Promise

Is a solemn asseveration, by which one pledges his veracity that he shall perform, or cause to be performed, the thing which he mentions. The obligation of promises arises from the necessity of the well-being and existence of society. "Virtue requires, " as Dr. Doddridge observes, "that promises be fulfilled. The promisee, 1: e. the person to whom the promise is made, acquires a property in virtue of the promise. The uncertainty of property would evidently be attended with great inconvenience. By failing to fulfil my promise, I either show that I was not sincere in making it, or that I have little constancy or resolution, and either way injure my character and consequently my usefulness in life. Promises, however, are not binding,

1. If they were made by us before we came to such exercise of reason as to be fit to transact affairs of moment; or if by any distemper or sudden surprise we are deprived of the exercise of our reason at the time when the promise is made.

2. If the promise was made on a false presumption, in which the promiser, after the most diligent inquiry, was imposed upon, especially if he were deceived by the fraud of the promise.

3. If the thing itself be vicious; for virtue cannot require that vice should be committed.

4. If the accomplishment of the promise be so hard and intolerable, that there is reason to believe that, had it been foreseen, it would have been not accepted, or if it depend on conditions not performed."

See Doddridge’s Lec. lec. 69; Grot. de Jure, lib. il. cap. 11; Paley’s Mor. Phil. ch. 5. vol. 1; Grove’s Mor. Phil. vol. 2: p. 2. 100: 12; Watts’s Ser. ser. 20.

an assurance given by God, in his word, of bestowing blessings upon his people, 2Pe 1:4. The word in the New Testament is usually taken for the promises that God heretofore made to Abraham, and the other patriarchs, of sending the Messiah, and conferring his Holy Spirit and eternal life on those that should believe on him. It is in this sense that the Apostle Paul commonly uses the word promise, Rom 4:13-14; Gal 3:14; Gal 3:17-18; Gal 3:21-22; Gal 3:29. The promises of the new covenant are called better than those of the old, Heb 8:6. because they are more spiritual, clear, comprehensive, and universal than those of the Mosaic covenant. The time of the promise, Act 7:17, is the time of fulfilling the promise. The “children of the promise” are,

1. The Israelites descended from Isaac, in opposition to the Ishmaelites descended from Ishmael and Hagar.

2. The Jews converted to Christianity, in opposition to the obstinate Jews, who would not believe in Christ.

3. All true believers, who are born again by the supernatural power of God, and who by faith lay hold on the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Used by Paul to denote the spiritual gifts of God, chiefly the Messiah, the Holy Spirit, and the fullness of gospel blessings, of which an assurance was given to Abraham and other saints in behalf of themselves, and of believers who should come after them, 1Ch 4:13-14 Gal 3:14-29 . The "children of the promise" are either Isaac’s posterity, as distinguished from Ishmael’s; Jews converted to Christianity; or all true believers, who by faith lay hold on the promise of salvation in Christ. In Heb 11:39, "promise" means the thing promised, Mal 1:4 . The "exceeding great and precious promises" of God include all good things for this life and the future; which are infallibly secured to his people in Christ, 2Co 1:20 1Ti 4:8 2Pe 1:4 . On the ground of the infinite merits of their Redeemer, infinite love, unbounded wisdom, and almighty power are pledged for their benefit; and having given them his only son, God will with him freely give them every inferior blessing he sees to be desirable for them, 1Ch 8:32 .\par

