The concept of the covenant is seen to have begun with Abraham. This is when God talked to Abram in (Gen. 17:7 New King James Version) that I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. To have the clear meaning of the word covenant, we have to look at the Greek word syntheke or diatheke and the Hebrew word berit.
The Hebrew word berit means bond or fetter while the Greek syntheke means binding together, and diatheke means will testament. This points out to a bond that is disposed in a sovereign way between God and His people. The Covenant is Central The covenant is central in all Christian lives. The whole piety consists or is encapsulated in it.
Though it is referred to as an agreement pact between God and His people, it is slightly different and has more than an agreement. The association betwen God and His people is founded on the covenant. God dictated the obligation of man to Him, or man’s duties as concerns the covenant. He also gave His position about the same. He promised that this covenant is an everlasting, binding Himself to his very obligation in the covenant. From the Law of Moses through to the birth of Christ, the scripture points out to the covenant.
This means that the whole relationship between God and His people depends on the covenant. God’s Covenant is EternalGod’s covenant is eternal as we have seen from (Gen. 17:7). They are not also many as one would think.
In the Old Testament, God would only reaffirm it with the later generations. In the New Testament, it is made perfect in Jesus Christ. The Covenant is for all Human Races The covenant is not only for the Hebrew nation, so to say Israel, but it is for all human races. God tells Abram that he will be a father to many nations (Gen. 12:2--3).
This was made also clear in (Gen. 17:12-15) when God instructed Abraham to use the sign of circumcision for the covenant. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul has also pointed it out in various places that the covenant is not only for the Jews but for the whole world. (Galatians 3:29) and (Romans 2:28-29) are examples of where Paul teaches that the covenant does not belong to the carnal seed of Abraham but to the spiritual seed, meaning the believers of Christ. The Old Testament was a Pointer to the Coming of ChristAll ceremonies that were made in the Old Testament that concerned the covenant were a pointer to the coming of Christ. All these were fulfilled by Christ as demonstrated in (Heb.
12 and Eph. 2). This shows as that the prime part of the covenant is in Christ. The covenant is therefore a pillar in the lives of Christians, and it gives them focus in the worship of God.
Despite the many denominations, it is in the covenant that unity exists among the Christians.
