[Disclaimer: I realize that there are countless number of books written about covenants and what they mean and how they form our relationship. This is really an introductory discussion but I believe, especially for Christians, that it is important to realize that when we become Christians, we enter into a covenant with God. Therefore, it’s important to have a least a cursory understanding.]
Do you know what this word, covenant, means? It isn’t a contract. Covenants are far more binding than contracts. And when God is the initiating party to a covenant – critically important to understand.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” ( Hebrews 8:10-12)
One could argue that this is God talking only to Israel. But don’t forget that we are grafted in. Read Hebrews 11:11-31, AMP because this provides an understanding of what has been done for the Gentiles and what will happen for the Israelite. [See also Jeremiah 31:33-34]
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you [Gentiles], being like a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share with them the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the [broken] branches and exalt yourself at their expense.” (v. 17-18)
I believe that I have established that WE have a covenant with God and that God’s people, the Jews, are also part and are in covenant-relationship. However, what I am wanting to do is to begin with an elementary understanding of the word, covenant, because if we don’t have a grasp of the word, we won’t understand.
One of the better definitions is found at Christianity.com:
“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.”
I think the important point to take away from this is the word ‘relationship’. Covenants are based in relationships and there penalties and blessings associated with the covenants. Specifically,
“These covenants become a way of helping us understand how is it that we relate to God, and He relates to us. …
Part of understanding how the Bible fits together is understanding how the various covenants that God’s revealed either build on one another and fulfill one another, or in some ways are quite different from each other and are introducing something new. ..
Everything that God does is based on covenant. …
A covenant is a solemn binding agreement.”
So to simplify and summarize, a covenant:
1. helps us to understand how we relate to God and He to us.
2. is a binding agreement.
3. is how God relates to His creation
4. is a relationship
5. are the backbone of the biblical story. *
6. can be defined as follows: a covenant is a chosen relationship in which two parties
make binding promises to each other *
7. virtually all the covenants have both conditional and unconditional elements *
8. and, the new covenant is the climax of all of God’s covenants. *
(* 5-8, the source for these inclusions is Crossway.com)
As you can see, I’ve barely scratched the surface on what a covenant is and how it relates to us. Perhaps it will become important enough to do a deeper study to gain a deeper understanding of our relationship with The Father.
