The Covenant with Abraham Part 1
Read: Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:7-9
Genesis is the book of beginnings. Chapters 1-11 cover what is called primeval history—or the beginning of creation and mankind. In those chapters, we see God create the world and call it good. He entered into relationship with humans, but they soon turned away from God, and sin entered the world as a result. Time marched on and evil increased until “the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time…” (Gen. 6:5). Thus, God destroyed the world and re-created it through the human Noah, the only one found to be righteous and blameless amongst his contemporaries (Gen. 6:9). In the post-flood world, though, evil still ran rampant. Not even Noah was secure from its effects (see Gen. 9:18-27). The earth continued to re-populate until the Lord scattered them at the Tower of Babel. This brings us now to the narrative of Abraham.
Beginning with chapter 12 through the end of the book, we find the history of the patriarchs. Genesis 12-25 is the story of Abraham, chapters 25-37 is Jacob’s story, and chapters 37-50 recount Joseph’s story. Isaac is the hinge point between Abraham and Jacob. This, too, is a beginning—the beginning of the nation of Israel, and it all starts with Abraham.
Abraham can be considered one of the most influential men in history. He is honored in three of the world’s major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. David Guzik writes, “The Book of Genesis covers more than 2,000 years and more than 20 generations. Yet, it spends almost a third of its text on the life of one man—Abram.” Abram, whose named later changes to Abraham, receives one of the highest honors in the Bible; he gets to be called the friend of God (2 Chr. 20:7; Isa. 41:8, James 2:23). One of the few other times we see such language is in the New Testament when Jesus says, “‘You are my friends if you do what I command you’” (John 15:14). That the God of the universe would deign to call us His friend is only possible through His grace.
God’s grace has been at work since the beginning. When Adam and Eve invited sin into the world, God was gracious. He provided for them, even as he banished them from Eden. He instituted a new covenant with them, one that would eventually result in an Offspring (Gen 3:15) who would pay the price of sin once, for all time (Heb. 10:10). This covenant of grace would unfurl across time, and God would institute more covenants with fallen humanity. Each would point the way ever more fully to the Offspring who would do what mankind could not—namely, be perfectly obedient to God.
After the covenants with Adam and Noah, Abraham is the next recipient of a covenant with God. We can find evidence of this covenant in Genesis 12, 15, 17, and 22. Genesis 12:1-3 names the key promises God makes to Abraham:
“The LORD said to Abram:
Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
This covenant entails two sets of three promises to Abraham. In the first set, God promises to make Abraham into a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great. These promises signify that Abraham (or his descendants) would become a nation, and they would be given the land to which God was leading Abraham (Gen. 12:7). The second set reveals promises that lead to blessings for the whole world, which is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. We see this when Paul writes to the Galatians and says:
“You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons. Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.” (3:7-9)
The blessing to the nations is found in the grace Jesus extends to all. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, is offered salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the One who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). We just have to accept Him by faith.
This faith is the very thing the Jewish leaders struggled with in the gospels when they were faced with the very One they had been waiting for, the One God had promised them from the beginning. Jesus tells them, “‘If you were Abraham’s children…you would do what Abraham did’” (John 8:39). And what did Abraham do? “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6).
This is the very same thing that God asks of us, too. He invites us into a relationship with Him, and He can do so because of what Jesus did with His death on the cross. The door is open to all, but only those who do what Abraham did will be able to accept God’s invitation and walk through to life with Him.
Further Reading: Romans 4; Hebrews 11:8-19
In two weeks, I will be back with Part 2 of the Covenant with Abraham where we will look at Genesis 15 and 17. Part 3 will follow and cover Genesis 22.
Author’s Note:
Please realize that the resource list is a work in progress, and not all the sources listed are ones that I necessarily used or heavily considered in the development of this series. I also realize that a variety of schools of thought may be represented. I am not intentionally promoting one theological system over another. I also recognize that there are multiple approaches to the study of covenants, and I am not here to promote one over another. My goal is to present a basic understanding of the various covenants and how they progressively reveal God’s overarching plan of salvation for humanity.
