Schreiner / Ortlund Covenant and God's Purpose for the World

1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4335-5002-7
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 144 Seiten

Reihe: Short Studies in Biblical Theology

'Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.' -Genesis 17:4 Throughout the Bible, God has related to his people through covenants. It is through these covenant relationships, which collectively serve as the foundation for God's promise to bring redemption to his people, that we can understand the advancement of his kingdom. This book walks through six covenants from Genesis to Revelation, helping us grasp the overarching narrative of Scripture and see the salvation God has planned for us since the beginning of time-bolstering our faith in God and giving us hope for the future. Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series.

Thomas R. Schreiner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and associate dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schreiner, Thomas R.

Ortlund, Dane

Leseproben

Introduction

Covenant is one of the most important words in the Bible since it introduces one of the central theological themes in Scripture. Some scholars have even argued that covenant is the center of Scripture, the theme that integrates the message of the entire Bible. I am not convinced that covenant is the center of Scripture. Indeed, the idea that the Scriptures have one center is probably mistaken. Still, we can rightly say that covenant is one of the most important notions in the Bible.

The Importance of Covenant

The many scholars who have made covenant their integrating motif or central theme demonstrate how crucial it is. Indeed, covenant has played a vital role in theology from the beginning. Early church fathers, such as Origen, Irenaeus, and Augustine, assigned covenant a significant place in their writings. Covenant also came to prominence among the Reformers and their successors. Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531), Johannes Cocceius (1609–1669), and Herman Witsius (1636–1708) advanced the importance of covenant in interpreting the Scriptures.

In the modern period the importance of covenant was set forth by a number of scholars, perhaps most notably by the great Old Testament scholar Walther Eichrodt (1890–1978). More recently, the landmark book by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant, which uses covenant as a framework or a substructure to elucidate the storyline of the Bible, has been published.1 At the same time, systematic theologians in the Reformed tradition, such as Michael Horton, have made the covenant an organizing motif in their dogmatic work.

Although such an approach is surely illuminating at a number of levels, it isn’t necessary to insist that covenant is the central theme of biblical theology or the key for doing systematics. Even if one disagrees with those claims, we can say without exaggeration that we can’t truly understand the Scriptures if we don’t understand the covenants God made with his people. For even if covenant isn’t the central theme of Scripture, it is still one of the central themes in biblical revelation. We can safely say, along with Gentry and Wellum, that the covenants are the backbone of the storyline of the Bible; they help us to unfold the biblical narrative. All careful readers of the Scriptures want to comprehend how the Bible fits together so that they can grasp the overarching narrative and theology of the Bible. We can’t really apply the Scriptures wisely to our lives if we don’t understand “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), and we can’t grasp how the Scriptures fit together if we lack clarity about the covenants God made with his people.

If we have a nuanced understanding of covenants, we will gain clarity as to how the Old and New Testaments relate to each other. Such an endeavor is necessary since God didn’t limit himself to one covenant, for we find in the Scriptures a covenant with Noah, a covenant with Abraham, a covenant with Israel, a covenant with David, and a new covenant. And many think God also made a covenant with Adam.

To understand the Scriptures well, we need to understand how these covenants are interrelated, and we need to see how they advance the story of God’s kingdom in the Scriptures. The covenants help us, then, to see the harmony and unity of the biblical message. They also play a vital role in tracing out the progress of redemptive history, which centers on the promise that God will bring redemption to the human race (Gen. 3:15).2 Understanding the covenants is also essential for understanding the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist. Both of these signs are covenantal in nature and must be apprehended in that context.3

Definition of Covenant

Before launching into the study, we need to ask other vital questions. What is a covenant? What are we talking about when we use the word covenant, and how do we define it? Covenants can contain several elements, but here we want to look at what is required at minimum. Covenant can be defined as follows: a covenant is a chosen relationship in which two parties make binding promises to each other. Several things can be said about this definition.

