Covenants Lesson 1: What is a Covenant?

This is Lesson 1 of a series...
http://drytheology.blogspot.com/2011/03/covenants.html

The Significance of Covenant
Did you know that the English Standard Version of the bible uses the word “covenant” in 301 verses? (The Hebrew word berith, covenant, occurs over 280 times in the Old Testament. The translators of the OT into the Greek Septuagint chose the Greek word diatheke in place of the Hebrew berith. In the NT diatheke occurs 33 times.)

Did you know that the Reformed Presbyterian (RP) Church has a history of calling themselves “Covenanters”? (The major covenants in our history would be the Scottish National Covenant of 1638, the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 and the American Covenant of 1871)

In this lesson, we’ll explore the idea of covenant in general. In future lessons, we’ll look at specific covenants in theology, the bible, and in Church History. So first, what is a covenant?

The Definition of Covenant
Though not in the larger or shorter catechism themselves, the question is asked in the catechism for young children:
Q. 22. What is a covenant?
A. An agreement between two or more persons.

O Palmer Robertson calls a covenant “A bond in blood sovereignly administered”#.

Covenant consists of 2 parts,"The 1st without the 2nd is no more than a promise: the 2nd without the first is no less than a law." - John Ball

What does the word “covenant” make you think of?

* Promises - Covenants are a way for someone to promise to another they will perform something.
* Stipulations - These are requirements for those within the covenant.
* Contract - The idea of covenant has legal implications. When a covenant is made between two parties there will either be covenant keepers or covenant breakers.
* Relationship - Recall that marriage is called a covenant.
* Representative Headship - Kings would sometimes enter into covenants. The covenants they entered had implications for all of their subjects. In the same way, we see that when God enters into covenant with this or that man.
* Signs and Seals - The sign and seal for marriage is the wedding ring. God often signifies his covenant relationships with signs (e.g. rainbow, circumcision, etc.)

Covenants between Men

• Covenants between husband and wife

Marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman. Both of these are equals in the covenant of marriage. The promise is made by the man to be a ‘loving and faithful husband as long as the both shall live’. He submits himself to stipulations that he will remain faithful to her. She makes similar promises and commitments.

Though they knew each other before the wedding day as boyfriend and girlfriend; fiancée and fiancé, their relationship takes a whole new turn at the formal inauguration of their marriage. Here they exchange their vows and seals of the marriage covenant. From this time forth they are to fulfil the promises and stipulations throughout their relationship. They are to love and serve one another until they die.

• Covenants between suzerain (or lord) and vassal

Sometimes covenants are entered into between two parties which are not equal. A suzerain, or lord, is a strong political power and may exercise dominance over a weak vassal state. This would be done by entering a covenant. The suzerain would offer to “be nice” to the vassal in return for the vassal to perform some service to the suzerain. The vassal would accept the offer and perform the service. It is important to remember that it is the suzerain who initiates this relationship. It would make no sense for a weak nation to say to a strong one, “here are the terms of the relationship between us two”. It is always the right of the suzerain to offer the relationship and the vassal to accept the terms offered.

Covenant between God and Man
The idea of a covenant is very foundational not just to RP’s but to how God deals with mankind in general.

Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) 7.1
The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.

What is the WCF saying?
Basically, it is saying that when God created the world, He didn’t owe them anything. Just that something exists does not entitle it to anything except that God voluntarily chooses to bless it. This reminds us that in some ways God’s covenants with mankind are like that of a suzerain to a vassal. We cannot make up our own terms of relating to God and offer them for Him to accept or reject. To relate to God and receive blessing and reward we must accept the terms of relating with Him that He has offered.

Covenants

Prepared for Sabbath evening instruction for Covenant Youth of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Shawnee

Resources
Constitution of the RPCNA
The Christ of the Covenants - O. Palmer Robertson
A Treatise on the Covenant of Grace - John Ball

1. http://drytheology.blogspot.com/2011/03/covenants-lesson-1-what-is-covenant.html
2. http://drytheology.blogspot.com/2011/04/covenants-lesson-2-adamic-covenant.html

Oh, The Places You've Gone!

Dynamics

Heard a great choir concert Saturday night... and the members of the choir joined us for worship this LORD's day. It left me thinking...

Have you ever listened to a piece of choral music that begins so softly that you are straining to hear? The unison vocals start softly and slowly but in time divide into harmonies. The music gains speed and volume and suddenly you begin to think, "that's loud". Then the song approaches its climax where all voices are almost to a shout...

