The Covenant of Grace

What is the covenant of grace? It's not the language Scripture uses, but I do believe that, as a theological construct, it embraces the biblical data within and a common thread through God's gracious covenants.

Here's one of John Owen's brief descriptions of it: "This declaration of the grace of God, and the provision in the covenant of the mediator for the making of it effectual unto his glory, is most usually called the covenant of grace" (vol. 5, Works, 192).

Here's how the Westminster Confession of Faith describes it: "This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequethed" (Ch. VII, Sect. IV).