PROMISE.—The NT is full of the idea that in Christ had arrived the fulfilment of a promise made over and over again in preceding ages. The gospel is regarded by all the writers not as an event unexpected and unprepared for, but as the due and natural sequel and climax of God’s dealings from of old. The εὐαγγέλιον is the fulfilment of the ἐπαγγελία. It was, indeed, the strength with which this idea was rooted in the mind of the Jew (‘whose is the adoption and the glory and … the promises,’ Rom 9:4) that made it so hard for him to understand how the Gentile could come within the full scope of the gospel. How could the ‘dogs’ share equally with the ‘children’ (Mat 15:26 = Mar 7:27)? How could the uncovenanted and un-circumcised be ‘heirs according to the promise’ (Gal 3:29)? Whole passages, therefore, in some of the Epistles (esp. Rom. [Note: Roman.] , Gal., Heb.) have to be devoted to showing that the implication of the promise was vaster than any of the forms in which it had been conveyed. There is no literature which is so saturated with the spirit of anticipation as the Hebrew, no nation which has cherished so ardent and irrepressible a belief in its destiny,—‘a people who were looking forwards from a great Past of Wonders to a Future of Good and Glory’ (Mason, Heb. Gram.^{2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} p. 98). It is in the NT, however, that this note of anticipation becomes dominant. Anticipation, indeed, here gives place to realization. While the NT contains several passages which show kinship with current Apocalyptic literature and its eschatology, and indicate a lingering belief in the mind of the writer that the fulfilment of the promises lies still in the future, the unmistakably prevalent thought of the writers is that in the work of Christ they have already seen the promises fulfilled. The Evangelic records exhibit, each in its own way, the consciousness that Israel’s hopes had found their fulfilment in Christ; and, sober and restrained as is the narrative, one can hardly miss in it the note of jubilant realization. Mt. loses no opportunity of showing that what happened to Jesus was in accordance with ancient prophecy; Mk., while seldom citing Scripture, describes Jesus as beginning His ministry with the declaration ‘The time is fulfilled’ (Mar 1:15); Lk. commences and concludes his Gospel with episodes (Luk 1:45-55; Luk 1:67-69; Luk 2:25-38; Luk 24:25-28; Luk 24:44-47) intended to show how men saw, or failed to see, in Jesus the Christ foreshadowed in the Scriptures, and Jn. (Joh 5:39) quotes Jesus as stating that the Scriptures bear witness to Him, and notes (Joh 12:16; Joh 12:41 etc.) how the reception of Jesus answered to the sayings of the prophets.

It was this aspect of Christ’s appearance—as the fulfilment of an eagerly awaited promise—that occupied most room in the earliest preaching of the gospel. See Stephen’s speech (Acts 7), Peter’s (Act 2:14-36; Act 10:34-43), Paul’s (Act 13:32 ‘We bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers,’ and Act 26:6). The main line of address taken by the early preachers was always to prove that Jesus was the Christ (Act 9:22, Act 17:2-3, Act 18:5; Act 18:28).

It is to be noticed, however, that Jesus Himself in His public preaching seldom, if ever, adopted this line of appeal. Not even in His more private teaching does He appear to have attached importance to it. When, e.g., John the Baptist definitely inquired ‘Art thou he that cometh?’ (Mat 11:2-19, Luk 7:19-23), Jesus deliberately appealed not to the correspondence between Himself and the expectations formed of the promised Messiah, but to the effect being at the moment produced by His ministry. When the same question was being discussed between Himself and His disciples (Mat 16:13-16 = Mar 8:27-29 = Luk 9:18-20), Jesus was not concerned so much about their identifying Him with the One who was to come, by means of signs and tokens which were expected to accompany His coming, as that the conviction should come in an inward and secret way (‘Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven,’ Mat 16:17). He objected to being proclaimed as the Christ, not simply because He knew that the people, when persuaded of this, would seek to make Him a king and expect Him to use temporal resources, but because the very tenacity with which His countrymen clung to their stereotyped notions of the promised Messiah would prevent them from gaining a true understanding of the scope and purpose of His mission. He had a sublime contempt for the petty and pedantic way in which the scribes took upon themselves to say how the anticipations of Scripture were, or were not, to be verified, and held their pretensions up to scorn (Mat 22:41-46 = Mar 12:35-37 = Luk 20:41-44). It was, in short, because His mind was so filled with the larger purpose of God that He assigned little weight to the recognition of that local and national theory which had so much more of patriotic bias and ambitious desire in it than of pure love of humanity. And it was precisely because the priests and scribes, in their blind attachment to their own interpretation of the promise, saw, in His comparative carelessness about the traditional view and His frequent insistence upon a purely spiritual interpretation, a danger to their own designs, that they resolved upon His death.

