Discussion Abrahamic Covenant
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BIBL 300: Pentateuch
Module 2
Discussion Thread: Abrahamic Covenant
January 22, 2024
Part 1: Explain the major components of the Abrahamic covenant and identify the important historical/theological implications thereof.
Part 2: Identify whether this covenant contains any conditions and explain what that means for Abraham’s family going forward and what it reveals about the nature of God.
Part 1: There are three major components to the Abrahamic covenant shown in Genesis 11:27-18:33, as follows:
The promised land
The promise of the descendants
The promise of blessing and redemption
The promised land is the first part of the covenant discussed in Genesis 12:1 when God calls Abraham to leave Ur and go to a place called Canaan. Since then, the land has become known as Israel. Israel was named after Abraham’s grandson and is often referred to as the promised land because the belief is that God promised to give the land to the descendants of Abraham.
The second component, the promise of descendants can be found in Genesis 12:2. It is in this verse that God promised Abraham that he would make a great nation out of him. God promises to increase your [Abraham] numbers greatly and I will make you into nations. God changed Abrahm’s name to Abraham which means “father of many nations.”
The final component is the promise of blessing and redemption. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promises to bless Abraham and all of his descendants. God also asked Abraham to remove his foreskin and that of all Jewish boys after him. This process is known as circumcision and is a sign of the Abrahamic covenant. “The third promise takes on its greatest fulfillment in the fact that Jesus Christ became the means of blessing to the world (Gal. 3:8, 16; cf. Rom 9:5).”
1
Part 2: This covenant does not contain conditions but God’s call requires Abraham to exercise tremendous faith. He must first abandon the security of family and country and then travel to a foreign land, all the while displaying confidence that God will give him both descendants and land, essential ingredients to become a “great nation” (12:2). 1
Allen P. Ross, “Genesis” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Ged. Eds., (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1985), 47.
Genesis 12:2 discusses God’s second promise to Abraham and while it may seem to be an impossible promise to keep, the fulfillment of this promise looks highly unlikely in human terms, nevertheless, because Abram believes God’s promise that he would provide a son for him.
Through belief in the promise of God, Abraham was counted as “righteous.” This is what Genesis 15:6 means when it says Abraham “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
God’s stunning revelation that faith in him is the mechanism by which people are accepted by him and become heirs of his promises. In Romans 4 and Galatians 3, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith alone, faith in the promises of God. Promises which found their fulfillment in Christ. Knowing that God operates like this is tremendously good news, not just for Abraham but also for us. Salvation is given to us, not because of anything we have done or could do or ever will do, but purely based on what God has done. We receive the benefits of what God has done just by trusting him like Abraham did.
Another fact from the Abrahamic covenant is extremely significant. People who made covenants would kill an animal, cut it in half, and they would both walk between the two halves solemnly and symbolically for each of them to say: “If I break this covenant, may the same thing
happen to me. I should be killed if I do not keep this covenant.”
2
In the covenant between Abram and God, only God passes between the two halves of the animal, not Abram. In so doing, God is saying to Abram, and by implication to all of God’s people: “This covenant does not depend on your obedience but on mine. I swear by my own life that this promise will come to pass.”
Genesis 22:1-19 states, 14
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the lord, it shall be provided.” 15
And the angel of the L
ORD
called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16
and said, “By myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18
and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.”
2
Jared T. Parker, “Cutting Covenants,” in The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
, The 38
th
Annual BYU Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009).
And as if to further confirm that our righteousness does not depend on our obedience to God’s law, God credits Abraham with righteousness well before He gives Moses the Ten Commandments. This is why the Abrahamic covenant is still relevant to us today. He counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness. If we have faith in Christ, our faith too will be counted as righteousness.
The promises to Abraham are everlasting. While Israel did not take possession of all the land God intended them to have, they will have it in the future.
Word Count: 796
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