A Few Thoughts on the Covenant
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”(Jeremiah 31.31-35)
There is inherent in the baptism of children (or dedication if you are of a Baptist persuasion) a gracious sign of the continuation of God’s covenant with Abraham. God promised Abraham he would have many children and that through them the world would be blessed (Genesis 18.18). So too with the believer who brings their child, like Hannah, to the Lord to consecrate him to God’s service. They recommit themselves to the covenant which God established (Galatians 3.6-18). But that which was established with Abraham was, but an unfolding of that which God began with Adam, and later developed in the Noachic covenant. Indeed, more than this, there is an unfolding of God’s plan of salvation in all the covenants in Scripture.
God’s Covenant with Man
Before Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from Eden, God made a covenant with Adam which formed the foundation of their relationship. Though the word covenant is not used in Genesis 1 to 5, the events of the creation narrative have the characteristics of a covenant (cp. Hosea 6.7). In this covenant God did not negotiate with Adam; Adam was not in a position to bargain with God on any issues, being the creature not the Creator. Neither was the covenant disestablished by Adam’s sin; that which God established was greater than Adam’s sin (Genesis 3.15; Romans 5.20; 1 John 3.8). Indeed, it is through the covenant that the glory of God is marvelously manifest. In the covenant is a hope for the future. The characteristics of a hierarchical covenant are:
1. A mutually binding relationship between God and His servant.
2. Sovereign administration of the covenant.
3. Conditions (commandments, sanctions) imposed by God.
4. Promises of union and communion.
These conditions are evident in the Adamic covenant in that God bound Adam by a specific command forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge; a violation of this command would result in Adam’s death. Secondly, the Lord Himself set the parameters of the covenant. Adam contributed nothing to the rules of the covenant. Thirdly, the conditions of the covenant were established by if - then statements. In this case, if Adam faithfully obeyed God’s command he would never experience death, however, disobedience meant certain death. Finally, the keeping of God’s covenant results in union and communion with God (Back to Basics ed. David Hagopian p. 77).
The frequently repeated phrase I will be your God and you will be my people (e.g. Genesis 9.9; Exodus 6.7; 19.5-6; Leviticus 26.12; Deuteronomy 7.6; Jeremiah 7.23; 11.4; 30.22; Ezekiel 36.28) illustrates God’s intention to restore man to an intimate fellowship with himself. God desires for himself a people who are exclusively His own, i.e., “your God”, “my people” (cf. Titus 2.11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works). This purpose is evident in the covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, the prophets and the New Testament. This truth is everywhere evident in the Scriptures; indeed, it is the great theme of the Word of God (Ezekiel 36.25-28; Galatians 3.13; Matthew 20.28; Revelation 1.5ff) and penetrates to the heart of Biblical teaching on the covenants of redemption.
There are three covenant relationships that bear upon the practice of our daily Christian experience. The first is that which has already been mentioned, the providence of God’s gracious covenant of redemption completed in Christ. The second symbolizes the first namely, the covenant of a Christian marriage which encompasses the husband, wife and children. And lastly the church, a community of faith, with which the believer is intimately involved.
God’s Covenant and the Family
The marriage covenant is symbolic of the redemptive covenant which men have with God. Marriage from a Biblical perspective is that union between man and woman which is established upon the promises made at the beginning of their union which determine the course of their lives together. Such vows are the substance of Scriptural covenants. A covenant has at its heart the dual purpose of union and spiritual fellowship. It is a binding personal relationship, which is made between people who agree to a series of if - then statements (Genesis 21.22-34; Joshua 9.7; 1 Samuel 18.3). However, the vows of marriage are intended to be more than mere contractual agreements, rather they rooted in a living symbolic expression of the covenant between God and man. Thus, it is not a matter of “if you, then I” pre-nuptial agreement clauses that tentatively bind a couple in a judicial marriage compact so long as each party dutifully fulfills their obligations to the marriage; rather it is a living example of Christ redemptively loving his church (cf. Ephesians 5.25-33).
God established the union between Adam and Eve. God set the rule of the marriage union and holds men accountable for the keeping of their marriage vows (Malachi 2.4). The purpose of the marriage union is to establish a union and communion between men and women which illustrates the union and communion of Christ and His church.
