What is a covenant?
Discussion question for June 10, 2011.
We talked a few weeks ago about the Old and New Covenants, and how they impact our life and relationship with God. What exactly is a covenant, from God’s point of view? What key components are required for a covenant to be binding? What clauses and conditions are implied or stated in a covenant? What happens when a covenant is broken?
Here’s my summary of our discussion.
According to Ray R. Sutton, author of That You May Prosper and other books, there are five key ingredients required to have a covenant. Transcendence (authority), hierarchy (distinction of parties), ethics (conditions), sanctions (consequences), and continuity (permanence). These characteristics make up some of the difference between covenants and contracts.
Contracts are agreements made between more than one party, are issued under the authority of law, must include an exchange of value, and can stipulate conditions and consequences. The life of the contract may be one of those conditions.
A marriage in the USA is considered a contract, legally binding and under the authority of the current law. The law is not fixed, but is the collective opinion of judges and courts influenced by law makers and defenders. These interpretations can change, leaving a person bound to an agreement under a different authority than they began with. It is sworn to and agreed upon by the full faith and credit of each party, even if the faith and credit are deemed suspect by any number of outside observers.
A broken contract becomes enforceable in consequences by the injured party, under the supervision of the law. Once broken, the conditions no longer apply. In other words, a breached contract that promised certain goods or services to another is no longer held to that condition if the other party broke the original agreement.
A broken covenant returns to the higher authority, the one that has offered the agreement. The issuer can then terminate the covenant or replace it with something of their choosing.
Hebrews 9:15 describes the broken covenant that had originally been issued by God. There is a distinction between the “first covenant” and the “old covenant” that we talked about last week. The first covenant was made between God and Adam. It offered eternal relationship between created and Creator in a union of Oneness. The condition was obedience, and the penalty for failing to obey was death (separation of the union permanently).
The “first covenant” was broken when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit. It was replaced with a blood covenant. We call this the “Old Covenant” because it is our old understanding of the replacement. What we call the “New Covenant” is actually a new understanding of the replacement. We understood the terms and conditions of the replacement covenant through the lives of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Priests, and Kings. We gained a much better understanding of the new covenant when Jesus came as God in skin, filling the roles of Prophet, Priest and King simultaneously.
A covenant is as strong as the oath with which it is sworn by. God swears by Himself, sealing His covenant with all the faith and credit (character) of His person. That’s why His covenant is eternal, never changing, truth, generous, and so on.
When we accept His covenant, it is like getting married to Him. We give up everything we have, and He gives up everything He has, so we can share it together. It’s a good deal for us poor and helpless ones to marry into this kind of wealth and power. True love means we marry into it for all the right reasons, and not for selfish ones.
A problem has occurred in religious circles, in that the offer of salvation has been tied to “what’s in it for you.” People have accepted the terms of the covenant so they could get rich, healthy, powerful, or just to be saved from hell. While these are benefits of the agreement, they are not loving motives. Fortunately, God has a way of redeeming our marriage to Him so the union looks more like His character than ours. That’s redemption and sanctification.
A covenant is permanent. As we understand covenants better we should experience strong faith. God is the one that promises, and we are assured that He will make it come to pass. The Bible confirms this view as it describes us (members of the church) as the “bride of Christ.”
If you hear someone say: “You ought to marry God, He’s loaded!” or something along that line, they are speaking truth. But when you do marry Him, you’ll discover the benefits of Oneness are much different than you could ask or imagine as a single person.