Covenant Promises

Pastor Martin opens the second major section of Christology by establishing the importance of Christ's true humanity. The doctrine is of saving significance — without a true body and a reasonable soul, Christ could not be our Mediator. He then traces the Old Testament period of preparation, showing how the promise of the coming Deliverer is progressively narrowed: the seed of the woman, then of Abraham, then of Judah, then of David, and finally the virgin-born child who is also Emmanuel.

Pastor Martin introduces the doctrine of regeneration as the second threshold blessing alongside calling. He answers the question raised by effectual calling — how can a sinner dead in trespasses respond? — by turning to the grace of regeneration, 'an inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Spirit.' He surveys the word's usage (Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5) and the history of the term from baptismal perversion through the older Reformed use. Then he turns to the major Old Testament analogies Nicodemus should have known — Deuteronomy 30:6's circumcision of the heart, Ezekiel 11 and 36's giving of a new heart and spirit with cleansing, and the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31-32 — drawing from each the fourfold emphasis of a sovereign, inward, gracious act that results in love to God, obedience, and mutual covenantal fellowship. He closes with a stinging warning against the cheapened 'born again' language of modern pop evangelicalism.