Holiness is the basis for the Mosaic covenant. Keeping the law is important not because it is profitable for men's civil order, but because it reflects God's character and is a proper expression of worship. “In the Old Testament, holiness lays claim to the entirety of a person's life. It is impossible to exclude anything from the potential sphere of God's own holiness. … More than any other attribute, holiness is the one quality in God's character that describes the essential nature of God in all his fullness” (Toward Old Testament Ethics Walter Kaiser p. 152). The first means to attain to holiness, which is to make the Israelite reflect the holiness of God is uniformly to reverence his parents (Leviticus 19.1-3).
The Church needs to come back to the full recognition of the principles which underlie the Levitical code; especially that of marriage and family, they are not merely civil arrangements, but divine institutions. God has not left it to the capriciousness of polls to settle what shall be lawful in the matter of social norms.
God has made provision, not merely for man’s material well-being, but that holiness, would be the moral end of government and of life. This is a rule He enforces in this manner: “the nation that will not serve Him will perish.” All this is not merely theology, nor ethics, but history. All history bears witness that moral corruption and relaxed legislation, especially in matters affecting the relations of the sexes, brings in their train a sure retribution, not in Hades, but here on earth. Let us not miss learning the lesson by imagining that this law was for Israel, but not for other peoples S.H. Kellogg Book of Leviticus (Kaiser p. 126)
Education, which is to say Biblical education begins in the home, indeed, there is a God instituted relationship between children and parents. The fifth commandment implies that the parent ought to represent God in the home. It is the responsibility of the father to teach the law to the children as though he had himself received the Law personally from God at Horeb. This is a passing along the covenant of redemption from parent to child and is keeping with the teaching of Scripture (Deuteronomy 6.11).
Section one, the first four laws, of the Decalog address man's relationship with God. God demands exclusive rights as the object of worship and that His people live by faith. There is a natural bridge to the second section (5-10) with the fifth law where God’s law addresses the requirements towards parents honor your father and mother… From the fabric of this fifth law all of society is built. Its importance cannot be too greatly stressed as the very nature of government and society hinges on the keeping of this fundamental covenant relationship.
God’s Covenant and the Church
There are many today who fail to make the connection between Christ and the church. They view the church as an organization rather than as an organism. Consequently, they make business management decisions that are foreign to the nature of the Biblically based church. These errors are characterized by two attitudes which pervade church life. First, there is an idea that the church is to compete in the world by producing products for religious consumers. Thus church “success” is measured by the number and effectiveness of the programs it produces. How well these productsare marketed determines how successful the church will become.
The second problem is related to the first, namely, the Christian has come to view himself as a consumer. It is not merely that the church treats the Christian as a consumer; the Christian treats the church as an organization that is responsible for producing religious goods and services. Not infrequently Christian families attend two or more different churches based on their perceived needs and the “goods” being offered by churches in their communities. Children attend churches for youth programs, parents are looking for help in “wildlife management”, singles are looking for dates and everyone shops for the best seasonal programs to capture the spirit of the holidays.
Such ideas are foreign to the Biblical account. The Bible teaches that the church is a living expression of the body of Christ. This is based on the covenant of redemption that has been completed in the work of Christ. Christians are obligated to covenant relationships in which the grace of God may be manifest. This frankly involves commitments to what would be seen as bad investments in the business world. God is in the process of redeeming undesirables and if we are truly His then we are to be developing covenant relationships, which are also redemptive. We are involved in the lives of people not because of an unwritten law of reciprocity, but because of the work of grace that has transformed our lives. We do what is right, not that it will produce a more marketable church, but because it is a reflection of Christ in us. The Christian lives in covenant relationships with others because this is the truest expression of God in us, and in this He is glorified.
The Promise: Union and Communion
And he [Abram] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15.6). When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, … (Genesis 15.17-18). When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17.1-8).
