Covenant – Definition

What is a covenant?

We do not have covenants in our culture. When we make a business decisions, we make contracts. But, when God chose to reveal his relationship to humanity in redemption, he chose the covenant. In many situations, we want to take the Bible and apply it to our culture and transform our culutre. However, when it comes to the giant idea of covenant and how God revealed Jesus through the covenant, we want to take our lives and dive into the world of the Bible.

We see covenant all throughout the Bible. God gave a covenant to Noah, Abraham, and David. God revealed a covenant to Moses, and the entire book of Deuteronomy is written in a covenant treaty style. And Jesus, at the Last Supper, claimed his death and resurrection brings the New Covenant prophesied in the Prophets.

So, what is a covenant? A covenant is an eternal commitment between two parties, normally between a greater party and a lesser party. Covenants are irrevocable. There are blessings and consequences for keeping and breaking covenant, but covenants last forever. In the case of the Bible, God is the greater party and man is the lesser party. God comes to interact and commit to man and make a people out of rebels. Even here, we should see God’s amazing grace in coming down to man who by nature rebel against God.  There is commitment from God to uphold the covenant and there is commitment from man to uphold the covenant. Spoiler Alert: Man never upholds the covenant, but God is always faithful. When God gave us the covenant he swore upon himself to uphold it, and God never changes or lies. So, in his grace, God has promised to keep forever a people by redemption to know him.