formulating a biblical and covenantal conception of merit not infected with medieval ontological speculations: (1) Rather than an ontological state intellectually registered in the divine mind, merit is constituted only by fulfillment of the stipulations of a divinely-sanctioned covenant. (2) The measure of merit is defined by the terms of the covenant, which itself is the only possible revelation and definition of divine justice. There is no such thing as non-covenantal, condign merit because merit