Bibilical studies

COVENANT

Covenant is a word that seems complicated to analyze and discuss by so many people and this is the reason why many people fail to keep covenant among them , even back in the old testament of the bible written 2000BC , the Israelites often fail in the covenant between them and God and only God who is perfect never fails "The distance between God and the creature is so great " says the Westminster Confession (VII .I "that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator , yet they could never have

any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward , but by some voluntary condescension on God 's part , which he hath been d to express by way of covenant " Exactly ! So biblical doctrine , first to last , has to do with covenantal relationships between God and man biblical ethics has to do with expressing God 's covenantal relationship to us in covenantal relationships between ourselves and others and Christian religion has the nature of covenant life , in which God is the direct object of our faith , hope , love , worship , and service , all animated by gratitude for grace

Our theme is the life-embracing bedrock reality of the covenant relationship between the Creator and Christians , and it is high time we defined exactly what we are talking about . A covenant relationship is a voluntary mutual commitment that binds each party to the other . Whether it is negotiated , like a modern business deal or a marriage contract , or unilaterally imposed , as all God 's covenants are , is irrelevant to the commitment itself the reality of the relationship depends simply on the fact that mutual obligations have been accepted and pledged on both sides . Luther is held to have said that Christianity is a matter of personal pronouns , in the sense that everything depends on knowing that Jesus died for me , to be my Savior , and that his Father is my God and Father , personally committed to love , nurture , uphold , and glorify me This already is covenant thinking , for this is the essential substance of the covenant relationship : God 's covenant is precisely a matter of these personal pronouns , used in this way , as a basis for a life with God of friendship , peace and communicated love

Going back to the Old Testament of the Bible , when God tells Abraham "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you . to be your God . I will be their God (Gen . 17 :6-8 , the personal pronouns are the key words : God is committing himself to Abraham and Abraham 's seed in a way in which he does not commit himself to others . God 's covenant commitment expresses eternal election his covenant love to individuals sinners flows from his choice of them to be his for ever in the peace of justification and the joy of glorification . The verbal commitment in which electing sovereignty thus shows itself has the nature of a promise , the fulfillment of...