It is true, of course, that Jesus commonly used one term at least which in the current phraseology of the time was closely associated with the temporal and literally-understood fulfilment of the ‘promise.’ He constantly proclaimed the advent of the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God. But whatever critical view be held of the records, and leaving undecided the question whether Matthew 24 and other similar passages which contain a considerable eschatological element are to be taken as representing a part of the actual teaching of Jesus, or rather His teaching as coloured by passing through minds steeped in the ideas of Jewish eschatology, it is sufficiently evident that Jesus habitually used the expression ‘Kingdom of heaven’ in a different sense from the ordinary and popular one, and preferred to divest it of the usual patriotic and eschatological associations. The locus classicus is the Sermon on the Mount beginning with the Beatitude, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ The ‘promise,’ as Jesus gives it here in sevenfold form, is a promise to the spiritually-minded of a spiritual grace, having no reference whatever to Messianic considerations, and this holds good even if the alternative form in which the Beatitudes are given in Lk. is held to be the earlier. Jesus, in the most royal and absolute fashion, gave assurances to His disciples, but these, in the Synoptics hardly less than in the Fourth Gospel, are assurances not of any kind of material benefit, but of spiritual grace,’ e.g. ‘Thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee’ (Mat 6:4 also vv. 6, 8); ‘He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it’ (Mat 10:39; Mat 16:25); ‘I will give you rest,’ and ‘Ye shall find rest to your souls’ (Mat 11:28-29); ‘I will make you fishers of men’ (Mar 1:17, cf. Luk 5:10); ‘Your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High’ (Luk 6:35); ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (Joh 8:32).

It is true, of course, that there are some passages in which the assurance of blessing includes material benefit: e.g. ‘All these things (i.e. food, clothing, etc.) shall be added unto you’ (Mat 6:33); the reply to Peter that those who for Christ’s sake have forsaken earthly advantage ‘shall receive a hundredfold, now in this time, houses,’ etc. (Mar 10:30 = Luk 18:29 = Mat 19:29); but the very connexion in which such passages occur shows in each case that Jesus attaches importance only to the spiritual blessing; better forego all earthly profit whatever than miss this (Mat 10:39; Mat 16:25-26, Luk 12:20-21). Anything like requests for a promise of personal advantage He sternly discourages (Mat 20:20-23 = Mar 10:35-45).

Generally the promises of Jesus to His disciples may be classified as follows: (a) particular assurances to individuals: to the thief on the cross (Luk 23:43), to the woman in the house of Simon the Leper (Mat 26:13 = Mar 14:9), to Nathanael (Joh 1:51), to Peter (Mat 16:18 = Mar 9:1 = Luk 9:27, cf. Mat 18:18), to Peter again (Joh 13:7 and Joh 13:36), also Mar 9:1 = Luk 9:27; (b) assurances about the prevailing nature of prayer and the power of faith (Mat 7:7; Mat 18:19, Joh 14:13-14, Mat 17:26; Mat 21:21-22, Mar 11:23-24, Mat 18:18); (c) assurances of His continued presence and of their support and ultimate triumph (Mat 10:19 = Luk 12:12, Mat 28:20 [Mar 16:17-18], Mat 10:32; Mat 10:39; Mat 10:42; Mat 13:43; Mat 16:25; Mat 19:28, Luk 6:38, Joh 6:40; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:54; Joh 8:51; Joh 11:25; Joh 14:22; Joh 16:20). It is to promises of this kind that James refers in Jas 1:12 ‘the crown of life which the Lord promised to them that love him,’ and in Jas 2:5 ‘heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him’ (cf. 1Jn 2:25); (d) the outstanding promise, however, is that of the Holy Spirit, and this is the one promise which is most explicitly recorded as made to the disciples (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:13 etc.), and is directly recalled at the foundation of the Christian Church: ‘He charged them … to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me’ (Act 1:4; cf. Act 2:23). And this promise may be said practically to include and interpret almost all the foregoing.

Literature.—Denney in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible iv. 104; Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics? (1907), 295; Somerville, Precious Seed (1890), 233; Spurgeon, Twelve Sermons on Precious Promises.

J. Ross Murray.

PROMISE.—Although the OT is the record of God’s promises to lowly saints and to anointed kings, to patriarchs and to prophets, to the nation of His choice and to the world at large, the word itself is rarely used in the EV [Note: English Version.] , and less frequently in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] than in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] . The Heb. noun dâbhâr is generally rendered ‘word,’ but ‘promise’ is found in 1Ki 8:56, Neh 5:12 f. In Psa 105:42 the change made in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] reminds us that God’s ‘holy word’ is always a ‘holy promise.’ Similarly, the Heb. verb dâbhar is usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘speak’; but ‘promise’ is found in Exo 12:25, Jer 32:42 etc. In several passages, as, e.g., Deu 10:9, Neh 9:23, the RV [Note: Revised Version.] gives ‘speak’ or ‘say’ instead of ‘promise.’ A complete study of the subject would therefore require a consideration of the whole question of OT prophecy. ‘For thy word’s sake’ is the ultimate appeal of those who can say ‘thou art God, and thy words are truth, and thou hast promised’ (2Sa 7:21; 2Sa 7:28). See Prophecy.

