Editing Reformed Christianity (section)

=== Covenant theology ===
{{Main|Covenant theology}}
[[File:Jacob Jordaens - The Fall of Man - WGA12014.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Fall of Man'' by [[Jacob Jordaens]]]]
Reformed theologians use the concept of covenant to describe the way God enters into fellowship with people in history.{{sfn|Allen|2010|pp=34–35}} The concept of covenant is so prominent in Reformed theology that Reformed theology as a whole is sometimes called "covenant theology".{{sfn|McKim|2001|p=230 n. 28}} However, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century theologians developed a particular theological system called "[[covenant theology]]" or "federal theology" which many conservative Reformed churches continue to affirm.{{sfn|Allen|2010|pp=34{{ndash}}35}} This framework orders God's life with people primarily in two covenants: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.{{sfn|Allen|2010|p=44}}

The covenant of works is made with [[Adam and Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]]. The terms of the covenant are that God provides a blessed life in the garden on condition that Adam and Eve obey God's law perfectly. Because Adam and Eve broke the covenant by eating the [[forbidden fruit]], they became subject to death and were banished from the garden. This sin was passed down to all mankind because all people are said to be in Adam as a covenantal or "federal" head. Federal theologians usually imply that Adam and Eve would have gained immortality had they obeyed perfectly.{{sfn|Allen|2010|pp=41{{ndash}}42}}

A second covenant, called the covenant of grace, is said to have been made immediately following Adam and Eve's sin. In it, God graciously offers salvation from death on condition of faith in God. This covenant is administered in different ways throughout the Old and New Testaments, but retains the substance of being free of a requirement of perfect obedience.{{sfn|Allen|2010|p=43}}

Through the influence of Karl Barth, many contemporary Reformed theologians have discarded the covenant of works, along with other concepts of federal theology. Barth saw the covenant of works as disconnected from Christ and the gospel, and rejected the idea that God works with people in this way. Instead, Barth argued that God always interacts with people under the covenant of grace, and that the covenant of grace is free of all conditions whatsoever. Barth's theology and that which follows him has been called "mono covenantal" as opposed to the "bi-covenantal" scheme of classical federal theology.{{sfn|Allen|2010|p=48}} Conservative contemporary Reformed theologians, such as [[John Murray (theologian)|John Murray]], have also rejected the idea of covenants based on law rather than grace. [[Michael Horton (theologian)|Michael Horton]], however, has defended the covenant of works as combining principles of law and love.{{sfn|Horton|2011a|pp=420–421}}