The report states, “The Confession is, of course, fully aware of the national, ethnic, external, covenant election of Israel (LC 101), as a church under age (WCF 19.3-4, 1.8, and 7.5)…”
Look at that first citation of Q&A #101 from the Westminster Larger Catechism. Here is the text:
Q. 101. What is the preface to the Ten Commandments?
A. The preface to the Ten Commandments is contained in these words, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Wherein God manifesteth his sovereignty, as being JEHOVAH, the eternal, immutable, and almighty God; having his being in and of himself, and giving being to all his words and works: and that he is a God in covenant, as with Israel of old, so with all his people; who, as he brought them out of their bondage in Egypt, so he delivereth us from our spiritual thraldom; and that therefore we are bound to take him for our God alone, and to keep all his commandments.
The report is plainly dismissive of “covenant election” as for the Church “under age.” And just as plainly it contradicts the Catechism question which is stating as a matter of hermeneutical principle that what applies to Israel is true of us as well.
This is from a section I thought I had already reviewed. It is a deep report. You can keep finding new errors from the same material.
That “therefore we are bound” pretty much puts paid to any notion that it was applicable only to the “church under age,” doesn’t it? If the confession argues from what God did in Israel to our own obligations, it’s pretty hard to use that to draw a sharp distinction between His dealings with us and with them.
“and that he is a God in covenant, as with Israel of old, so with all his people; who, as he brought them out of their bondage in Egypt, so he delivereth us from our spiritual thraldom; and that therefore we are bound to take him for our God alone, and to keep all his commandments.”
What funny is that this sounds a bit like using israel’s covenant as “typological” of ours. But that would mean that since he delivered us from spiritual thralldom, we’d have to maintain our right to the promised land via works, like israel allegedly had to.