I think sometimes it's good to think about the dynamics of music. Often I find that every song I sing on Sunday is the same volume; the same intensity. It's days like today, when the sheer number of voices singing praises to God doubles that I realize that worship can be louder. I was even tempted to think, "this is what worship should be like..." But then it struck me. Today's worship turned up the volume... but it doesn't even compare. My mind can't even fathom the singing of heaven, when we will join all the saints as one voice together with angels... singing praises to our God!

Reasons why I love the Psalms 002

I am part of the psalm-singing church. Most (if not all) Christians have sung psalms. A familiar one to many is psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd). As I've been further studying the psalms I've come to love them.

One of the reasons I love the psalms is that we are told to sing them. I lead a weekly bible study that's been going through Colossians and here's what I discovered in Colossians 3:16:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

(16) "and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"... This is a command. The Colossians are to let Christ's word dwell in them. He also tells them how this is to happen:

• teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
  
  This sounds a lot like preaching. Paul says that one way for the Christ's word to live within these Colossians is for them to preach to one another. What are they to preach? Paul isn't specific here, except saying that they are to do so in all wisdom. The proverbs are an excellent source of wisdom, and speak to how to give a wise word.
  
  Consider also the union with Christ we've seen Paul claim. He sees his suffering as Christ's suffering. He would also see his preaching as Christ preaching. Considering this, what better way to have Christ's word richly dwell within us, than to be preached to by Him?
  
  
• singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
  
  The second way for Christ's word to live within them is for them to sing. What are they to sing? Paul says literally "psalms, hymns and songs spiritual". Are these 3 different types of music? Does "spiritual" refer only to songs?
  

What would psalms, hymns, songs spiritual (ψαλμοῖς, ὕμνοις, ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς) mean coming from Paul's mouth? (See also parallel in Ephesians 5:19). What did Paul have in mind? "Psalms" (ψαλμοῖς) would instantly make his audience think of the psalms in the Old Testament. They would be most familiar with the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation from the Hebrew. In the Septuagint translation of the Psalms, there are headings, many of which title themselves as "psalms". Interestingly enough, some of the psalms are also called "songs" or "odes" (ᾠδαῖς) in their title. (18, 30, 47, 48, 65, 66, 68, 75, 76, 83, 87, 88, 92, 98, 108). Consider also the title of Psalm 76 (in the Septuagint, psalm 75):

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments (= "a hymn"). A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐν ὕμνοις ψαλμὸς τῷ Aσαφ ᾠδὴ πρὸς τὸν Ἀςύριον

Psalm 76 is described in the Septuagint as a psalm, a hymn, and a song! As seen in the translation, "hymn" originally meant something similar to "to pluck a stringed instrument". It's meaning changed over time. Psalm 76 is not alone, many other psalms are referred to as "hymns" in the Septuagint, including 6, 54(53), 55(54), 61(60), 67(66), 76(75). We also see hymn used to refer to a group of psalms in the note found in Psalm 72:20:

Psalm 72:20 (numbered in the Septuagint as 71:20)

The prayers (= "The hymns") of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

ἐξέλιπον οἱ ὕμνοι *δαυιδ τοῦ υἱοῦ Iεςαι

In Psalm 72:20, Hymns were synonymous with prayers. Hymn later came to mean the words of a psalm. The meaning of the word changed yet again as it is commonly used today.

See the examples above for yourself at: http://www.septuagint.org/, also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms#Numbering

The most natural meaning for Paul saying "singing psalms, hymns, and songs" would be the the 150 psalms of the Old Testament. (See also Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26, Acts 16:25, 1 Corinthians 14:26, James 5:13) Paul is emphasizing his point by saying the same thing in three ways (Like, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen"). If this is His meaning, what an incredible gift we have in the 150 psalms! These are the word of Christ that we may sing to one another... the same words Christ himself sang.

What about "spiritual" (πνευματικαῖς)? The adjective comes at the end of the list of words, and thus can describe all three "psalms", "hymns", and "songs". "Spiritual" for Paul usually means having to do with the work of the Holy Spirit. In this case, it would probably mean "psalms, hymns, and songs" (i.e. the whole psalter) which is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Notice the union between the word of Christ and the work of the Spirit.

And how are we to teach and sing? In what manner are we to let Christ's word dwell in us? With thankfulness in our hearts. Thus I am thankful for the psalms. They are a means God has given us to let the word of Christ dwell within us! As we sing the psalms we hear the word that Christ inspired by the Holy Spirit. We learn of how to express deep emotion with the very words God has given for that purpose.