1. In a few passages (Jos 9:21, Neh 5:12 f., Est 4:7, Mat 14:7, Mar 14:11, Act 7:5, 2Pe 2:19) the reference is to a man’s promises to his fellow-man; once only (Act 23:21) the noun has this meaning in the NT. In Deu 23:23 the verb refers to man’s promises to God, and is synonymous with vowing unto God. This passage is instructive, on account of the stress that is laid on the voluntary nature of the obligation that is incurred by him who promises or makes a vow. Driver renders ‘according as thou hast vowed freely unto Jehovah, thy God, that which thou hast spoken (promised) with thy mouth’ (ICC [Note: CC International Critical Commentary.] , in loc.). The thought of spontaneity is an essential part of the meaning of the word when it is used of God’s promises to man, and especially of ‘the promise’ which comprises all the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom (Act 2:39; Act 7:17 etc.).

2. The Gr. word epangellesthai, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘promise,’ is found only in the middle voice in the NT; its root-meaning is ‘to announce oneself,’ hence it comes to signify ‘to offer one’s services,’ and ‘to engage oneself voluntarily to render a service.’ Dalman derives the NT conception of the ‘promise’ from the Rabbinic phraseology concerning ‘assurance.’ A typical example is Ber. R. 76: ‘for the pious there is no assurance (promise) in this age’; cf. Apoc. [Note: Apocalypse, Apocalyptic.] Bar 53. 8, ‘the promise of life hereafter’ (The Words of Jesus, p. 103). The promises of God are numerous (2Co 1:20); they are also ‘precious and exceeding great’ (2Pe 1:4). ‘His every word of grace’ is a promise; even His commandments are assurances of grace, conditional only upon men’s willingness to obey. When God commanded the children of Israel to go in to possess the land, it was as good as theirs; already He had ‘lifted up’ His hand to give it them; but the promise implied in the command was made of no effect through their disobedience. The possession of Canaan, the growth of the nation, universal blessing through the race, are examples of promises of which the patriarchs did not receive the outward fulness (Heb 11:18). On the one hand, Abraham ‘obtained the promise,’ because the birth of Isaac was the beginning of its fulfilment (Heb 6:15); on the other hand, he is one of the fathers who ‘received not the promise,’ but ‘with a true faith looked for a fulfilment of the promises which was not granted to them’ (cf. Westcott’s note on Heb 11:39).

3. The NT phrase ‘inherit the promises’ (Heb 6:12; cf. Heb 11:9, Gal 3:29) is found in Ps. Sol 13:8 (b.c. 70 to b.c. 40). This passage is probably ‘the first instance in extant Jewish literature where the expression “the promises of the Lord” sums up the assurances of the Messianic redemption’ (Ryle and James, Com., in loc.). In the Gospels the word ‘promise’ is used in this technical sense only in Luk 24:49, where ‘the promise of the Father’ refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Act 1:4; Act 2:33; Act 2:39, Gal 3:14, Eph 1:13). The Ep. to the Hebrews is especially rich in passages which make mention of promises fulfilled in Christ (Heb 4:1; Heb 6:17; Heb 7:8; Heb 9:15 etc.); but both in his speeches and in his Epistles St. Paul looks at the Christian gospel from the same point of view (Act 13:28; Act 13:32; Act 26:6 f., Rom 9:8, Gal 4:28, Eph 3:6; cf. the only Johannine use of ‘promise’ in 1Jn 2:25). There are promises to encourage believers as they strive to perfect holiness (2Co 7:1), whilst ‘to them that love him’ the Lord hath ‘promised the crown of life’ (Jas 1:12); there is also the unfulfilled ‘promise of his coming’ (2Pe 3:4). But ‘how many so ever he the promises of God, in him is the Yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.’

