The concept of
covenant is one of the most important
theological ideas in the Bible. It has been
called the theological glue that binds the
Bible’s storyline together. All of God’s
dealings with man have been through some
form of divine covenant. The history of
salvation and the unfolding of God’s plans
are revealed through the major covenants.
They are the way that God has chosen to
communicate with the human race, whether in
the garden of Eden, or after sin entered the
world. God’s desire and intention to dwell
with His people was always the goal of his
divinely given covenants (Exod. 6:7; 29:45; Ezek. 11:20; 2 Cor. 6:16;
Rev. 21:3).
A covenant was a
pact, treaty, or agreement between two or
more parties that laid down conditions and
guaranteed benefits, depending upon a
person’s response to keeping the covenant.
Then the covenant was sealed by some form of
a witness (Gen. 21:22-32; 31:44-54; 1 Sam. 18:3-4;
Mal. 2:14). The covenants
between God and man differed from purely
human covenants in that they were not
agreements between equals. God was always
the giver and man the receiver. Man could
not negotiate an agreement with God or make
demands upon him. God’s promises originated
in his sovereign grace alone, and man could
do nothing but accept or reject God’s
directions. There are basically two types of divine
covenants, conditional and unconditional. A
conditional covenant depended upon a human
response to be fulfilled; an unconditional
covenant was a promise of God to bring his
purposes to
fulfillment.
The
9 Major Covenants in the Bible.
1. The
Edenic Covenant of Works (Conditional)
God first entered
into a covenant relationship with man when
he made a conditional covenant with Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. When God created
our first parents they were the crowning
work of his creation and he endowed them
with authority to rule over the earth as his
representatives (Gen. 1:28-31). Adam and Eve were supposed to obey
all that God commanded of them to earn the
right to eat from the tree of life and have
eternal life. God gave them one simple
restriction to see if they would be faithful
to him, not to eat from “the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.” If they chose
to eat the forbidden fruit they would die.
Adam chose to rebel against God and instead earned
death and condemnation for himself and all
of his descendants (Gen. 1:26-30; 2:16-18; 3).
The Edenic Covenant outlined
man’s responsibility toward creation and
God’s command regarding the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
Hosea 6:7 says, “But like Adam they
transgressed the covenant; there they dealt
faithlessly with me.”
Because our first parents ate the forbidden
fruit and fell into sin, God gave the human
race the covenant of grace. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith
alone, in Christ alone. Basically, all
mankind is either under the curse of the
broken covenant of works in Adam, or under
the blessing of the covenant of grace in
Christ Jesus (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21-22).
Theologians don’t all agree that
there was an actual covenant made with Adam
and Eve before the fall. However, even
though the word “covenant” is not used until
Genesis 6:18, there is enough covenantal
language and elements in Genesis 1-2, as
well as other scriptural support to confirm the
reality of the Edenic Covenant (cf. Gen. 1:14-19; 8:22; Hosea 6:7; Jer. 31:35-37; 33:19-25;
Ps. 89:34-37).
2. The
Adamic Covenant of Grace (Unconditional)
The Adamic Covenant is first found in Genesis 3:15 where God promises that a
savior will come who will crush the head of
the serpent (i.e. Satan). People are saved
by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ
alone because Christ kept the law perfectly
on our behalf and then made a perfect and
complete sacrifice for our sins (John 8:46;
2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:22; 3:18; 1 Jn. 3:5;
Heb. 4:15: cf. Rom. 5:12-21; Heb. 7:27; 10:14). The Adamic
Covenant included the curses pronounced
against mankind for the sin of Adam and Eve,
as well as God’s provision for that sin
(Gen. 3; Rom. 1-5).
In the Adamic
Covenant, Adam represented the entire human
race. The phrase “in Adam” is a term of
federal headship which designates that he
was mankind’s representative. This is why the
Bible says that sin entered the world
through one man (Rom. 5:12). Furthermore,
the Bible tells us that “in Adam all die”
(1 Cor. 15:22). Therefore, the Adamic
Covenant was not just with Adam but is also
representative of all those who were in him,
his descendants.
Through faith in
Christ alone, you are declared righteous in
God’s sight, are forgiven of your sins, have
peace with your Creator, and have been
gifted all the rights and privileges as
a child of God for all eternity (Eph. 2:8-9;
Rom. 5:1; 8:15).
Sign: a Son
(Genesis 3:15).
