Covenant Class, Lesson 5

The Covenant Relationship Lesson Five   Lesson One

How long does a covenant last?  The major determining factor is the faithfulness each partner brings to the relationship.  God often declares that He is making a covenant “forever” or “in perpetuity”.  However, it will last until mutually agreed, or until circumstances change, or until one party breaks the covenant making it null and void (Smith, 20).  So “forever” means basically, “as long as the treaty lasts.”  The word “forever” is rather potential and hopeful, not a legally binding guarantee.  To say that “a covenant lasts forever” essentially means it will last until it is no longer viable. 

When a covenant breaks….  One partner determines when the other’s sin breaks the covenant.  It is a judgment call, and even repeated or severe offense may be tolerated until it seems obvious that the offender’s action indicates the fraud of his/her love and shows also a lack of commitment to the relationship.  The offended partner then releases himself or herself from further obligation and the relationship is ended.   

Sometimes sin does NOT break a covenant!  Abraham sinned, and so did many in his community.  The same can be said for David, Levi, and Moses and their generations.  In such cases, God often makes the determination that the relational failure is not indicative of a lack of love or commitment.  Rather, the sin was the result of plain weakness or some other cause other than lovelessness or faithlessness.  The claim to love stands, as does the commitment to faithfulness.  It is worth considering that this covenantal understanding holds the key to the mysterious saying in 1 John 5:16-17.  It also explains why intercessory prayer can sometimes be effective, and other times is declared futile (Jer. 7:16; 11:14).  God know the heart.  Everyone having a heart sins, but some of those sinning still love the Lord and hold to a faithfulness that is unbroken even by the sin.  Sometimes the God-loving, God-devoted sinner even doubts his own heart, but God-who-knows-the-heart still sees love and devotion beyond the sin (1 John 3:20).

If this is true (and it is), then it follows that a sinning covenant partner does not fall out of the covenant and re-enter with each ensuing repentance.  One does not “fall from grace” with every sin.  Again, it depends on whether or not it was a “sin unto death” (i.e. a sin that truly gives evidence of fraudulent love and abandoned faith).  If it was not a “mortal sin”, then the repentance strengthens the weakened relationship.  It does not have to re-connect it.  This relational dynamic is readily learned from the marriage covenant, in which spouses do not consider every failure a “divorce”! 

Can a “broken covenant” be restored?  What if there has been a “sin unto death”?  What if a partner’s heart has gone hard and cold, abandoning the covenant and its obligations?  Can the relationship be restored?  The answer must be a “yes” so qualified that it becomes pessimistic. 

God is seen to extend offers of grace and mercy when a punitive curse is plainly in order (Joel 2:13-14; Zech. 9:11-12; Acts 2:37ff.).  However, there is a limitation operating, not on God’s part, but on the part of the sinner that may be insurmountable.  Essentially, the issue is this:  God gave the ultimate incentive already (the redemptive death of His Son on the Cross), and if there is no greater offer to be found then there seems to be nothing to hold the covenant-breaker except that which failed to hold before.  The only possibility, perhaps, is that the Cross may now be seen and understood more meaningfully at last than it was at the first.  For if it were understood, no effective incentive remains to win again the covenant-breaker’s heart.  This is the situation underlying the terrifying sections of Hebrews (6:1-8; 10:23-31). 

The state of the fallen:  It is sometimes suggested that a fallen away Christian is still in a “superior” state to a non-Christian, because he or she will not need to be re-baptized.  The logic does not hold in covenantal understanding, because a covenant-breaker ends in a state that is WORSE than the original pre-conversion state (2 Peter 2:20-22).  He or she is with Satan on the “curse” side of covenant eventuality; the rest of the covenant community are bound for blessing with God.

Covenant relationships between God and a “covenant community”….  God often enters agreements with groups, and these often begin with a single representative.  For example:  Abraham and his “seed”, David and his ensuing dynasty, Levi and his priesthood, etc.  Thus, these covenants are “trans-generational”, lasting far beyond the lifespan of the originator or of many generations within the “covenant community.”

God’s faithfulness and continued obligation endures beyond the failure(s) of individuals within the community.  However, the blessing or reward of individuals depends on their own faithfulness (cf. the “wilderness generation” of Israel) and it is common to see “if clauses” in the covenant language (e.g. see the “punishment clause” in the Davidic covenant, Ps. 89:28-33).  Mont W. Smith writes, “The covenant promises were to a group….An individual could lose his part in the promises by unbelief or disobedience….the promise to a group could be virtually unconditional with God.  That is, He would do what He had promised—with the group.  An individual’s right to the promise was very conditional.  He had to keep the covenant.  He might fall outside the blessings himself because of unbelief, but the group that was faithful could indeed inherit the benefit of the covenanted promise.”  The covenant promises to Abraham’s community were declared null and void for any uncircumcised male (Gen. 17:14)—obviously quite apart from any thought or action on his part! 

It is as though God “sees past” these individual failures and foresees, if only hopefully, a future time when the covenant is again honored within the community.  God can be seen to long for the opportunity to bless His covenant people (Lev. 26:40-45; Psalm 89:28-52; Jer. 33:20-25; Ezek. 17:11-21).

The “New Covenant” supercedes the “Old Covenant.  In Deut. 31:16 God predicts Israel will break the covenant and that He will respond by forsaking and destroying them.  Likewise, Moses predicts covenant breaking as he urges that his final song be memorized (Deut. 31:19-22).  Israel is said numerous times to have broken the covenant (Ezek. 44:7; Jer. 11:10; 22:9; 31:32; Hosea 6:7; 8:1).  Still, God shows incredible grace and faithfulness, sending appropriate “curses” but holding out hope for a future blessing for the people He loves.

Finally, God sends His Son to “cut” a New Covenant in His own blood!  The broken covenant is not simply abolished immediately and finally, but is made to give way before a New Covenant of superior quality (Heb. 8:7).  The old covenant community is not cast off by God, but is the first to receive the offer of the New (“crossdecking”), and so the baptized Jews become the original members and the new nucleus of the new covenant community (NCC)—the Church of Christ!  In Jesus and His NCC the aims and intentions of the Old are fulfilled (Matt. 5:17). 

The majority of Jews rejected the NC of Jesus and so stand doubly condemned.  They are the heirs of a broken covenant and the rejectors of another, far superior covenant.  Similarly, the priesthood covenant with Levi gave way to the newly resumed priesthood of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1-17).  God’s formal covenant relationship with Israel under Moses ended with the 70 AD destruction of the Jerusalem temple (Matt. 23-24).