Covenant
II. MEANING
The word “covenant” may be defined as a formal, solemn, and bind- ing contract between two parties. The essential elements are those of two parties, a promise solemnly given, and an obligation in the covenant’s mainte- nance and fulfillment. Because of the solemnity and binding character of the promise, a seal or ratification of the covenant is often attached. The
‘The KJV reads “new testament.” The word “new” is not found in most of the ancient transcripts, and therefore is not included in the RSV (quoted above), NASB, NIV, NEB and many other modem translations. The word translated “testament” in KJV, diuthtkt, is uniformly translated “covenant” in modem versions.
ZSee below for a discussion of how the more inclusive word “covenant” contains within itself also the meaning of “testament.” Although “covenant” is generally a more adequate translation than “testament,” I will use the traditional terminology when referring to the Bible itself as composed of Old and New “Testaments.”
‘The Hebrew word is be&, the Greek, diatht?kt?.
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.fir(fillmcnt of the covenant may there- after be described.
III. KINDS OF COVENANTS There are basically two kinds of covenants. Let us observe each of them in turn.
A. Human Covenants
Human covenants are mutual, volun- tary promises or agreements, usually between two persons. Illustrations of this may be found in the covenant between Abraham and Abimelech (Gen. 21:31), Jacob and Laban (31:44), David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:8). In another instance, the covenant is be- tween one man and a people-Joshua with the Israelites (Josh. 24:25). In all these cases, there is a mutual agree- ment, a contract of commitment, freely entered into by both parties of the covenant. Further, both sides obligate themselves to fulfill all the terms of the contract faithfully.
B. Divine Covenants
A divine covenant is a binding con- tract sovereignly established by God.
There are, as in human covenants, two parties; however, there is no mutual agreement of terms. A divine covenant is a one-way matter: God Himself total- ly makes the promise and sets the terms. It is essentially G’od’s covenanf with man, not God and man covenant- ing with each other. Thus in Scripture the language frequently is “my cove- nant.” The covenant is still bilateral, even though the covenant itself is God’s sovereign disposition.
Divine covenants also differ from human covenants in that they may or
may not carry a human obligation. God may obligate Himself to fulfill all the terms of the contract, with man obliged to do nothing. In that situation there is no way man can break the covenant. In other cases there is an obligation that man is required to fulfill. If he fails, he thereby breaks the covenant and con- sequently does not receive the promise offered by God.
Divine covenants always contain some blessing of God. They declare His goodness and benevolence to His cre- ation, and His unswerving intention to fulfill what He promises. God’s cove- nants, while they are essentially His (“my covenant”), invariably are for mankind’s benefit. God is always for man, never against him, and seeks only his well-being.
IV. COVENANTS OF GOD A. The Covenant With Adam The first covenant in history is the covenant of God with Adam, or man.4 God spoke to Adam saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die” (Gen. 2:16- 17). The first part of the statement,
“You may freely eat . . . ,” included
“the tree of life . . . in the midst of the garden” (Gen. 2:9).
The word “covenant” is not found in the Genesis account in reference to God’s relation with Adam. However, the word is used in a later passage in Hosea where, regarding the transgres- sion of Ephraim and Judah, the prophet says, “Like Adam,” they have broken the covenant-they were unfaithful to me there” (Hosea 67 NIV). An interest-
4As noted in chapter 9, “Adam” and “man” are the same Hebrew word, ‘d&m.
‘The Hebrew phrase is k~‘&&rz. The KJV reads “like men,” RSV “at Adam,” the NEB “at Admah.” The footnote of the NEB, however, states that the Hebrew is “like Adam.” We will stay with that rendering of the text, despite the apparent difficulty of the verse suggesting a place location-“there.” I submit that both person and place are contained in the establishing of the first covenant.
L/b
ing passage is found in the apocryphal Book of Sirach (Ecclus.) where the creation of man is described: “He be- stowed knowledge upon them, and al- lotted to them the law of life. He established with them6 an eternal cove- nant, and showed them his judgments [“decrees”-NEB]" (17:11-12). Thus it seems clear from both canonical and noncanonical texts that the primary covenant of God was with original m a n - A d a m .
That this is a divine covenant is shown both in the fact that God Himself sets all the terms (see below)-man in no way participates in what God estab- lishes-and that it is His covenant with Adam. One translation of Hosea 6:7 reads: “ . . . they have broken my covenant.“’ The covenant of course includes Adam, but it is not Adam’s or man’s covenant: it is God’s covenant with man.