First, a covenant is a relationship, and that sets it apart from a contract. Contracts also contain promises and obligations, but they are impersonal and nonrelational. Covenants stand apart from contracts because the promises are made in a relational context. We are not surprised to learn, then, that marriage in the Scriptures is described as a covenant (Prov. 2:17; Mal. 2:14). In marriage a husband and a wife choose to enter a covenant relationship, and they make binding promises to each other, pledging lifelong loyalty and faithfulness.

Second, a covenant is a chosen or elected relationship. Once again, marriage serves as a good illustration. A husband and a wife choose to enter into the marriage covenant. By way of contrast, children and parents don’t enter into a covenant with one another, for they are already bound together by their natural relationship, by their family bond. A covenant is a chosen relationship with defined responsibilities made with those who aren’t already in a kinship relationship.

Third, a covenant relationship includes binding promises and obligations. We see this again in marriage, where spouses pledge themselves to each other. They promise to be faithful until death, living out the specific conditions and responsibilities in a covenant relationship. Each party in the relationship pledges to carry out the stipulations or the requirements of the covenant. Covenants, in other words, are mutual.

Still, not all covenants were alike in the ancient world. In some covenants a person with more authority made a covenant with those having less authority and power. Such was the case when a king made a relationship with his subjects. Readers of the Bible immediately think of God entering into covenant with human beings, for in this case we have a superior entering into covenant with an inferior. All covenants, then, aren’t precisely the same, and we need to keep this in mind while studying the covenants in the Bible.

Examples of Covenants

We see a number of covenants between human beings in Scripture, and it should prove helpful to survey them briefly so that we can see how covenants operated in the biblical world. Both Abraham and Isaac had disputes with residents in Canaan over wells since water for flocks was in short supply. In one case, Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech over a well so that he could use the well without conflict (Gen. 21:24–32). Abraham and Abimelech made promises to one another and sealed their promises with an oath (v. 31). Abraham also gave seven lambs to Abimelech to serve as a witness of the covenant enacted. Isaac also disputed with the residents of Canaan over wells for his flocks (Gen. 26:14–33), so a covenant was made between Isaac and Abimelech,4 which was sealed with an oath. They pledged not to harm each other and ratified the covenant with a meal. In both cases, we see that two parties entered into a formal relationship in enacting a covenant. They also made binding promises to each other, which were ratified with oaths. The covenant, then, was conditional, and each party promised to abide by its stipulations.

When Jacob fled from Laban accompanied by flocks, servants, and his wives (who were also Laban’s daughters), Laban pursued Jacob in order to harm him (Gen. 31:17–55), but God appeared to Laban in a dream, warning him not to hurt Jacob in any way (v. 24). The meeting between Jacob and Laban was by no means friendly, as old family hurts and wrongs were voiced. Finally, they decided to conclude their complaints with a covenant (v. 44). They set up a heap of stones and a pillar, which served as a witness to the stipulations (vv. 45–48, 51–52). In the covenant, Jacob pledged to faithfully take care of Laban’s daughters, and both Jacob and Laban promised to respect the boundary markers established by the stones and pillar (vv. 50–52). Neither would transgress the boundary and plunder the other. Jacob took an oath, and presumably Laban did as well, to observe the covenant stipulations (v. 53). The covenant was then sealed with a meal (v. 54). A formal relationship was thereby established between Jacob and Laban.

In the book of Joshua the Gibeonites deceived Israel and made a covenant with them to avoid being destroyed like the other inhabitants of Canaan (Josh. 9:3–27). Israel entered into the covenant relationship with the Gibeonites, pledging to let them live and promising peaceful relations. The covenant was ratified with an oath (v. 16). When Israel discovered that the Gibeonites had deceived them, some in Israel wanted to destroy them, but the Israelite leaders protested that they could not break the covenant since they had sworn oaths to the Gibeonites. If they transgressed the covenant stipulations, they would face the Lord’s wrath (vv. 18–20).

The seriousness of the covenant is evidenced much later in Israel’s history, when Saul violated its provisions by slaying the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:1). The Lord’s anger was satisfied only after seven of Saul’s descendants were put to death in exchange for the...