The discussion regarding covenant is double-speak by one-time should-have-been-excommunicated professor Norman Shepherd. It is fruitless to deny merit while at the same time claim that one has obligations to fulfill in order to remain within the covenant. After all, "merit" is defined as something positive one has to have in order to e.g. be justified, OR remain in the covenant, and that fits Dr. Shepherd's idea of "obligations" neatly.

Shepherd is the grandfather of the Federal Vision movement, a movement regarded by NAPARC churches to be out of the pale of orthodoxy and promoting another gospel. Shepherd's view has been judged and found wanting by the OPC, PCA, URCNA, RCUS and more. It is heretical, and contrary to the Reformed confessions. ( )