In Genesis twelve we read that the Lord said to Abram, “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” “Covenants are solemn agreements, negotiated or unilaterally imposed, that bind the parties to each other in permanent defined relationships, with specific promises, claims, and obligations on both sides” (J. I. Packer, Concise Theology). There are essentially two types of covenants in Scripture, a covenant of works (such as the one made with Adam,) and a covenant of grace (established through the mediating work of Christ, although the protoevangelium [lit. first good news] is promised in Genesis 3.15). No one is saved through a covenant of works. While there may be things that are good about it; it ultimately has no salvific efficacy and will result in the spiritual death of those who put their trust solely in their ability to fulfill their part of the covenant. The covenant is nullified if either party fails perfectly to fulfill the conditions of the covenant. Charles Hodge defines the covenant made with Adam as that which …does not rest upon any express declaration of the Scriptures. It is, however, a concise and correct mode of asserting a plain Scriptural fact, namely, that God made to Adam a promise suspended upon a condition and attached to disobedience a certain penalty. This is what in Scriptural language is meant by a covenant, and this is all that is meant by the term as here used (Hodge Systematic Theology [cp. Hosea 6.7]).
The covenant of redemption (grace) is predicated upon a relationship that God maintains with those whom He has chosen. This covenant has implicit within it those characteristics which we may identify as being unilateral or hierarchical. That is, such a covenant is mutually binding between the Sovereign and His vassal, even though its implementation is entirely one sided. An example is the case of Noah. God’s sovereignty is clearly evident in that He established the means by which those who were to be saved from the flood, namely, the ark (even as He decides the means whereby mankind will be saved from eternal destruction, namely, His Son Jesus Christ). Furthermore, God determined who should be saved, specifically, Noah, his sons and their wives. God himself administers the covenant, thus guaranteeing its success. Moreover, God requires obedience to the stipulations of the covenant. In the case of Noah, he was obligated to build the Ark. Finally, God intends that the end result of Noah’s obedience would be such that it bound Noah to God and enhance their communication (union and communion). So too, in the Abrahamic covenant we find the following elements: 1) A mutually binding relationship between the Lord and Abraham; 2) God sovereignly administered the covenant; 3) The conditions of the covenant (its commandments and sanctions) are imposed by God; and 4) God promised Abraham a union and communion with himself.
In Genesis twelve God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make of him a great nation and to bless those who blessed him. In Genesis 13.14-17 He enlarged on the covenant when He said to Abraham, lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. After Abraham rescued his nephew Lot from Kedolaomer and the kings allied with him, the King of Sodom came out to him and offered to give him the goods he had recovered from the raiders. However, Abraham refused to receive anything from the King of Sodom that would enhance his position or wealth, saying, I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, “I made Abram rich” (Genesis 14.22-23). Abraham’s confession of faith was a recognition that he was in a covenant relationship with God and all that he was to possess would come ultimately from God’s gracious provision. After this (the text is vague to the exact timing) God renews His covenant with Abraham (15.1-5). Indeed, God expands on the covenant by assuring Abraham that He will protect him (be his shield) as well as his inheritance (your very great reward). While Abraham’s response to this incredulous promise is one of faith, he still wonders how this can be (cp. Luke 1.34), “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” However, God’s promise to Abraham was, “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” … So, Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15.2-3, 6).
Genesis 15.6 is important because it identifies the relationship between justification and faith. James Boice comments on it saying, “In it, the doctrine of justification by faith is set forth for the first time. This is the first verse in the Bible explicitly to speak of (1) ‘faith,’ (2) ‘righteousness,’ and (3) ‘justification.’ We know that faith existed before Abram, for Abel, Enoch, Noah (Hebrews 11:4-5,7), and the other godly patriarchs were saved by it. It was through faith on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ that God justified these Old Testament figures, as Paul says clearly in Romans 3:23-26” (James Boice, Genesis: An Expository Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 98).
