The covenantal structure of biblical economics reflects the five-point covenant: God, man, law, sanctions, and time. The five points are these: ownership, stewardship, property, imputation, and inheritance. After the fall of man, mankind adopted this structure, but substituted new content: chance, autonomy, theft, bureaucratization, and disinheritance. Covenant breakers want to establish their own kingdoms in history. Their view of economics reflects this goal.
Part 3 will explore the issue of redemption. Jesus Christ's incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension have definitively transformed the world. Jesus announced His authority after His resurrection, but before His ascension:
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18--20).
That which has been definitively accomplished in history by Christ must now be progressively implemented in history by Christians. We are heirs of the promise. This means that economic theory must be redeemed, i.e., bought back. The same five points are foundational, but they are now burdened by the curses that God impose on Adam and the ground. It is the task of redemption to reduce the effects of those curses.
This leads us to Part three: redemption.
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