Shall We Speak of the “Covenant of Works?”: A Study of Hosea 6:7 in the Masoretic Tradition and its Pastoral Implications

Abstract

The main question that this paper seeks to answer is whether the language of “covenant” in the “covenant of works” is biblically warranted. One text that has been used within some Reformed circles to support a covenant made between Adam and God is Hosea 6:7, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant, there they dealt faithlessly with me” (ESV). This passage, however, has been thwart with various readings within biblical scholarship. This paper argues that the only viable reading of Hosea 6:7 is that Adam transgressed a covenant. If this language of covenant is warranted, then ministers, elders, and the whole church have very good reason to teach and preach the covenant of works and use the language of covenant which the Westminster Confession of Faith uses (7.2).