Anthony Gonzales
BIB2145 Theological Foundation
Instructor: Ted Erskine
2/1/14
Abstract
The first thing that I would like to talk about in this paper is, what is a covenant? Paul tells us that if we are going to righty divide the word of truth we must use sound words. Wilson gives an awesome explanation on this, he says that Paul is speaking of the form of sound words. This means it is the frame work, structure, sketch or outline. These words that Paul refers to are more than just words put on paper, but rather they are forming a picture or a view. When Scripture is righty divide it creates sound words, and reveal a structural reality that includes divine intentions and purposes,(Nathaniel Wilson, 2009.) These structure pieces reveal God’s intentions and they are demonstrated in the covenants. The Bible records show many covenants between men and men, women and men, however, the covenants that I will be referring to are the ones He made with His chosen people.
(1) Edenic Covenant: This bond was made by God with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Adam and Eve where able to have a continuous communication with God. Man was order to replenish the earth and have dominion over it. The only condition that this covenant had was that Adam and Eve where able to eat of all the fruit of Garden except of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. The day that they would eat from this tree they would die, however, this did not only mean a natural death but a spiritual one as well. In result of them breaking the covenant man and women would lose dominion over the earth and as of that result they would become subject to them and that is what exactly happened.
(2) Adamic Covenant: This covenant included both clear announcements as well as judgments. After the fall of mankind four cures were declared by God. The 1st. rather than the earth producing fruit, it would now produce thistles and weeds. The 2nd curse was on the women. She now would experiment pain in childbirth and her desire would be for her husband. The 3rd was announced directly to man. Prior to his fall, Adam’s work only consisted in pruning, maintaining, and tending the Garden, but since the earth was cursed with thistles and weeds man’s work increased in labor. God was the one that supplied everything for Adam and Eve, now Adam had to maintain his family by the sweat of his brow. The 4th is related to the serpent. This curse consisted in that the serpent would crawl on his belly for the rest of his life, nonetheless, his greater cruse came when God announced the hope for all mankind. The women that was deceived by the serpent, would give birth to the conqueror of that lying serpent.
(3) Noahic Covenant: The covenant between God and Noah was made after the flood. This covenant consisted of the promise of never flooding the earth with water again, as well of keeping all the natural orders of the earth. The sign for this covenant was the rainbow.
(4) Abrahamic Covenant: This covenant demonstrates a different way God communicated His redemptive message to all humanity. Instead of dealing with man directly, God now communicates with humanity through a person (an intermediate) and his descendants. The covenant with Abraham and God consisted that He would make him into a great nation. The sign for this covenant was circumcision. God vowed to bless Abraham, and those that blessed him would be blessed, and those that curse him would be curse, furthermore, his seed would be as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth. It also included an eternal inheritance of Palestine. Abraham would be the father of many nations and kings would be born from him. The two key features of this covenant are faith and obedience.
(5) The Mosaic Covenant: It is important to notice that this covenant is an extension and progressive development of the Abrahamic Covenant, like the previous covenant it is based on faith and obedience. It takes