[b][u]Covenant Theology[/u][/b]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In brief, Covenant Theology teaches that God has established two covenants with mankind and one within the Godhead to deal with how the other two relate. The first (in logical order), usually called the Covenant of Redemption, is the agreement within the Godhead that the Father would appoint his son Jesus to give up his life for mankind and that Jesus would do so.
The second, called the Covenant of Works, was made in the Garden of Eden between God and Adam and promised life for obedience and death for disobedience. Adam disobeyed God and broke the covenant, and so the third covenant was made between God and all of mankind, who also fell with Adam according to the Reformed understanding of Romans 5:12-21.
This third covenant, the Covenant of Grace, promised eternal blessing for belief in Christ and obedience to God's word. It became the basis for all future covenants that God made individually (with Noah, Abraham, and David), nationally (that is, with the Israelites as a people), and universally with man in the New Covenant. These individual covenants are called the "biblical covenants" because they are explicitly described in the Bible.
[b][u]Covenant Theology and the Biblical Covenants[/u][/b]
Covenant theology first sees a Covenant of Works administered with Adam in the Garden of Eden. Though it is not explicitly called a covenant in the Bible, Hosea 6:7 has been interpreted to support the idea. The specific covenants after the fall of Adam are seen as administered under the overarching theological Covenant of Grace and include:
The Abrahamic Covenant, found in Genesis chapter 15.
The Mosaic Covenant, found in Exodus chapters 19 through 24.
The Palestinian Covenant -- an unconditional covenant enlarging upon the Abrahamic Covenant promising the seed of Abraham eternal possession in the land (Deuteronomy 30:1-10), and
The Davidic Covenant, found in 2 Samuel chapter 7 establishing David and his lineage as the rightful kings of Israel and Judah and extending the covenant of Abraham to David's lineage.
The New Covenant, predicted by the prophet Jeremiah in the eponymous book, chapter 31, and connected with Jesus at the Last Supper where he says that the cup is "the New Covenant in [his] blood" and further in the Epistle to the Hebrews (chapters 8-10). The term "New Testament," most often used for the collection of books in the Bible, can also refer to the New Covenant as a theological concept.
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Yolanda Fields
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