What is Covenant in the Old Testament sense Research Paper

What is Covenant in the Old Testament sense - Research Paper Example These include Abraham, Noah and Adam among many others. A covenant formed an important component of the biblical history and modern day theology. The flow of the biblical covenants includes (Mason 177): First of all, God made a covenant with His Son regarding the elect before the creation of the universe and consisted of the Father promising to bring to His Son all the people the Father had given Him (John 17: 9-24 ; 6:39). Manifestation of the covenant occurred in the world through the sequence of additional covenants between God and individuals. These include Adam (Gen 2: 15-17), Abraham (Gen 17), Noah (Gen 9:12-16), Mt Sinai covenant with Israelites (Ex 34:28), David (Sam 7:12-16) and New covenant believers (Jer 31:31-37). All the additional covenants involved the ‘Covenant of Grace’ when God establishes covenants with His elect with the promise of salvation through Faith in Jesus Christ (Mason 178). According to some theologians, there is only one covenant referred as the covenant of redemption within which all other covenants originate. This involved the agreement between the Father and the Son that gave the Son as Redeemer and head of the elect. As a result, the Son took the place assigned by the Father voluntarily. This formed a twofold assurance of Son as a guarantee and surety to fulfil the requirements of God’s laws. ... Covenant in Hebrew depicted the development of God’s covenant ranging from the time of creation to the time of the new covenant. In Arabic, covenant involved the contract binding humanity and God. The concept of covenant provides a distinctive and unique fellowship with God. This fellowship depends on legal covenant, and this implies the existence of dependable and stable element in Old Testament religion (McAleese 237). Concepts of Covenant Faith inspiring Fellowship The covenant concept gave the Old Testament people a mighty anchor for their faith. This allowed them a vantage ground with their God where God remained obligated to them through the covenant. He remained to be their God, and they become His people. For instance, this covenant background enabled Jacob cling to the angel until He blessed him. This covenant required people turn away from their sins after which they could claim God’s favour (Wood 133). Exclusive Fellowship The covenant established exclusive f ellowship between Hebrews and God. Hebrews remained as His chosen people, and He remained Yahweh their God. The covenantal idea formed a background for the Jewish religion, and it demanded exclusive loyalty to preclude the possibility of multiple loyalties in other religions. The illustration of loyalty to God took place through marriages, where Hosea, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah charged Israelites against adultery. The expression of God as being their God and them being His people comprised of the legal formula taken from marriage sphere and attested through legal documents from Ancient Near east (Hosea 2:4). This explains why prophets such as Isaiah frowned on alliance made by Israelites with their neighbours (Wood 133). Douglas Stuart Guidelines on Old Testament