3. The
Noahic Covenant (Unconditional)
In this
unconditional covenant, God made a promise
to Noah to never again bring a flood to
destroy the whole earth (Gen. 9:1-17).
God made this covenant to preserve the earth
so that the human race would not destroy
each other completely so that the
Savior (seed) could come at the appointed time in
God’s redemptive plan. God gave the rainbow
as the sign of His covenant with Noah. A
blood sacrifice ratified this covenant (Gen. 8:20-21), and the Lord promised that the
seasonal cycles will continue while the
earth remained (Gen. 8:22). Noah and his
family were told to go out and replenish the
earth (Gen. 9:1). God has warned us that
one day in the future, He will judge sin
again but this time he will destroy the earth by
fire (2 Pet. 2:5; 3:10, 11; Rev. 20:9; 21:1).
After the flood, God told Noah and
his family they could eat any meat they
wanted to for food for
the first time in Genesis 9:1-5. When God
first created man He gave them a
diet consisting of only green plants
(Gen. 1:29-30), but then God told Noah He
was about to destroy the surface of the
earth with a flood and there would be no new
vegetation available for some time. Genesis 9:3 says,
“Every moving thing that lives
shall be food for you. And as I gave you the
green plants, I give you everything.” Those
dietary restrictions stayed the same until
God gave the Law to Israel on Mount Sinai.
In those laws, God restricted Israel’s diet
even more.
Sign: The rainbow
(Genesis 9:11-13).
4. The
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
God made an
unconditional covenant with Abraham saying,
“‘I will bless those who bless you” (Gen. 12:1-4; 13:14-17;
Gen. 15:1-7; 17:1-8; 22:15-19;
Gal. 3:14-29; Rom. 2:26-28; Eph. 2:11-22). He personally promised
that He would make Abraham’s name great
(Gen. 12:2), and that Abraham would be
the father of a multitude of nations
(Gen. 17:4-5). God promised to bless
Abraham’s seed through his son Isaac, and he
fulfilled his promise of a seed by sending
Jesus Christ, his one and only Son to the
earth as the Savior of the world from one of
his descendants
(Matt. 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38; Gal. 3:16).
The geographical boundaries for the
Promised Land were given for the nation of Israel
for the first time that would rise from his line (Gen. 12:7; 13:14-15; 15:18-21). God gave circumcision
to Abraham and his descendants as a sign of
the covenant He made with them (Gen. 17).
The Abrahamic
Covenant was based on Abraham’s faith alone.
Likewise, everyone who receives Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior through faith alone are the true heirs of Abraham and
have all of the rights and privileges
promised in the Abrahamic Covenant
(John 3:16; Gal. 3:7-29; 4:22-31; Rom. 4:12-21; 9:7-8).
Sign:
Circumcision (Genesis 17:10-13).
5. The
Mosaic Covenant (Conditional)
The Mosaic
covenant was a conditional, bilateral agreement between
God and the people of Israel that was
mediated by Moses (Exod. 19-24). The Old
Covenant was given specifically to the
nation of Israel (Exod. 19; Lev. 26:46;
Rom. 9:4), and it was made up of three
parts: the Ten Commandments (the “Ten
Words”), the ordinances and regulations, and the system of
worship that included the priesthood, the
tabernacle, the offerings, and festivals
(Exod. 20-40; Lev. 1-7; 23).
The Ten
Commandments form the framework for all of
the rest of the laws in the covenant (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 4:13).
As part of the Old Covenant, the people at
Mount Sinai also agreed to obey all the laws
given in Exodus 20-24. Those additional laws
became part of the covenant God made with
Israel. The covenant was then ratified with
a blood sacrifice (Exod. 24:6-8). God also
gave Israel additional laws and regulations
in the books of Leviticus and Numbers, and
special laws regarding how they should
conduct themselves in the Promised land in
the book of Deuteronomy, but those laws were
still considered part of the same covenantal
agreement God made with Israel on Mount
Sinai.
Some people believe that the
book of Deuteronomy constituted a second
covenant, but it is still the same covenant
that God made with Israel in the beginning.
In fact, the book of Deuteronomy stresses
the fact that its laws are not a new law,
but the original law given to Israel at
Mount Sinai (Deut. 4:44-49; 5:1-5; 6:20-25).
