John Calvin’s Integrated Covenant Theology (3): The Blessings of the Covenant
This article examines John Calvin's covenant theology as presented in the Institutes (Book 2, chapters 10-11), focusing specifically on the blessings that flow from God's covenant formula "I will be your God and you will be my people." Stewart demonstrates how Calvin understood covenant blessings—including salvation, God's presence, union with God, and eternal life—as applying to Old Testament saints as well as New Testament believers, grounding his analysis in Calvin's own scriptural exegesis and theological reasoning.
Rev. Angus Stewart (modified from an article first published in the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal) Covenant Blessings As in the previous two articles on Calvin’s covenant theology, our point of entry is that section of his Institutes in which he most fully treats the covenant (book 2, chapters 10 and 11). For Calvin, the nature of God’s covenant, summed in the “very formula of the covenant,” determines the blessings of the covenant: “For the Lord always covenanted with his servants...