J. G. Tasker.

prom´is (most frequently in the Old Testament דּבר, dābhār, “speaking,” “speech,” and דּבר, dābhar, “to speak” also אמר, ’āmar, “to say,” once in Psa 77:8, ’ōmer, “speech”; in the New Testament ἐπαγγελία, epaggelı́a, and the verbs ἐπαγγέλλομαι, epaggéllomai, and compounds): Promise holds an important place in the Scriptures and in the development of the religion that culminated in Christ. The Bible is indeed full of “precious and exceeding great promises” (2Pe 1:4), although the word “promise” is not always used in connection with them. Of the more outstanding promises of the Old Testament may be mentioned: (1) the proto-evangelium (Gen 3:15); (2) the promise to Noah no more to curse the ground, etc. (Gen 8:21, Gen 8:22; 9:1-17); (3) most influential, the promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation in whom all families of the earth should be blessed, to give to him and his seed the land of Canaan (Gen 12:2, Gen 12:7, etc.), often referred to in the Old Testament (Exo 12:25; Deu 1:8, Deu 1:11; Deu 6:3; Deu 9:28, etc.); (4) the promise to David to continue his house on the throne (2Sa 7:12, 2Sa 7:13, 2Sa 7:18; 1Ki 2:24, etc.); (5) the promise of restoration of Israel, of the Messiah, of the new and everlasting kingdom, of the new covenant and outpouring of the Spirit (Isa 2:2-5; Isa 4:2; Isa 55:5; Isa 66:13; Jer 31:31-34; Jer 32:37-42; Jer 33:14; Eze 36:22-31; Eze 37:11 f; Eze 39:25 f, etc.). In the New Testament these promises are founded on, and regarded as having their true fulfillment in, Christ and those who are His (2Co 1:20; Eph 3:6). The promise of the Spirit is spoken of by Jesus as “the promise of my Father” (Luk 24:49; Act 1:4), and this was regarded as fulfilled at Pentecost. The promise of a Saviour of the seed of David is regarded as fulfilled in Christ (Act 13:23, Act 13:32, Act 26:6; Rom 1:2; Rom 4:13; Rom 9:4). Paul argues that the promise to Abraham that he should be “heir of the world,” made to him before circumcision, is not confined to Israel, but is open to all who are children of Abraham by faith (Rom 4:13-16; compare Gal 3:16, Gal 3:19, Gal 3:29). In like manner the writer to the Hebrews goes back to the original promises, giving them a spiritual and eternal significance (4:1; 6:17; 11:9, etc.). The New Testament promises include manifold blessings and hopes, among them “life,” “eternal life” (1Ti 4:8; 1Ti 6:19; 2Ti 1:1; Jas 1:12), the “kingdom” (Jas 2:5), Christ’s “coming” (2Pe 3:9, etc.), “new heavens and a new earth” (2Pe 3:13), etc. For “promise” and “promised” in the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) has frequently other terms, as “word” (Psa 105:42), “spake,” “spoken” (Deu 10:9; Jos 9:21; Jos 22:4; Jos 23:5, Jos 23:15, etc.), “consented” (Luk 22:6), etc. References to the promises occur repeatedly in the Apocrypha (Baruch 2:34; 2 Macc 2:18; The Wisdom of Solomon 12:21; compare 2 Esdras 3:15; 5:29).

The idea of promise is one of the great elements of Scripture teaching. It is a peculiarity of the Bible; no other religious book has that as a distinguishing feature. It is the element of promise that runs through its various books, binds them into an organic whole, and unites in a vital union the OT and the NT. The promise of the OT is fulfilled in the blessing of the NT. Many promises may be taken as predictions. They constitute at least part of the content of prophecy. To write about promise in all its relations would involve the discussion of prophecy, the preparation for the coming of Christ, the manifestation of the grace of God, etc. In what follows, reference is restricted to ‘promise’ in the apostolic writings of the NT.

In Acts and the Epistles the element of promise is very prominent. The words ἐðáããåëßá, ἐðÜããåëìá, ἐðáããÝëëïìáé are of frequent occurrence.

(1) They are used in a general sense as in the phrases ‘looking for a promise from thee’ (Act_23:21); ‘the first commandment with promise’ (Eph_6:2; also 1Ti_4:8; 2Pe_2:19).