The Mosaic
Covenant was given to distinguish Israel
from the surrounding nations as God’s
special kingdom of priests and a holy nation
(Exod. 19:1-7). The covenant was structured
after a Hittite, suzerain-vassal covenant
treaty from 1400 - 1300 B.C. and it was
designed to bring Israel closer to realizing
the promises made by God in the Abrahamic
Covenant. The suzerain-vassal covenant was a
very common, conditional covenant type used
between nations around Israel at the time of
the exodus. The Mosaic Covenant had very
specific, blessings and curses laid out for
Israel in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-30. By reflecting God’s holiness
(Lev. 19:2), Israel would serve as
God’s witnesses to a watching world.
The
Sabbath was unique to Israel. It was given for the first time after
the exodus and it served as a ceremonial sign of the
Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 31:16-17; Ne. 9:13-14;
Ezek. 20:12, 20).
During the time
of the Old Covenant, even the stranger in
Jerusalem was expected to keep the Sabbath. A
stranger could choose to live in Israel
without becoming a Jew but
they still had to follow the laws of
the land. If they were trying to engage in
commerce they would be tempting God’s people
to sin by breaking the Sabbath (Ne. 13:15-21). A
male Gentile who wanted to keep the
Passover and the other Jewish feasts had to be
circumcised and become a practicing Jew (Exod. 12:43-49).
The Mosaic Covenant included 613 moral,
civil, and ceremonial laws meant to govern
every aspect of Hebrew life. Regulations
pertaining to ceremonial cleanliness,
festivals, diet, and the Levitical
priesthood all served to separate Israel
from their surrounding nations (Lev. 20:22-26;
Eph. 2:11-22; 4:18; John 10:16; Col. 1:21; Gal. 4:8). [1]
The Mosaic Covenant
continued in force for God’s chosen people until
the leaders of the nation of Israel formally rejected
Jesus as their Messiah and King by declaring
to Pilate that they had, “no other king but
Caesar” (Matt. 21:43-45; 23:36-38).
Signs: The
Sabbaths (Exodus 31:16-17; Nehemiah 9:13-14;
Ezekiel 20:12, 20), the Passover (Exodus 12:13-14;
Leviticus 23:4-8), and circumcision
(Genesis 17:10-13; Leviticus 12:3).
6. The
Palestinian Covenant (Conditional)
The Palestinian
Covenant, or Land Grant Covenant, is an
extension of the Mosaic Covenant that
amplifies the land aspect that was detailed
in the Abrahamic Covenant. According to the
terms of this covenant, if the people
disobeyed, God would cause them to be
scattered around the world, but He would
eventually restore them as a nation in the
promised land. Once the nation was restored,
they would again be given the opportunity to
obey God’s covenant (Deut. 30:1-8). [2]
After their
Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C., Israel was
restored to their Promised Land and they once again broke the
covenant and received the final curse, they
were destroyed as a nation and God brought
the Old Covenant to an end (Jer. 12:14-17; 18; 26:1-6;
Dan. 9:26-27;
Matt. 23:37-39; 21:42-44; Luke 13:34-35; 1 Kings 9:7;
Jer. 22:5; 1 Pet. 2:9).
Because Israel
rejected their messiah, Jesus instituted the
New Covenant with His Church, made up of
both Jewish and Gentile believers.
Understanding the Mosaic and the Palestinian
covenants is foundational to understanding
the cycles of blessings and curses in the
Old Testament, the exiles of Israel and
Judah, Israel’s promised land inheritance, the
disputes about the Law between Jesus and the
Pharisees, and Paul’s teachings on law
and grace. The Old Covenant Law has been
completely fulfilled and brought to an end by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
Signs: Same as
the Mosaic Covenant.
7. The
Davidic Covenant (Unconditional)
In 2 Samuel 7,
God promised David that he would raise up a
descendant from his offspring and “establish
the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13). It is a continuation of the
Abrahamic Covenant in that it promised a
Davidic king through whom God
would secure the promises of land,
descendants, and blessing. This covenant
becomes the basis for Israel’s hope of a
Messiah, the rightful King of the Jews. God
promised unconditionally to put a son of
David on the throne, but only his righteous
son would reign for eternity. While David’s
son Solomon ruled over Israel, he failed to
keep God’s covenant and fell into apostasy
(1 Kings 9:4-9; 11:4-8). The Davidic
covenant was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the
King of kings, and Lord of Lords, the
promised Messiah. All the messianic hopes
were fulfilled in Him (Ps. 2; 16; 89:34-37; 110; Isa. 9:6, 7; Luke 1:32, 33;
Matt. 1:1; Acts 13:22-23).