The doctrine of justification by faith alone is, according to Martin Luther, the article upon which the church stands or falls. The church has contended for the truth of this doctrine for centuries. Concerning justification by faith John Calvin wrote:
Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by us in faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life. … this is the main hinge on which religion turns, so that we devote the greater attention and care to it. For unless you first of all grasp what your relationship to God is, and the nature of his judgment concerning you, you have neither a foundation on which to establish your salvation nor one on which to build piety toward God. (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.1)
It is this great covenantal truth that is evidenced in God’s response to Abraham’s declaration of faith, and it is the foundation of every believer’s relationship with God. Paul writes to the Christians at Rome: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4.1-5). Nowhere in Scripture do we find any other foundation for salvation than this: the righteous by his faith will live (Habakkuk 2.4; Romans 1.16-17). The Bible consistently teaches that the righteousness of God is imputed to men and women of faith (Romans 10.9-10; Acts 13.39; John 1.12-13; 5.24; 6.40).
What it also teaches, and this is often overlooked, is that while there is an immediate benefit to saving faith, there is also a deferred blessing. Indeed, endemic to this doctrine of justification is this theological truth: that salvation is both immediate and future. There is a risen King and a coming King. His kingdom is both present and future.That this has always been the case is strikingly apparent in the words of God to Abraham immediately after the renewing of His covenant with him.
Then the Lord said to him, “know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (Genesis 15.13-16)
God’s forbearance with the Amorites is a lesson in His extraordinary patience with sinners. He is not wanting any to perish (2 Peter 3.9; cp. Ezekiel 18.32). In the day of judgment none will be able to say that God was preemptive in his judgment so that there was insufficient time to repent. God is exceedingly patient, even with those who deserve it the least. That Abraham does not receive an immediate fulfillment of all that is promised to him is of no consequence. Those who believe are convinced that they have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – it is kept in heaven for them (1 Peter 1.4). That it is received tomorrow and not today is in God’s hands. Such was Abraham’s hope – By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11.9-10).
That God’s blessing for Abraham was reserved for a future date is, in a similar manner, true for all believers. All Christians receive an immediate benefit from the indwelling Holy Spirit, but there is also a more complete future fulfillment when God makes His dwelling with men (Revelation 21.3). This is the consolation Jesus gives to His disciples in the upper room discourse. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am”(John 14.1-3). The gospel message is replete with promises of eternal life, heaven, fellowship with God in His everlasting kingdom. As we heard this Easter, the resurrection is central to the gospel and if that is so, the Christian’s greatest joy, is a joy deferred until that great day of the Lord.
There is inherent in the baptism of children (or dedication if you are of a Baptist persuasion) a gracious sign of the continuation of God’s covenant with Abraham. God promised Abraham he would have many children and that through them the world would be blessed (Genesis 18.18). So too with the believer who brings their child, like Hannah, to the Lord to consecrate him to God’s service. They recommit themselves to the covenant which God established (Galatians 3.6-18). But that which was established with Abraham was, but an unfolding of that which God began with Adam, and later developed in the Noachic covenant. Indeed, more than this, there is an unfolding of God’s plan of salvation in all the covenants in Scripture.
God’s Covenant with Man
Before Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from Eden, God made a covenant with Adam which formed the foundation of their relationship. Though the word covenant is not used in Genesis 1 to 5, the events of the creation narrative have the characteristics of a covenant (cp. Hosea 6.7). In this covenant God did not negotiate with Adam; Adam was not in a position to bargain with God on any issues, being the creature not the Creator. Neither was the covenant disestablished by Adam’s sin; that which God established was greater than Adam’s sin (Genesis 3.15; Romans 5.20; 1 John 3.8). Indeed, it is through the covenant that the glory of God is marvelously manifest. In the covenant is a hope for the future. The characteristics of a hierarchical covenant are:
1. A mutually binding relationship between God and His servant.
2. Sovereign administration of the covenant.
3. Conditions (commandments, sanctions) imposed by God.
4. Promises of union and communion.
These conditions are evident in the Adamic covenant in that God bound Adam by a specific command forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge; a violation of this command would result in Adam’s death. Secondly, the Lord Himself set the parameters of the covenant. Adam contributed nothing to the rules of the covenant. Thirdly, the conditions of the covenant were established by if - then statements. In this case, if Adam faithfully obeyed God’s command he would never experience death, however, disobedience meant certain death. Finally, the keeping of God’s covenant results in union and communion with God (Back to Basics ed. David Hagopian p. 77).
