On some constructions of the covenant of works, obedient Adam would have secured eternal life for his posterity. He would have achieved the eschaton of human destiny, as a human being, entirely from the resources given to him at creation.

Since the fall, we need a Savior, and we need God in flesh to bring us to glory. Apparently, we wouldn’t need God to bring us to glory if Adam had not sinned. Human completion would have been a human project; the new heavens and new earth a human achievement.

There’s something very odd about that.