The drinking of each other's blood as part of the covenant grew into drinking together the blood of a sacrifice, sprinkling it on the covenant parties, eating together the sacrificial meal, etc. That's important to remember as we follow the usage of water into the New Testament writings.
We discover some basic tenants of covenants in the Old Testament.
"There ought to be a sworn agreement between us'---between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace."Gen. 26:28-29
"Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other."Gen. 26:31
"Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to the Lord...Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother...Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone...Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road...Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow...Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife...Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal...Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother...Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law...Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly...Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person...Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out. Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'"Deut. 27:15-26
"He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal."Gen. 31:54
"So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty."Gen. 21:27
"Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us."Gen. 31:44
Kings had covenants with their subjects.
"Good, said David. I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you; Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me."2 Sam. 3:13
"The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves."Jer. 34:8
Other examples of individual covenants are: 2 Kings 11:4; Job 31:1 and 41:4; Hosea 10:4; 1 Samuel 18:3, 20:8 and 23:18; Psalm 55:20; and Malachi 2:14.
The technical phrase for making a covenant was karath berith ("to cut a covenant"). It was used in reference to the cutting of animals in pieces in a formal ceremony of ratification.
Most of the covenants in the Bible are between God and people. Some are "unconditional" (fulfillment depends only upon the faithfulness of God and there is no question about that). Others are "conditional" (fulfillment depends on both parties faithfully carrying out the terms of the agreement).
This is a list of the major covenants scholars have found in the Bible. They are the Covenant of Redemption, the Covenant of Works, the Covenant of Grace, the Edenic Covenant, the Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Circumcision Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Palestinian Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. I don't agree that all of them are bonafide covenants, but I'll list them briefly for your consideration.
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
The covenant continues in Gen. 13:14-16 and 15:5-18:
"Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted...Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them...So shall your offspring be...On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates."
"Consider Abraham: 'He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."Gal. 3:6-9
Today's Christians are Abraham's children. We are saved in the same way Abraham was. We believe God and are justified "apart from works." J.C. O'Hair comments on this verse.
"What people were seen when the gospel was preached to Abram 24 years before he was circumcised, and 430 years before the law was added to the gospel (Galatians 3:19)? The heathen (Gentiles) of Paul's day. What was seen? That the uncircumcised heathen would be declared righteous without circumcision, without the law, without any religious observances; just as Abraham was, by faith without works.""The Unsearchable Riches of Christ"
We are not Abraham's children in the sense of becoming heirs to the specific covenant blessing about promised land. None of us can lay claim to property in Israel. That is something God will fulfill in the future millennial kingdom when Christ rules from the Davidic throne in Jerusalem.
"When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers ... this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generation to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God ... you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised."
"My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant ... On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him."
This covenant was given to Abraham and Paul did say we are Abraham's children. So, do we need to obey it? NO! This "conditional" covenant deals with God's special promise to Israel. How do we know that? The Gospel of circumcision continued from Abraham through Moses through David through the holy prophets through Christ through His apostles. They all held that circumcision was absolutely necessary to keeping the covenant God had made with Abraham. However, one prophet of God did not continue the preaching of the Covenant of circumcision. He was the Apostle Paul.
Look at Acts 15. "Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.'" Antioch was in Syria. It was not a part of Israel. The majority of people in the town were gentiles. Jewish believers heard about Paul's ministry to the gentiles there. They went up to Antioch to add their wisdom to Paul's teaching. They told the gentiles that they must be circumcised or they couldn't be saved. That would have been true if the gentiles were under the same Covenant of circumcision the Jews were under, but they weren't. That was something the Jews did not understand at that time. "This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question." The Apostle Paul and his partner Barnabas believed this was a point that had to be argued vigorously. They went to Jerusalem and met with the believers, apostles and elders. "Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.'" This was the crux of the matter. Should gentile believers in Christ have to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses?
The Apostle Peter, who preached the necessity of circumcision to Jews, reminded the congregation that God had given gentiles the Holy Spirit without them ever being circumcised or going through any legal ceremony. After that, Paul and Barnabas told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. James, who seemed to be the spokesman for the Jewish believers at that time, ruled the gentiles did not have to be circumcised or obey the law of Moses, other than abstaining from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. The Jewish believers in Israel would continue to be circumcised and obey the Law, but gentiles were exempt from it. Why? Because gentiles belonged to another gospel: The Gospel of the Grace of God.
Paul gives us more details about this precedent-setting meeting in Galatians 2.
"Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek ... they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews."
This is a remarkable statement in light of the Covenant of circumcision. How could Paul, a mere man, change what God had declared to Abraham thousands of years earlier? Paul could not have done that unless God had given Paul a new declaration. That's exactly what God did. He gave Paul the message of a new Dispensation. [The word "dispensation" is the Greek word oikonomian . It signifies "the management of a household." Other translations are "stewardship" and "administration."] Paul explains it in more detail in Ephesians 3.
"Surely you have heard about the administration (oikonomian) of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."
Paul continues:
"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less that the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration (oikonomian ) of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God controls how He will deal with each of His "households" of faith. He dealt with Adam and Eve in a way that differed from the way he dealt with Abraham. He dealt with Moses in a way that differed from the way He dealt with Abraham. He dealt with Paul and the gentiles in a way that differed from the way He dealt with Christ's apostles. God is the one who determines these things; not a man. Paul was simply a messenger of God's new way of managing His household.
It goes all the way back to what we stated in the study about God and The Choice. God's first work (of which He informed us) was to choose us in Christ before the creation of the world. (Eph. 1:4) Paul was writing about the Gentile Church, the Body of Christ. That was Paul's special revelation. That was the Dispensation of the Grace of God.
It's important we notice how the Gospel of Circumcision continued until the middle of the Book of Acts. That was approximately A.D. 51. That's almost 20 years after Christ died, was raised from the dead and returned to heaven! The Gospel of Circumcision was the ruling covenant (along with the Mosaic Covenant) during the teaching years of Christ and the first 18 years of the Apostle's preaching. God made His change of household administration (dispensation) clearly known at the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. The Jewish believers, under the leadership of Peter, James and John continued to practice circumcision. The Gentile believers, under the leadership of Paul, did not practice circumcision.
This means what we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the first portion of Acts is still under the Old Testament Administration.
Continue this study with Understanding Covenants 2.
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"Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers."
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Last Updated: 12/20/1999