The frequently repeated phrase I will be your God and you will be my people (e.g. Genesis 9.9; Exodus 6.7; 19.5-6; Leviticus 26.12; Deuteronomy 7.6; Jeremiah 7.23; 11.4; 30.22; Ezekiel 36.28) illustrates God’s intention to restore man to an intimate fellowship with himself. God desires for himself a people who are exclusively His own, i.e., “your God”, “my people” (cf. Titus 2.11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works). This purpose is evident in the covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, the prophets and the New Testament. This truth is everywhere evident in the Scriptures; indeed, it is the great theme of the Word of God (Ezekiel 36.25-28; Galatians 3.13; Matthew 20.28; Revelation 1.5ff) and penetrates to the heart of Biblical teaching on the covenants of redemption.
There are three covenant relationships that bear upon the practice of our daily Christian experience. The first is that which has already been mentioned, the providence of God’s gracious covenant of redemption completed in Christ. The second symbolizes the first namely, the covenant of a Christian marriage which encompasses the husband, wife and children. And lastly the church, a community of faith, with which the believer is intimately involved.
God’s Covenant and the Family
The marriage covenant is symbolic of the redemptive covenant which men have with God. Marriage from a Biblical perspective is that union between man and woman which is established upon the promises made at the beginning of their union which determine the course of their lives together. Such vows are the substance of Scriptural covenants. A covenant has at its heart the dual purpose of union and spiritual fellowship. It is a binding personal relationship, which is made between people who agree to a series of if - then statements (Genesis 21.22-34; Joshua 9.7; 1 Samuel 18.3). However, the vows of marriage are intended to be more than mere contractual agreements, rather they rooted in a living symbolic expression of the covenant between God and man. Thus, it is not a matter of “if you, then I” pre-nuptial agreement clauses that tentatively bind a couple in a judicial marriage compact so long as each party dutifully fulfills their obligations to the marriage; rather it is a living example of Christ redemptively loving his church (cf. Ephesians 5.25-33).
God established the union between Adam and Eve. God set the rule of the marriage union and holds men accountable for the keeping of their marriage vows (Malachi 2.4). The purpose of the marriage union is to establish a union and communion between men and women which illustrates the union and communion of Christ and His church.
Holiness is the basis for the Mosaic covenant. Keeping the law is important not because it is profitable for men's civil order, but because it reflects God's character and is a proper expression of worship. “In the Old Testament, holiness lays claim to the entirety of a person's life. It is impossible to exclude anything from the potential sphere of God's own holiness. … More than any other attribute, holiness is the one quality in God's character that describes the essential nature of God in all his fullness” (Toward Old Testament Ethics Walter Kaiser p. 152). The first means to attain to holiness, which is to make the Israelite reflect the holiness of God is uniformly to reverence his parents (Leviticus 19.1-3).
The Church needs to come back to the full recognition of the principles which underlie the Levitical code; especially that of marriage and family, they are not merely civil arrangements, but divine institutions. God has not left it to the capriciousness of polls to settle what shall be lawful in the matter of social norms.
God has made provision, not merely for man’s material well-being, but that holiness, would be the moral end of government and of life. This is a rule He enforces in this manner: “the nation that will not serve Him will perish.” All this is not merely theology, nor ethics, but history. All history bears witness that moral corruption and relaxed legislation, especially in matters affecting the relations of the sexes, brings in their train a sure retribution, not in Hades, but here on earth. Let us not miss learning the lesson by imagining that this law was for Israel, but not for other peoples S.H. Kellogg Book of Leviticus (Kaiser p. 126)
Education, which is to say Biblical education begins in the home, indeed, there is a God instituted relationship between children and parents. The fifth commandment implies that the parent ought to represent God in the home. It is the responsibility of the father to teach the law to the children as though he had himself received the Law personally from God at Horeb. This is a passing along the covenant of redemption from parent to child and is keeping with the teaching of Scripture (Deuteronomy 6.11).
Section one, the first four laws, of the Decalog address man's relationship with God. God demands exclusive rights as the object of worship and that His people live by faith. There is a natural bridge to the second section (5-10) with the fifth law where God’s law addresses the requirements towards parents honor your father and mother… From the fabric of this fifth law all of society is built. Its importance cannot be too greatly stressed as the very nature of government and society hinges on the keeping of this fundamental covenant relationship.