Moreover, the components of a cove- nant are present. First, there are two parties: God and man; second, there is a promise; third, there is an obligation or demand. Concerning the first of these, we may now further observe that this is a universal covenant. Although it is made with a particular man, Adam, it is universal in that Adam is man and the progenitor of the human race. Thus the covenant affects all mankind. In refer-
C O V E N A N T
ence to the second, the covenant prom- ises continuing life: the “tree of life” is included among the trees of which man may eat. If he does eat of it, he will
“live for ever” (Gen. 3:22).8 Hence, there is the promise of eternal life. True life is to be found outside man in God.
As man partakes of this life, physically represented or sealed9 in the tree of life, he will never die. This then is the “law of life.“‘0 Regarding the third, the covenant calls for obedience on man’s part: he is commanded not to eat of the
“tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
Disobedience will result in death, for God said, “In the day you eat of it you shall die.” Disobedience to God’s will, here represented in the partaking of another tree, is thus to cut oneself off from God with the inevitable result:
eternal death.
This original covenant of God with man may be called the covenant of life.
For life-eternal life-is the promise.
Moreover, it is to be understood that such is not earned by man’s efforts; it is there, available to man for his partak- ing. To be sure, man may forfeit that life by his disobedience, but his obedi- ence does not earn it or merit it. Thus it is not a “covenant of works” in the sense that man is granted life on condi- tion of obedience,11 as if to say that 6“Them” includes man and woman, or mankind at large. Sirach 17 begins: “The Lord created man out of the earth, and turned him back to it again. He gave to men [literally, “to them”] few days” (v. 1).
‘This is the wording of the NEB. The word “my” is implied however the text is translated, since the continuation reads, “They were unfaithful to me there.” The NEB reads, “There they played me false.”
*The quoted words follow the sin and fall of man, wherein God banishes man from Eden
“lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Gen.
3:22). Hence, the “tree of life” was the tree of eternal life.
9The “tree of life” is sometimes also spoken of as a “sacrament”: “In paradise the tree of life stood out eminently . . . as a splendid sacrament particularly of heavenly life and of Christ Himself, the author of life” (Heinrich Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, 297).
iOTo use the language of Sirach quoted earlier.
11 The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that “the first covenant made with man
was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience” (chap. VII, “Of God’s Covenant with
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eternal life would be achieved by not
eating of the forbidden tree. Rather, this life is granted to man through his con- tinuance in fellowship with God and partaking of the “tree of life.”
It is important to recognize that through Adam the human race as a whole is in a covenant relationship to God. Long before there was a covenant with Israel or Abraham or even Noah, God had already entered into a cove- nant with man in which life was prom- ised through fellowship with Him.12 Thus creation itself is the outward form, of which covenant is the inward sub- stance.13 God’s entering into a cove- nant of life with man is His primary action on the stage of the world:‘4 the declaration of His will to have eternal fellowship with man. It is for this that the world was made and man placed within it.
Since it is God Himself who has made the covenant, it will surely be fu@ilfed. Man may-and tragically does-prove faithless on his part, and punishment follows, but God’s inten- tion for life in communion with Himself remains the same. At the consumma- tion of history it will at last be fulfilled,
for then a voice will ring forth: “Be- hold, the dwelling of God is with men.
He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people” (Rev. 21:3), and once more the “tree of life” will be there (22:2). Thus is God’s covenant com- pleted in the glory of the eternal city.
Hence from Genesis to Revelation there is one overarching covenant of God: the covenant of life. There can be no adequate understanding of the Bible as a whole or of the intervening cove- nants unless this covenant is constantly recognized. God will not abrogate this covenant, no matter what man may do.
Even man’s sinful disobedience wherein he succumbed to Satan’s temp- tation and was disfellowshiped from God, driven out of Eden, and thus became a creature of death, by no means alters God’s intention. Indeed, just after man’s sin but before he was driven out, God pronounced a curse upon the serpent (Satan’s disguise), and declared that the seed of woman would
“CruSh”’ 5 his head (Gen. 3:15 NIV) . Thus the evil force to which man has succumbed, with ensuing spiritual and physical death, will some day be de- stroyed and God’s promise of eternal Man,” sect. 2). The emphasis is, I believe, misplaced, as if man earned life by obedience to the command “You shall not eat.” To be sure, such “eating” of the forbidden tree meant the forfeiture of life, but the “not eating” of it was not the condition or requirement for life.
