If a Presbyterian were to write their own version of the song “These are a few of my favorite things” from The Sound of Music, there would definitely be a line in there about covenants. What is the cause of our obsession with covenants? We believe that the concept of covenant is one of the most prominent and important themes in Scripture. In fact, if you want to know how to navigate the Bible’s storyline you need to be able to answer this question: “What is a Covenant?” This word shows up 267 times in the Old Testament and 13 times in Genesis 17, alone. Without getting too technical, it is important to know that there are many types of covenants mentioned in the Bible but the most important one, and what I want to define for us, is covenants that God makes with humans or divine-human covenants. There are five components to divine-human covenants that we need to understand.
First, at the heart of a covenant is a relationship. This is captured in the statement “I will be your God and you will be my people” (cf. Ex 6:7, 19:5-6, 29:45; Lev 26:12; Deut 26:17-18; Jer 7:23, 11:4, 30:22, 31:33, 32:38; Ezek 11:20; Zech 13:9; 2 Cor 6:16; Rev 21:3, 7). This type of language shows up at the end of Genesis 17:7 where God promises “to be God to you and to your offspring after you” and again at the end of Genesis 17:8 it says “I will be their God.” In all the major covenants in the Bible it is abundantly clear that God is the pursuer and instigator of the covenant relationship. Humans are always portrayed as running away from God in rebellion and thus the recipients of God’s gracious initiative.
A second component of a covenant is that promises are made from one person to the other. In the case of the major covenants in the Bible God is the one who makes promises to humans. Listen to how Genesis 17:5-8 clearly emphasize that God is the one making the covenant promises to Abraham and his future offspring:
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
It is clear from these verses that God is the benefactor and man is the beneficiary. It’s also clear that God is not a stingy benefactor, because he pours out his promises in abundance.
A third component of a covenant is a pledge of loyalty. This pledge of loyalty is made to the one who holds out the promises. This is where we as humans on the receiving end of the promises respond to God in gratitude by saying “Yes! We will be your people and you are our God.” This call to a pledge of loyalty is captured well when God says to Abraham in Genesis 17:2 “walk before me and be blameless,” also Genesis 17:9 starts off with God saying to Abraham “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.” When it comes to a covenant relationship with God, don’t mix up a “pledge of loyalty” with “trying to earn or maintain God’s favor.” We aren’t loyal so that God will love us. No! God has loved us therefore we are loyal. It would be silly to live your life trying to earn something from God that he has freely given you. But it wouldn’t be silly to live your life in worshipful response to what had already been freely given to you.
The fourth component of a covenant is the consequences. The consequences can be either positive or negative, usually the words blessing and curse are employed in the Bible to speak of this (cf. Deut 28). For example in Genesis 17:14, God tells Abraham of the curse that will come down upon someone for breaking the covenant: “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Finally, the fifth component of a covenant is a sign. This sign functions as a reminder of the covenant relationship that has been established. Abraham is given the covenant sign of circumcision. In the covenant that God made with Noah in Genesis 9, the sign of a rainbow is given (cf. Gen 9:13). In the book of Exodus, when God makes a covenant with Moses and Israel, the sign of the Sabbath(s) is given (cf. Exod 31:13).
So to put these five components together a covenant is a God-initiated relationship with humans where He makes promises to them and they in turn respond by pledging their loyalty and this is usually memorialized by a sign.
The best modern example of a covenant relationship is marriage, simply because marriage is an actual covenant relationship that God has created. In a wedding ceremony you have a marriage relationship being established. In the exchanging of vows you have both promises and pledges of loyalty being made. Then, after the exchanging of vows, you have the exchanging of rings which become the signs of the covenant relationship.