(2) They are employed with special reference to the promises of God, out of which arose the economy of grace as it is set forth in all the variety of its blessing in the NT. Reference is often made (a) to the great fundamental promises given to Abraham, relating to the birth of Isaac, the blessing of his descendants, and the inheritance of the land of Canaan (e.g. ‘for this is a word of promise … Sarah shall have a son’ [Rom_9:9; also Rom_4:20, Gal_4:23, Act_7:17, Heb_11:9; Heb_13:17, etc.]); (b) to the whole spiritual content of the Messianic blessing involved in the promise (e.g. ‘Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers’ [Act_26:6], ‘strangers from the covenants of the promise’ [Eph_2:12; also Rom_9:4, Gal_3:16-17, Heb_6:12, etc.]). The passage whore the significance of ‘promise’ is expressed is Gal_3:6-29 (cf. also Rom_4:13-21). St. Paul is the chief exponent of the meaning of the promise given to Abraham and his seed. He emphasizes the fact that the promises in all their variety and fullness were fulfilled in Christ, ‘for how many scever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen’ (2Co_1:20). The blessings of the promise are those which Christ brings (‘fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel’ [Eph_3:6]). They who receive the blessings are those who belong to Christ: ‘if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise’ (Gal_3:29). Faith is the general condition of receiving: ‘the scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe’ (Gal_3:22). Particular emphasis is laid on the fact that the promise is of grace, and not of works of the law; ‘for this cause it is of faith, that it might be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all’ (Rom_4:16). The term ‘promise’ is itself a witness to the spontaneity of the grace of God. Among the Messianic blessings the promise is sometimes identified with the gift of the Holy Ghost: ‘that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit’ (Gal_3:14; also Act_2:39, Eph_1:13). The forgiveness of sins is also regarded as included in the promise (Act_2:38-39).

(3) The Messianic promises of the OT are not only fulfilled in Christ, but out of His work many other promises are referred to, as ‘whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises’ (2Pe_1:4). Among these we must include ‘life’ (2Ti_1:1), ‘eternal life’ (1Jn_2:25), ‘the crown of life’ (Jam_1:12), ‘new heavens and a new earth’ (2Pe_3:13, etc.).

Literature.-Art._ ‘Promise’ in HDB_ (J. Denney) and CE_ (J. F. Driscoll); J. Orr, The Problem of the OT, 1907, pp. 35 ff., 42.

John Reid.

Israelites of the Old Testament era made their promises usually in the forms of covenants, oaths and vows. They therefore understood the promises of God in relation to such forms (Exo 6:8; Deu 9:5; Eph 2:12; Heb 6:13; see COVENANT; OATHS; VOWS). In the New Testament, although the idea of the covenant is present, there is little concerning oaths and vows. Usually the emphasis is on the promise, and most of the promises are made by God (2Co 1:20; Tit 1:2).

Some of these promises are in the nature of fulfilled prophecies, where God’s promises of Old Testament times find their fulfilment in the events of Christ and the gospel (Luk 1:32-33; Luk 1:72-73; Act 13:23; Act 13:32; Rom 1:2; Rom 15:8; Gal 3:14; Heb 9:15; cf. Gen 12:1-3; 2Sa 7:16; Jer 31:31-34). Others concern the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church (Luk 24:49; Act 1:4; Act 2:33; Act 2:39), and the blessings of the believer in the age to come (Heb 10:36; Jas 1:12; Jas 2:5; 2Pe 3:4; 2Pe 3:13; 1Jn 2:25).

The New Testament therefore refers to the entire gospel and its blessings as being based on promise. That is, salvation is God’s gift, dependent on God’s faithfulness and in no way a reward for human effort or merit (Gal 3:18; Gal 4:23-28; 2Ti 1:1; Heb 4:1; Heb 10:36). God’s promises are contrasted with the law given to Israel; for whereas the law demanded obedience, the promises require only faith to accept them (Rom 4:13-16; Gal 3:17-18; Gal 3:21-22; Eph 3:6; Heb 8:6; Heb 11:13).

God is always faithful to his promises. He has given added assurance of this by giving the Holy Spirit to the believer as a guarantee that he will do what he has promised (Eph 1:13-14; Heb 6:13; Heb 10:23; 2Pe 3:9). God’s people likewise should be faithful to their promises, even when it involves them in personal inconvenience (Deu 23:23; Psa 15:4; 2Co 1:17-20).