Still Alive, but busy

OK, once again I realize I haven't posted in a long time. Looks like the last post was January 17. That makes this nearly 6 months to the day that I haven't found time to write.

It's not that I haven't been thinking theology. Quite the contrary, I've been thinking very much.

I keep very busy with a bible study I lead at work that is going very well. The men in the study keep me on my toes... I feel it demanded (OK, maybe that's self imposed) that I understand something of the depth of each passage before we meet. It's been a great experience to dig into God's word every week. Right now we're in Colossians. We've finished Hebrews and a small section from Luke's gospel.

I've also had the pleasure of taking a correspondence course through RPTS. This is actually the first time they've started offering classes in their 200 years of operation, so I'm thankful to be on the front end. I've taken a course taught by Dr. Prutow on ministry of worship. The class was incredibly insightful (and the materials are freely available online if you're interested). http://www.rpts.edu/courses.php

In addition, I've been stockpiling snippets of thoughts into what I had hoped would become blog posts. I'll list them here for your amusement:

Blog Idea: How could it be that "To Die is Gain" if we don't have assurance of eternal salvation? How could it be that our citizenship is in heaven if we don't have assurance of eternal salvation? (this is in response to an article I read called "Assurance of Salvation?")

Blog Idea: We sing psalms in the public worship of God. We sing from the psalter for the same reason we preach from the bible, and not Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

Blog Idea: Taking down the high places. (this would be a discussion of how there were good kings and bad kings of Israel. The prototypical good king, though, took God's Word to heart and took down the high places; Josiah reformed Israel's worship. There were other good kings who were loved by God, but they always stand in the shadow of Josiah.)

Blog Idea: Awesome and Awful. (this would be on how God is both worthy of Awe and also striking Awe.)

Blog Idea: Sin against God vs. Sin against Mother Nature - How we interpret natural disaster. (this would be basically about how in modern thought the worst thing you could do would be to increase your carbon footprint. People have abandoned the thought of sin against God the Father and chosen instead to condemn people for their abuses of Mother Nature)

Blog Idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehushtan - from a means of grace to an idol. (this would be on how a statue of a snake was instituted by God as something which would point forward to Christ. Wicked man would over time worship the means of grace rather than the one signified in the sign)

Blog Idea: The roots of idolatry. An indescribable experience seeks to be recreated... and played like a record. (this would be a dialogue concerning what idolatry looks like. My wife and I were reading CS Lewis' Perelandra at the time. The main character, Ransom, seems to battle in his mind the idea of doing something twice simply because it was enjoyable the first time... I think perhaps he's touching on the very roots of idolatry.)

Blog Idea: So, after Jesus had blessed the bread, the disciples turned their attention from him and bowed down to the consecrated host? (this would be because I've been thinking about "the Lamb's Supper" by Scott Hahn. I've read only a few excerpts, but here's the most disturbing: speaking of the Eucharist, "When Christ comes at the end of time, he will not have one drop more glory than He has at this moment, when we consume all of HIM!")

Blog Idea: Adam was created after God's image. Are we born after Adam's image or conformed to the image of Christ? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. (this would be an interesting study... if I ever got around to doing it.)

Reading them now, I kind of think I've been mulling over a number of theses. Not quite 95... yet.

Blessings!

A To Do List

So,

It's been so long since I've posted, you're probably concerned whether I'm still breathing. I am, and I'm healthy, but have been very busy as of late. I haven't stopped thinking theology (quite the contrary), but I've been too busy to write any one thought to completion. Here's some of what I've wanted to write, but haven't had the time:

1. What are the practical implications of Jesus being truly human? Can dogma such as the immaculate conception or transubstantiation really fit?
2. What am I learning in my study of early church history?
3. Picking and choosing what is right and wrong among the early church fathers.
4. How National Geographic misuses the quote: "the world and all that is in it" http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=1076014
5. Did the Jews of Jesus' day argue about "circumcismal regeneration"?
6. Point 5 of the 5 points of Calvinism: Those of true faith will be faithful.
7. Pope apologizes for Crusades? http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/12/sm.06.html, Not really? http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/ZCRSADES.HTM
8. Origen's ideas of hell: a precursor of the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory?
   

Hopefully this gives you an idea of all that I've had on my mind as of late. Feel free to comment if you'd like to write a post for me.

Thanks,
Maji