Merit and Moses

Book excerpt: What did writers in the Reformed tradition mean by suggesting that the Covenant of Works with Adam has been republished in the Mosaic Covenant? Not all forms of this doctrine of "republication" are the same. Merit and Moses is a critical evaluation of a particular version of the republication doctrine--one formulated by Meredith G. Kline and espoused in The Law Is Not of Faith (2009). At the heart of this discussion is the attribute of God's justice and the Reformed view of merit. Has classic Augustinian theology been turned on its head? Does--or can--God make a covenant at Sinai with fallen people by which Israel may merit temporal blessings on the basis of works? Have "merit" and "justice" been redefined in the service of Kline's works-merit paradigm? The authors of Merit and Moses examine the positions of John Murray and Norman Shepherd with respect to the reactionary development of the Klinean republication doctrine. Both Shepherd's and Kline's teachings are shown to swing wide of the Reformed tradition when held up to the plumb line of the Westminster Standards, which embody the Reformed consensus on covenant theology and provide a faithful summary of Scripture.