Indeed, life was there already for the taking and partaking-all this freely given by the goodness of God. This mistaken emphasis is repeated in such a work of Reformed theology as Herman Bavinck’s Our Reasonable Faith, wherein he writes: “Before the fall the rule was: through works to eternal life” (p. 272).
‘2” . . . man as a creature in God’s image was created for covenant communion with
God” (Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, 281). Heppe adds, “The doctrine of God’s covenant with man is thus the inmost heart and soul of the whole of revealed truth” (ibid.).
‘3“ . . . creation is the outward basis of the covenant, covenant the inward basis of
creation” (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.11.27).
‘4“God’s fundamental act in history is the establishment of a covenant. His will is a will to community” (Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creufion and Redemption [Dogmatics, II], 215).
IsThe Hebrew word is itip. The NASB, like KJV and RSV, reads “bruise” but has “crush” in the margin. The translation of “bruise” is time-honored; nonetheless it does not seem adequate to express the full force of the text. The NEB and the Anchor Bible read “strike at.”
While this conveys a strong action (perhaps more than “bruise”), it does not sufficiently convey the note of accomplishment, much less that of victory, that is found in the translation
“crush.” The JR also reads “crush.”
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life at last fulfilled. In the promise of the
“crushing” of the serpent’s head is found God’s immediate response to the inroad of death. Already the “seed” of woman is promised to be victorious, and the gospel thereby prefigured. This is the proto-evangelium, the first gIim- mer of a coming salvation through Him16 who will restore man to life.
Thus the later so-called “covenant of grace” is foreshadowed, even though distinctive lineaments have yet to be marked out.
B. The Covenant With Noah The second covenant in history is with Noah and all creation. Following the Flood, God spoke to Noah and his sons: “Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and your descendants after you, and with every living creature . . . that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:9-11).
Now that sin and death had entered through Adam’s defection, the human race, despite some instances to the contrary, moved increasingly in an evil direction. So by the time of Noah Scripture records “that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen.
6:5). Noah alone was “a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah
walked with God” (6:9). Noah’s walk with God-which is God’s desire for all mankind’7 -and his faith whereby he built the ark18 resulted in the physical salvation of man and all the living creatures (birds, cattle, and beasts).
After the Flood God then made the covenant with Noah and all creation.
Note that the covenant is God’s covenant- “my covenant” (see above). Furthermore, the elements of the covenant are as follows:
(1) parties-God with Noah, his de- scendants, and all living creatures (9:9- 10); (2) promise -never again will the earth be destroyed by a flood (9:ll);
(3) ratification-the rainbow, “I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (9: 13); (4) obligation-none on man’s part, for God binds Himself to maintain the covenant regardless of what man may or may not do (9: 15- 16);
(5) fulfillment-the covenant is con- stantly being fulfilled as rains come and go but never to the extent of destroying the earth.
Like the Adamic covenant, the Noachic covenant shows forth God’s goodness and proclaims a blessing, even if in this case it is a negative one:
never a total deluge again. But, to be sure, this is a blessing, for it implies positively that physical life will con-
‘6Although ‘the MT of Genesis 3:15 reads “it shall crush your head,” the LXX has a
masculine pronoun “he,” a clear Messianic interpretation. The Vulgate mistakenly translated the pronoun as “she,” thus suggesting the Roman Catholic view of Mary.
“Of only one other man between Adam and Noah was it said that he walked with God- Enoch. Genesis 5:24 reads, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
According to Hebrews 11:5, “by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death;
and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.” Assumably Enoch in his 300-year walk with God (see Gen. 5:21- 24) represented such a unique fellowship with his Creator in a world of increasing evil that God would not let him die: He simply “took” him. Enoch’s father Jared and his son Methuselah lived over 900 years, but they both physically died. Enoch at the relatively young age (for that time) of 365 was taken out of a sinful and dying world. Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah.
‘*Hebrews puts it vividly: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events yet unseen, took heed and [“in reverence” N A S B] constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith” (11:7).
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ICi ‘\! Li’.~li I t it.t )l.CKq‘I
tinuc through the ages. In that sense the covenant with Noah and all the earth is, like the covenant with Adam, a cove- nant of life.
The Noachic covenant is unlike the Adamic in that there is no obligation on man’s part. Adam was under obligation to keep God’s command; if he did not, death would ensue. But neither Noah nor his descendants were obligated to do anything to carry out their side of the covenant. God took the total obligation to fulfill the covenant, regardless of what mankind might do.
