Sorry that this is a post for “insiders” (which I do a lot; the apology represents a wish to do so less often).

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
and on the peoples that call not on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him and consumed him,
and have laid waste his habitation (Jeremiah 10.23-25).

I reject the idea of some sort of (oxymoronic and non-meritorious) “covenantal merit” because, if we applied the idea consistently, we would have to say that believer’s in the NT merit salvation. And that is not true.

If one wants to make a distinction between the Covenant of Works and of Grace, why not speak of a “legal condition” instead of an “instrumental condition”?

Just a thought.