Sign: David’s
descendant who sits on God’s eternal throne
(2 Samuel 7:12-13).
8. The
New Covenant (Unconditional)
The unconditional
New Covenant is new in relationship to the
old (Mosaic) covenant, but both are part of
the Abrahamic Covenant. While Moses was the
mediator of the Old Covenant between God and
the nation of Israel alone, Christ is the
mediator of the New Covenant between God and
everyone who puts their faith in Christ’s
finished work of redemption (Jer. 31:31-40;
Luke 22:20; Mark 14:24; Heb. 5:9; 8:6-13; 9:15).
The Old Covenant was
fulfilled and brought to an end by Jesus
Christ.
Jesus is the only person who has ever
kept the law of God perfectly. He did
everything the Old Covenant law required of
Him, never once breaking any of its
commandments. Jesus was sinless under the
Law (John 8:46; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26;
1 Pet. 2:22). Because He was sinless,
Jesus was able to meet all of the requirements of
the law to be the perfect sacrifice for our
sins. Jesus was the promised Messiah who
fulfilled the Law of Moses (Matt. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:21-22; Heb. 4:14; 1 Jn. 3:5).
By His death and resurrection He was able to
offer redemption to those who follow Him
from the curse of the law through the blood
of the New
Covenant (Rom. 5:19; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 8:1-13).
Jesus was about
to bring the
Old Covenant to completion when he
announced the New Covenant to His disciples
the night before he died (Jer. 31:31;
Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Rom. 11:27;
1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6-11; Heb. 7:22; 8:8-10; 9:15; 10:16; 12:24; 13:20), and brought it into
effect by His death on Calvary’s cross (Heb. 9:12-17; 1 Pet. 1:19;
1 Jn. 1:7; Heb. 8-10).
Jesus made a
complete remission of sins for all those who
believe in Him. He paid the price for our
redemption with His own blood sacrifice and
freed us from sin’s curse and the demands of
the Old Covenant law to become the children
of God when we accept Him as our
Lord and Savior (1 Pet. 1:18-19; Gal. 3:13; 4:5).
The Old Covenant sacrifices were unable to
completely atone for sin. The sacrifice
Jesus made fulfilled all of the Old
Covenant practices and secures total
forgiveness and sanctification for all of God’s
people (Heb. 10:1-18).
While the Old
Covenant required national obedience
(Deut. 7:12-13; 28:2-7; 28:11-12), the
New Covenant requires personal faith in
Jesus Christ (Jer. 31:31-34; Matt. 26:28;
Gal. 3:16-18). Unlike the Mosaic
Covenant that was made with Israel alone, no
one has to be circumcised and become a Jew to
become a member of the New Covenant
community (Exod. 12:43-49; Gal. 3:28; 5:6; Rom. 1:16; 3:29-30).
None of the ceremonial requirements of
the Old Covenant Law are required in the
New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8; Acts 15:1-29; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11;
Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 7-10; 10:23-25).
The law of Christ
is God’s only binding law for the New Covenant
believer (Gal. 6:2; Rom. 6:14; 1 Cor. 9:20-21). It is made up of the
law of love (Matt. 5:44; Gal. 6:2; James 2:8;
Rom. 13:8-10), Christ’s commands and
teaching (John 13:34; Phil. 2:4-12;
Matt. 28:20; 2 Pet. 3:2), and
the commands and teachings of the New
Testament epistles (Acts 1:1-2; 2 Pet. 3:2;
Eph. 2:20; Jude 1:17; 1 Jn. 5:3).
The New
Covenant has its own ordinances in baptism
and the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism
symbolizes the complete renewal and change
in the believer’s life and testifies to the
death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as the only way of salvation. Baptism carries with
it a picture of Christ’s death and
resurrection (Matt. 3:11-13; 28:19; Mark 10:39; 16:16; John 1:33; 3:22-26; Acts 2:38-41; 8:36; 10:47-48; Col. 2:12).
The Lord’s Supper, commonly
referred to as “communion,” is the special
ordinance that the Lord instituted
the night before he died. The ordinance
of communion commemorates and typifies the
suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ
until He comes again (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; John 6:53; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:23-25).
The New Covenant is
the spiritual fulfillment of the Abrahamic
and Davidic covenants (Gen. 12:1-3; 15; 17:1-14; 22:15-18; 2 Sam. 7; Matt. 20:30; Mark 12:35).