Truly this Noachic covenant is a blessing for the whole human race.
Torrential rains may, and do, come;
rivers overflow their banks; tidal waves and hurricanes sweep in; but we know with absolute certainty that no flood will ever again devastate the earth. For God Himself has assumed the total obligation to fulfill the covenant. And even though the whole world becomes evil again, there will be no destruction by water.
But it is also an omen of something else. Just as a flood will never occur again, destruction by fire is sure to happen. Peter writes “that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” He con- tinues: “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept unto the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:5-7). The destruction by water of an evil world is a portent of the destruction by fire that will occur on the day of judgment.
Again, on the positive side, even as the
Flood brought in a clean and fresh earth, so the destruction by fire will be the dawn of “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells”
(2 Peter 3:13). Even amid the certainty of fire to come, we may rejoice in this realization: although the rejuvenated world after the Flood was soon polluted by man again, the world after the de- struction by fire will be totally new. It will be the dwelling place of God and redeemed people throughout the ages to come.
C. The Covenant With Abraham The third covenant in biblical history is with Abraham. The first explicit reference is found in Genesis 15:18:
“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your seed’9 I give this land [Canaan], from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.’ ” Later God again said to Abraham,
I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. . . . Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, b u t your name shall be Abraham. . . . I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojoum- ings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God (Gen. 17:1-8).
“The KJV reading. Most modern translations read “descendants.” However, the Hebrew is in the singular and thus suggests a collective, not individuals. Hence “offspring” might be the best modern translation. Nonetheless, I am retaining “seed” here and in the verses to follow as quite adequate (cf. Gal. 3: 16, where a translation in the singular stands at the very heart of what Paul is teaching).
The human background for God’s initiation of this covenant in Canaan was the faith and obedience of Abra- ham. Many years prior, God had com- manded Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing . . . by you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”20 (Gen.
12:1-3). T h e n e x t w o r d s r e v e a l Abram’s single-minded response: “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him”
(Gen. 12:4). Here is obedience, ground- ed in faith-faith-obedience or the obe- dience of faith. The writer of Hebrews later depicts the result: “Byfaith Abra- ham obeyed . . . and he went out not knowing where he was to go” (11:8).
On the evening before the covenant was made, God said to Abraham, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. . . . So shall your seed be” (Gen. 15:5). The response of Abraham was again that of complete faith: “And he believed* 1 the LO R D; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness” (15:6). Against that background God made His covenant with Abraham, saying, “To your seed I give this land. . . . ” Previously we noted God’s preface to the covenant:
“Walk before me and be blameless.
And I will make my covenant between m e a n d y o u . . . . ” Hence, walking
C’C )Vl:NAN’I’
before (or with) God22 and living blame- lessly (or obediently) is a demonstra- tion of faith and is essential for the covenant God was to make with Abra- ham. Abraham’s faith-obedience (with the emphasis on obedience) is climacti- cally demonstrated in his willingness to offer up his only son Isaac. God re- sponded to Abraham, saying, “Because you have done this, and have not with- held your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore . . . and by your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:16-18).
According to Hebrews, “by faith Abra- ham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac” (11: 17). Thus here again is dem- onstrated the marvelous unity of faith and obedience.
One final word about God’s promise to Abraham later spoken to Isaac: “I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these lands; and by your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed:
because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:4- 5). The promise to Abraham was against the background of a faith that demonstrated itself in obedience.23
As we move on to a consideration of various elements in God’s covenant
*oThe RSV margin; similarly KJV, NIV, and NASB. The RSV reads “will bless themselves.”
The Hebrew word ni&kii here and in 18:18 may have reflexive force like the hithpael hitbtirkd in 22:18 and 26:4b. However, the LXX translates both tenses as a passive eneulogc?th&wzrai, and it is the reading “be blessed” that Paul follows in Galatians 3:s. See F. F. Bruce, Commentary of Galatiuns, NIGTC, 156, 171.
* I Or literally, “believed in” (so K J V. NASB).
**Recall similar words about Enoch and Noah.
*3The relation between faith and works (or obedience) is dramatically set forth in James 2: 14-26, where Abraham is the focal figure. The climax comes in verse 26: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” It was “faith . . . completed by works” (v. 22) that is the glory of Abraham’s life, the background for God’s covenant with him-and the paradigm for true Christian living.
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