCF VII.5: 'This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah…' WCF VII.6: '…There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.'
Ontology placement
This crux bears on the following attribute of the Westminster ontology. The Westminster baseline value is marked WCF.
III · Covenant · Mosaic Covenant
Legacy
John Owen's *Exposition of Hebrews* (1668-84) developed the republication thesis at length, holding the Sinaitic covenant to be in some respect a covenant of works re-published, while the covenant of grace continued underneath. Thomas Boston and the Marrow men carried the position forward in Scotland. Modern Reformed debate (the OPC report on the doctrine of republication, 2016) has revisited whether the post-Assembly republication readings are compatible with WCF VII.5-6's deliberately unified language.