The New Covenant church is the
eschatological fulfillment of the people of
God, the renewed Israel in Christ, God’s
covenant people in continuity with the elect
in all ages and His representatives on earth
(Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 10:34-35; Rom. 2:28-29; 9:24-26; 9:30-31; 10:12-13; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Gal. 3:9; 3:27-29; Eph. 2:11-16; 1 Pet. 2:4-10). Jews and Gentiles alike find
salvation as believers in Christ and not as
physical descendants of Abraham (Acts 10:34-35; 15:9-11; Rom. 9:6; 11:1-2; 11:11-15; 11:22-26; Eph. 2:11-19; 3:6; 4:3-6; Col. 3:10-11).
The authors of the New
Testament often reinterpret Old
Testament prophecies regarding Israel in
light of the new historical setting,
applying them to the church (Matt. 1:22-23; 2:15; 21:2;
Mark 1:2-3; 12:35-37; Luke 1:16-17; 20:16-17; 23:28-31;
John 10:34-35; 13:18; Acts 2:17-21; 15:15-17; Rom. 9:25-29; 1 Cor. 9:9-10;
Gal. 3:11, 16; 4:22-31; Heb. 4:1-10; 8:8-12;
1 Pet. 2:9-10).
The Kingdom of God is
the everlasting reign of God over the
universe and His people, progressively
unfolded via the biblical covenants –
ultimately realized in the messianic reign
of Jesus Christ with His saints
(Heb. 1:1-4; Rev. 20:4; Eph. 2:6), that was
eschatologically inaugurated at His
ascension in fulfillment of
the biblical covenants (Dan. 7:13-14; 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Acts 2:25-36).
The New Covenant is also known as
the promised everlasting, or eternal
covenant (Jer. 32:40; Ezek. 36:26-27; 37:26;
Matt. 6:10; Heb. 9:20; 13:20). It was
established by Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20;
Dan. 9:26-27) and it fulfills all of the
preceding God given covenants. In it,
believers have the full forgiveness of their
sins (Jer. 31:34), are permanently indwelt
by the Holy Spirit as God’s guarantee of their
eternal inheritance (Ezek. 36:25-27; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30), and are empowered by the
Spirit to live a life that is pleasing to
God (Jer. 31:31-33; Phil. 2:12-13).
Signs: Baptism
(Matthew 28:19; Acts 10:48; Colossians 2:12); and the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:19-20;
John 6:53; Romans 11:27; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:23-25).
Seal: The
Permanent Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 1:22).
9. The
Covenant of Redemption (Unconditional)
The covenant of redemption is intimately
concerned with God’s eternal plan. It is
called a “covenant” since the plan involves
two or more parties. The covenant of
redemption was established before creation
and is the pact between the three persons of
the Trinity in which the Father sends the
Son to do the work of redemption (Gal. 4:4-6; John 6:38-39; 17:4), the Son submits
to the Father’s will (Ps. 40:6-8; Phil. 2:5-11; Luke 22:42; John 4:34; 5:19, 30; 8:28-29), the Holy Spirit applies the
benefits of the Son’s accomplished work in the believer’s life (Luke 1:35; 3:21-22; 4:18),
and the Father gifts the Son with glory and an everlasting kingdom as a reward for
his obedience (Ps. 110; Isa. 53; Zech. 6:12-13; John 17:1-5).
•❅──✧❅✦❅✧──❅•
Understanding how
God’s covenants worked is fundamental to
our ability to understand God’s Word and the
plan of
salvation.
God speaks to us
today through His New and eternal covenant.
The purpose of the Old Covenant law was to
demonstrate man’s inability to fulfill God’s
standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:1-7;
Gal. 3:19, 24; 1 Tim. 1:9). Christ has set us free from the Old
Covenant Law to be justified by His New
Covenant, law of grace (Gal. 5:1-4;
Eph. 2:8-10; Rom. 3:24-26; John 8:32-36). As Christians, we can trust that
God will keep His promise to bring an end to
sin and make all things new again. God’s
revelation is progressive and Jesus Christ
is God’s greatest revelation to the human
race.
Jesus said that all of the scriptures
referred to Him and what He has accomplished
for us (Deut. 18:15;
Matt. 5:17-18;
Luke 24:27,44; John 1:1-3; 5:39, 46; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Thank God we live
under the New Covenant today. My prayer for
you is that you will come to know Jesus
Christ as your personal, Lord and Savior.
All the covenants in the Bible find their
fulfillment in Him and the work He did for
us.