God’s Covenant and the Church
There are many today who fail to make the connection between Christ and the church. They view the church as an organization rather than as an organism. Consequently, they make business management decisions that are foreign to the nature of the Biblically based church. These errors are characterized by two attitudes which pervade church life. First, there is an idea that the church is to compete in the world by producing products for religious consumers. Thus church “success” is measured by the number and effectiveness of the programs it produces. How well these productsare marketed determines how successful the church will become.
The second problem is related to the first, namely, the Christian has come to view himself as a consumer. It is not merely that the church treats the Christian as a consumer; the Christian treats the church as an organization that is responsible for producing religious goods and services. Not infrequently Christian families attend two or more different churches based on their perceived needs and the “goods” being offered by churches in their communities. Children attend churches for youth programs, parents are looking for help in “wildlife management”, singles are looking for dates and everyone shops for the best seasonal programs to capture the spirit of the holidays.
Such ideas are foreign to the Biblical account. The Bible teaches that the church is a living expression of the body of Christ. This is based on the covenant of redemption that has been completed in the work of Christ. Christians are obligated to covenant relationships in which the grace of God may be manifest. This frankly involves commitments to what would be seen as bad investments in the business world. God is in the process of redeeming undesirables and if we are truly His then we are to be developing covenant relationships, which are also redemptive. We are involved in the lives of people not because of an unwritten law of reciprocity, but because of the work of grace that has transformed our lives. We do what is right, not that it will produce a more marketable church, but because it is a reflection of Christ in us. The Christian lives in covenant relationships with others because this is the truest expression of God in us, and in this He is glorified.
The Promise: Union and Communion
And he [Abram] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15.6). When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, … (Genesis 15.17-18). When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17.1-8).
In Genesis twelve we read that the Lord said to Abram, “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” “Covenants are solemn agreements, negotiated or unilaterally imposed, that bind the parties to each other in permanent defined relationships, with specific promises, claims, and obligations on both sides” (J. I. Packer, Concise Theology). There are essentially two types of covenants in Scripture, a covenant of works (such as the one made with Adam,) and a covenant of grace (established through the mediating work of Christ, although the protoevangelium [lit. first good news] is promised in Genesis 3.15). No one is saved through a covenant of works. While there may be things that are good about it; it ultimately has no salvific efficacy and will result in the spiritual death of those who put their trust solely in their ability to fulfill their part of the covenant. The covenant is nullified if either party fails perfectly to fulfill the conditions of the covenant. Charles Hodge defines the covenant made with Adam as that which …does not rest upon any express declaration of the Scriptures. It is, however, a concise and correct mode of asserting a plain Scriptural fact, namely, that God made to Adam a promise suspended upon a condition and attached to disobedience a certain penalty. This is what in Scriptural language is meant by a covenant, and this is all that is meant by the term as here used (Hodge Systematic Theology [cp. Hosea 6.7]).
The covenant of redemption (grace) is predicated upon a relationship that God maintains with those whom He has chosen. This covenant has implicit within it those characteristics which we may identify as being unilateral or hierarchical. That is, such a covenant is mutually binding between the Sovereign and His vassal, even though its implementation is entirely one sided. An example is the case of Noah. God’s sovereignty is clearly evident in that He established the means by which those who were to be saved from the flood, namely, the ark (even as He decides the means whereby mankind will be saved from eternal destruction, namely, His Son Jesus Christ). Furthermore, God determined who should be saved, specifically, Noah, his sons and their wives. God himself administers the covenant, thus guaranteeing its success. Moreover, God requires obedience to the stipulations of the covenant. In the case of Noah, he was obligated to build the Ark. Finally, God intends that the end result of Noah’s obedience would be such that it bound Noah to God and enhance their communication (union and communion). So too, in the Abrahamic covenant we find the following elements: 1) A mutually binding relationship between the Lord and Abraham; 2) God sovereignly administered the covenant; 3) The conditions of the covenant (its commandments and sanctions) are imposed by God; and 4) God promised Abraham a union and communion with himself.
