SAINT DOMINIC COLLEGE OF BATANES, INC.
BASCO, BATANES
ACTIVITY FOR THEOLOGY I
Topics covered:
WHAT IS COVENANT?
HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE COVENANT?
FIND THE COVENANT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT?
GARLITOS, SHIRLEY ANN V.
BSED-MATHEMATICS STUDENT
THE COVENANT
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “covenant” as a usually
formal, solemn, and binding agreement. The [Link] also says that
“covenant” is an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to
do o not do something specified. Ecclesiastically, it is a solemn agreement
between the members of a church to act together in harmony with the
percepts of the gospel.
According to the Bible Study Tools, the term covenant is of Latin origin
(con venire), meaning a coming together. It involves two or more parties who
come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations,
privileges, and responsibilities.
There are also two functions of the word “covenant” in its biblical
meaning. These are:
1. Covenant between God and Man.
a. God promised Noah that after the flood, such judgement should
not be repeated. Although it was not precisely a covenant
between men, but it was a promise or agreement by God.
b. The principal covenants are the covenant of works – God
promising to save men on condition of perfect obedience – and
the covenant of grace, or God’s promise to save men on
condition of believing in Christ and receiving Him as their Master
and Savior
2. Covenant Between Man and Man
a. A solemn compact or agreement either between two tribes or
nations or between individuals by which each party bound
himself to fulfill certain conditions and was assured of receiving
certain advantages.
b. In making such covenant, God was solemnly invoked as a
witness and an oath was sworn.
UNDERSTANDING THE COVENANT
Covenants are important to us, and understanding it is crucial in our
everyday lives. They show God’s True and Loyal nature. We have seen God’s
faithful fulfillment of His covenants even, us, humans have sinned and didn’t
hold up our end of the oath.
Covenants are not exactly contracts in the way we think of contracts
today, though there is some similarity. A covenant is essentially a
relationship, but it's a relationship that has been formalized and has been
brought under sanctions, as it were. So, there are blessings that come if the
relationship is kept, and there are penalties that come if the relationship is
broken, and a covenant is simply the terms of that relationship.
Covenants are crucial because it is the foundation of the Bible. The
Bible is not just merely a collection but rather a story of redemption,
therefore, we must understand first the covenants in order to fully grasp the
Bible.
EXAMPLES OF COVENANTS IN THE SCRIPTURE
The Creation Covenant
God created the world and human beings, showing he is the
sovereign ruler of all. He created Adam and Eve, as those made in his
image, to rule the world for God. They were to extend God’s rule over
the entire earth.
The Covenant with Noah
As history unfolds, the horrific consequences of the sin of Adam
and Eve became evident. Evil and corruption permeated the world. By
the time of Noah there were only eight righteous people left in the
world, and the promise of redemption through the offspring of the
woman seemed like a distant memory.
The entire world, except for Noah and his offspring were wiped
out in the flood. God made a covenant with Noah, promising that the
human race wouldn’t be annihilated again until the plan of redemption
through the offspring of the woman was fulfilled. Noah was in some
ways a new Adam on a new earth, and thus the creation covenant with
Adam was rejuvenated. Still, salvation would not come through Noah
because like Adam he sinned in the garden, and the fundamental evil
in the heart of human beings persisted.
The Covenant with Abraham
After Noah the world again slid into sin, with the tower of Babel
as the signature of sin. In this dire situation God called one man,
Abraham, and made a covenant with him. The Lord promised Abraham
land (Canaan), offspring (Isaac), and a blessing that would extend to
the ends of the earth.
Abraham was like a new Adam and Canaan was to be a new
Eden where God dwelt with his people. As the children of Abraham
trust in the Lord and obey him the promises would be fulfilled. At the
same time, the Lord promised in a dramatic covenant-ceremony that
the promise would certainly be fulfilled (Genesis 15). God pledged that
he would keep his promise but he would do it through the obedient
offspring of Abraham.
The Covenant with Israel
A covenant was also made with Israel after they were freed from
Egypt by God’s grace. Israel was God’s son and Abraham’s offspring
and the means by which blessing would flow to the whole world. They
were priest-kings, mediating God’s blessing and rule in the world. They
lived in Canaan, which was to be like a new Eden, a place where God
ruled and dwelt in the midst of a holy people.
The stipulations of the covenant with Israel are summarized in
the ten commandments, and the Lord promised blessing if they
obeyed but if they violated God’s prescriptions they would suffer the
consequences. Indeed, they would even be ejected from the land and
go into exile.
The Covenant with David
The promise of victory over the serpent and his offspring will
come through a child of Abraham (Gen. 3:15; 12:1–3), but in God’s
covenant with David a new feature of the promise appeared, though if
one reads the story carefully there were indications of this promise all
along (2 Samuel 7). The new feature is that victory over the serpent
would come through a king. The child of Abraham who will conquer sin
and death will be a son of David. The promise of land and universal
blessing will be secured through David’s dynasty.
The king, then, was a kind of new Adam in a new land, and for a
brief time it almost looked as if all the promises would come to pass
during Solomon’s reign. The covenant with David, however, had
conditional and unconditional elements as well. If the kings
transgressed, they would face God’s judgment.
As history progresses, it becomes evident that something was
radically wrong with the kings and with the nation. In fact, the sin of
the kings of Judah (and Israel) were so significant that Israel was
expelled from the land. God had pledged that the world would be
transformed through a son of David, but the promise was going
backwards! Israel and Judah were thrown out of the land in 722 and
586 BC respectively.
New Covenant in Jesus Christ
Because humanity had fallen far from the grace of God, and God
wanted a renewal of the relationship, we have something known as
the New Covenant. Through God’s son and his sacrifice, we have the
chance for a redemptive relationship with our Savior.
The new covenant finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ who is the
true son of Abraham, the true Son of God, the true Israel, the true
David, the Son of Man, and the Servant of the Lord. The new covenant
promise of forgiveness of sins is fulfilled in Jesus himself, and thus he
pours out his Spirit on his people so that they are enabled to do God’s
will (Ezek. 36:26–27).
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT COVENANTS
Hebrews 8:6 ~ But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much
more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is
enacted on better promises.
Exodus 34:28 ~ So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He
neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of
the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 ~ “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. But 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.”
Deuteronomy 4:13 ~ And he declared to you his covenant, which he
commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote
them on two tablets of stone.
Matthew 26:28 ~ For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Exodus 19:5 ~ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all
the earth is mine;
Hebrews 13:20-21 ~ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the
eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
REFERENCES:
What is Covenant? [Link] Editorial Staff. Jan.18, 2023.
[Link]
[Link]#google_vignette
Why We Must Understand the Covenants to Understand the Bible. Thomas R.
Schreiner. July 20, 2017.
[Link]
to-understand-the-bible/
MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY.
[Link]
