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The CoW is covenant of works, sometimes also called the covenant of life. CoG, sometimes called the covenant of redemption, is a covenant of grace, a pre-temporal covenantal in which the Father would glorify his Son by sending him as a Mediator of foreseen sin. Salvation has been God’s plan from the beginning and the covenantal nature of it—sovereignly initiated—guarantees its accomplishment. It is the basis on which Paul can argue from foreknowledge to glorification in Romans 8:29-31.
There are but two and only two covenants within the redemptive plans of God. Other covenants, e.g., Abraham, are but various administrations of the CoG.
Had Adam obeyed God, he would not have died. God promised to prolong and augment the relationship, provided Adam observed one prohibition. Had Adam obeyed, all his progeny would have lived in eternal blessedness with God. The Covenant of Works was promising confirmation of a probationary relationship, provided Adam complied with covenant stipulation. Though the word “covenant” (Berith) does not occur in Genesis 3, the use of the expression “I will cause-to-stand my covenant with you” in Genesis 6:18 clearly teaches that a prior covenant is in view.
The Fall was a rejection of the eschatological.
Adam was created for something beyond himself and beyond his "now." The trees of the Knowledge and Life were reminders to him of a telos—a life lived wholly for the glory of God. Inherent within Covenant of Works/Life was the idea of probation and consequent confirmation. Adam "exchanged the truth about God for a lie" (Rom. 1:25).
Adam clearly failed to obey. But God in His mercy established the CoG in the stead of the CoW. The CoG is a redemptive covenant, revealed in embryonic form immediately after the fall (Genesis 3:15), but more clearly with Abraham, made a nation from his descendants, delivered them from slavery, gave them his name, taught them the family code (law), disciplined them when they failed, sent messengers to teach them, painted pictures of the covenant Mediator in sacrificial liturgical system, specific prophecies, and a host of emblematic pictures (e.g. King, prophet, priest, sufferer).
In one sense the CoW was never abolished per se, in that it fell to Our Lord's perfect active and passive obedience to perform the CoW. The CoG is for God's children who are made able to claim what He did for us (Hebrews 7:22;8:6). Our Lord lived the life we all should have lived and it is by grace that we are now saved. Christ is viewed as the Mediator of the Covenant—fulfilling the Covenant of Works as “Last Adam / Second Man.”
“Only when the believer understands how he has to receive and has received everything from the Mediator and how God in no way whatever deals with him except through Christ, only then does a picture of the glorious work that God wrought through Christ emerge in his consciousness and the magnificent idea of grace begin to dominate and form in his life. For the Reformed, therefore, the entire ordo salutis [order of salvation], beginning with regeneration as its first stage, is bound to the mystical union with Christ. There is no gift that has not been earned by him. Neither is there a gift that is not bestowed by him and that does not elevate God’s glory through his bestowal. Now the basis for this order lies in none other than in the covenant of salvation with Christ. In this covenant those chosen by the Father are given to Christ. In it he became the guarantor so that they would be planted into his body in the thought-world of grace through faith. As the application of salvation by Christ and by Christ’s initiative is a fundamental principle of Reformed theology, this theology has correctly viewed this application as a covenantal requirement which fell to the Mediator and for the fulfilling of which he became the guarantor.” (Src: Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation, ed. Richard B. Gaffin, Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980, 248)
AMR
There are but two and only two covenants within the redemptive plans of God. Other covenants, e.g., Abraham, are but various administrations of the CoG.
Had Adam obeyed God, he would not have died. God promised to prolong and augment the relationship, provided Adam observed one prohibition. Had Adam obeyed, all his progeny would have lived in eternal blessedness with God. The Covenant of Works was promising confirmation of a probationary relationship, provided Adam complied with covenant stipulation. Though the word “covenant” (Berith) does not occur in Genesis 3, the use of the expression “I will cause-to-stand my covenant with you” in Genesis 6:18 clearly teaches that a prior covenant is in view.
The Fall was a rejection of the eschatological.
Adam was created for something beyond himself and beyond his "now." The trees of the Knowledge and Life were reminders to him of a telos—a life lived wholly for the glory of God. Inherent within Covenant of Works/Life was the idea of probation and consequent confirmation. Adam "exchanged the truth about God for a lie" (Rom. 1:25).
Adam clearly failed to obey. But God in His mercy established the CoG in the stead of the CoW. The CoG is a redemptive covenant, revealed in embryonic form immediately after the fall (Genesis 3:15), but more clearly with Abraham, made a nation from his descendants, delivered them from slavery, gave them his name, taught them the family code (law), disciplined them when they failed, sent messengers to teach them, painted pictures of the covenant Mediator in sacrificial liturgical system, specific prophecies, and a host of emblematic pictures (e.g. King, prophet, priest, sufferer).
In one sense the CoW was never abolished per se, in that it fell to Our Lord's perfect active and passive obedience to perform the CoW. The CoG is for God's children who are made able to claim what He did for us (Hebrews 7:22;8:6). Our Lord lived the life we all should have lived and it is by grace that we are now saved. Christ is viewed as the Mediator of the Covenant—fulfilling the Covenant of Works as “Last Adam / Second Man.”
“Only when the believer understands how he has to receive and has received everything from the Mediator and how God in no way whatever deals with him except through Christ, only then does a picture of the glorious work that God wrought through Christ emerge in his consciousness and the magnificent idea of grace begin to dominate and form in his life. For the Reformed, therefore, the entire ordo salutis [order of salvation], beginning with regeneration as its first stage, is bound to the mystical union with Christ. There is no gift that has not been earned by him. Neither is there a gift that is not bestowed by him and that does not elevate God’s glory through his bestowal. Now the basis for this order lies in none other than in the covenant of salvation with Christ. In this covenant those chosen by the Father are given to Christ. In it he became the guarantor so that they would be planted into his body in the thought-world of grace through faith. As the application of salvation by Christ and by Christ’s initiative is a fundamental principle of Reformed theology, this theology has correctly viewed this application as a covenantal requirement which fell to the Mediator and for the fulfilling of which he became the guarantor.” (Src: Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation, ed. Richard B. Gaffin, Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980, 248)
AMR