In Genesis twelve God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make of him a great nation and to bless those who blessed him. In Genesis 13.14-17 He enlarged on the covenant when He said to Abraham, lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. After Abraham rescued his nephew Lot from Kedolaomer and the kings allied with him, the King of Sodom came out to him and offered to give him the goods he had recovered from the raiders. However, Abraham refused to receive anything from the King of Sodom that would enhance his position or wealth, saying, I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, “I made Abram rich” (Genesis 14.22-23). Abraham’s confession of faith was a recognition that he was in a covenant relationship with God and all that he was to possess would come ultimately from God’s gracious provision. After this (the text is vague to the exact timing) God renews His covenant with Abraham (15.1-5). Indeed, God expands on the covenant by assuring Abraham that He will protect him (be his shield) as well as his inheritance (your very great reward). While Abraham’s response to this incredulous promise is one of faith, he still wonders how this can be (cp. Luke 1.34), “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” However, God’s promise to Abraham was, “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” … So, Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15.2-3, 6).
Genesis 15.6 is important because it identifies the relationship between justification and faith. James Boice comments on it saying, “In it, the doctrine of justification by faith is set forth for the first time. This is the first verse in the Bible explicitly to speak of (1) ‘faith,’ (2) ‘righteousness,’ and (3) ‘justification.’ We know that faith existed before Abram, for Abel, Enoch, Noah (Hebrews 11:4-5,7), and the other godly patriarchs were saved by it. It was through faith on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ that God justified these Old Testament figures, as Paul says clearly in Romans 3:23-26” (James Boice, Genesis: An Expository Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 98).
The doctrine of justification by faith alone is, according to Martin Luther, the article upon which the church stands or falls. The church has contended for the truth of this doctrine for centuries. Concerning justification by faith John Calvin wrote:
Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by us in faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life. … this is the main hinge on which religion turns, so that we devote the greater attention and care to it. For unless you first of all grasp what your relationship to God is, and the nature of his judgment concerning you, you have neither a foundation on which to establish your salvation nor one on which to build piety toward God. (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.1)
It is this great covenantal truth that is evidenced in God’s response to Abraham’s declaration of faith, and it is the foundation of every believer’s relationship with God. Paul writes to the Christians at Rome: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4.1-5). Nowhere in Scripture do we find any other foundation for salvation than this: the righteous by his faith will live (Habakkuk 2.4; Romans 1.16-17). The Bible consistently teaches that the righteousness of God is imputed to men and women of faith (Romans 10.9-10; Acts 13.39; John 1.12-13; 5.24; 6.40).
What it also teaches, and this is often overlooked, is that while there is an immediate benefit to saving faith, there is also a deferred blessing. Indeed, endemic to this doctrine of justification is this theological truth: that salvation is both immediate and future. There is a risen King and a coming King. His kingdom is both present and future.That this has always been the case is strikingly apparent in the words of God to Abraham immediately after the renewing of His covenant with him.
Then the Lord said to him, “know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (Genesis 15.13-16)
God’s forbearance with the Amorites is a lesson in His extraordinary patience with sinners. He is not wanting any to perish (2 Peter 3.9; cp. Ezekiel 18.32). In the day of judgment none will be able to say that God was preemptive in his judgment so that there was insufficient time to repent. God is exceedingly patient, even with those who deserve it the least. That Abraham does not receive an immediate fulfillment of all that is promised to him is of no consequence. Those who believe are convinced that they have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – it is kept in heaven for them (1 Peter 1.4). That it is received tomorrow and not today is in God’s hands. Such was Abraham’s hope – By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11.9-10).
That God’s blessing for Abraham was reserved for a future date is, in a similar manner, true for all believers. All Christians receive an immediate benefit from the indwelling Holy Spirit, but there is also a more complete future fulfillment when God makes His dwelling with men (Revelation 21.3). This is the consolation Jesus gives to His disciples in the upper room discourse. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am”(John 14.1-3). The gospel message is replete with promises of eternal life, heaven, fellowship with God in His everlasting kingdom. As we heard this Easter, the resurrection is central to the gospel and if that is so, the Christian’s greatest joy, is a joy deferred until that great day of the Lord.