Answer
The Edenic Covenant is the covenant that God made with Adam in the Garden of Eden. This covenant is also sometimes called the “Covenant of Works” and is the first covenant that God made directly with man.
In Scripture we see two different types of covenants that God makes with people. Some are unconditional covenants, which God will keep regardless of human actions. Others are conditional in that the people must obey the terms of the covenant in order to receive the promises related to it. The Edenic Covenant is an example of a conditional covenant because Adam was required to obey the terms of the covenant in order to not suffer the consequences of breaking it.
The Edenic Covenant, or Covenant of Works, can be found in the opening chapters of Genesis where God makes some conditional promises to Adam. The Edenic Covenant is not explicitly called a covenant in Genesis; however, it is later referred to as a covenant in Hosea 6:7, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me” (ESV).
While some theologians will list as many as six different obligations that Adam was to keep, the heart of Edenic Covenant is really God’s command to Adam to not eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16–17). That command sets forth God’s promise as well as the penalty if Adam disobeys.
In the Edenic Covenant, God promises Adam life and blessing, but that promise is conditional upon Adam’s obedience to God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16–17). Adam’s penalty for disobedience would be physical and spiritual death as well as a curse on the ground so that Adam would have to work harder to grow crops. One of the results of Adam’s sin was that he would have to toil all of his days until his death (Genesis 3:17–19).
This covenant plays an important part in the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption, as it shows humans’ inability to maintain a right relationship with God even when they are in the earthly paradise that God created for them.
Adam’s sin broke this conditional covenant with God and left humanity in a fallen state, but God would soon make a second, unconditional covenant of redemption with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:14–24). Like the Edenic Covenant, this one is not explicitly referred to as a covenant in Genesis, but it is a significant promise that God makes to humanity. It is the first promise of redemption and the first promise of Christ’s coming (Genesis 3:15). Here, only three chapters into this remarkable book, God is already giving us hope of a Redeemer. Genesis 3:15 is sometimes referred to as the protevangelium, the first announcement of the gospel in Scripture. God’s promise to Eve that the seed of the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed of Eve and the seed of Eve would bruise the head of the seed of the serpent, is the foretelling that Satan would wound Christ on the cross, but that Christ would triumph over Satan on that same cross.
Both the Edenic Covenant and the Covenant of Redemption that follows are significant for several reasons. First of all, they establish a pattern to be repeated throughout the Scriptures: 1) humanity sins, 2) God judges the sin, and 3) God bestows grace and mercy by providing a way to redeem humanity and restore it’s relationship with God. Second, the covenants show us that sin always has consequences. Understanding the different covenants in the Old Testament and their relation to each other is important in understanding God’s covenantal relationship with His chosen people as well as His plan of redemption as revealed in Scripture.
