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The lesson library / Lesson 17

The biblical covenants

Trace the covenants through Scripture and explain their unity in God’s saving purpose and their fulfillment in Christ.

Humanity, sin, law, and covenant

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Genesis 9:1-17 · Exodus 19:1-25 · Galatians 3:1-29 · Hebrews 8:1-13

A covenant is a divinely ordered relationship with promises and obligations. The covenants help explain why the Bible is one story without making every stage identical. The same God speaks throughout, but Noah, Abraham, Israel at Sinai, David, and the new-covenant people do not occupy interchangeable historical positions. Reading carefully requires both continuity and development.

Genesis 9 records God’s covenant with Noah after the flood.

The covenant with Noah includes the preservation of the created order and reaches beyond one ethnic nation. The promises to Abraham then direct the story toward blessing through his seed. The differences matter. A promise about preserving the world is not the same as a promise about justification, even though both belong to God’s faithful purpose. Covenant study should make those relationships clearer, not flatten every promise into a general assurance that everything will work out as desired.

Read Exodus 19:1-13

1 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.
3 Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
7 Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 All the people answered together, and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
9 The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
10 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
11 and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
12 You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.
13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”

God brings Israel out before calling the people to covenant obedience. Sinai includes moral commands, national arrangements, and institutions that point forward. Those elements must be interpreted in relation to their purpose and later revelation. Israel’s failure does not make God unfaithful. It reveals the need for the deeper renewal promised in the prophets. The new covenant is not announced because God has discovered that holiness was a bad idea, but because He promises an effective remedy for His people’s unfaithfulness.

Read Galatians 3:15-29

15 Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ.
17 Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.

Paul insists that the later law does not cancel the earlier promise. The inheritance comes through God’s promise fulfilled in Christ. This is central to the Baptist objection to treating an outward covenant sign as though it automatically establishes the saving reality. Belonging to Christ is decisive. The argument also keeps the Old Testament within the gospel story. Abraham is not discarded; the blessing promised through him reaches its intended fulfillment in the Messiah.

Read Hebrews 8:6-13

6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days are coming”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my laws into their mind; I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 They will not teach every man his fellow citizen and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”
13 In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

The new covenant includes forgiveness and God’s law written inwardly. That is a poor foundation for claiming that grace means indifference to obedience. It is also important for believer’s baptism: the covenant description emphasizes knowing the Lord. Reformed Baptists therefore connect the church’s initiating sign to a credible profession of that reality. Christians from other covenant traditions read the relationship differently. The disagreement should be examined at the level of the covenant promises rather than settled by assuming one party has no concern for children or grace.

Three additional expressions appear frequently in Reformed discussions: covenant of works, covenant of grace, and covenant of redemption. They need explanation because they are theological summaries, not three chapter headings printed in Genesis. The question is whether each summary faithfully describes the passages used to support it.

The covenant of works refers to Adam’s original representative responsibility before God. Genesis records the command, the prohibition, and the threatened consequence of death. Romans 5 contrasts Adam’s disobedience with Christ’s obedience. Reformed theology brings those features together under covenant language. Genesis 2 itself does not use the expression covenant of works, and Hosea 6:7 has a debated translation. Those qualifications should remain visible rather than disappear behind a confident label.

The covenant of grace describes God’s saving provision for fallen sinners through Christ. The confession presents it as progressively revealed, beginning with the promise following the fall and reaching its full disclosure in the New Testament. This does not mean Abraham, Sinai, and the new covenant are interchangeable arrangements. Nor does it mean that people before Christ earned salvation through ceremonies while people afterward receive grace. The saving benefit depends on the same Christ, anticipated before His coming and proclaimed afterward.

The covenant of redemption describes the eternal saving purpose concerning the people the Father gives the Son and the work the Son undertakes. John 6 and John 17 are important passages. The confession speaks of an eternal covenant transaction between Father and Son. That does not describe separate gods negotiating competing interests. Father, Son, and Spirit act in the unity of the divine purpose. The term gathers biblical relationships into a theological explanation; the explanation remains answerable to the texts.

These categories can help connect Scripture. They can also become a problem when used to flatten distinctions the text preserves. The parties, promises, signs, and obligations of each biblical covenant must still be identified. A general system does not remove the need to read what God actually said to Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David.

Israel’s place requires particular care. Jeremiah names the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the new-covenant promise. Romans 11 warns Gentile believers against boasting over the branches and denies that God has simply rejected His people. Gentile inclusion through Christ must not be turned into the claim that Israel has become irrelevant or that God’s promises have failed.

At the same time, preserving Israel’s significance does not create a second way of salvation. Jew and Gentile need the same Messiah. Christians debate the manner and timing of national, land, and future promises. This lesson does not settle those questions by silently adopting an entire prophetic scheme. It affirms the reliability of God’s promises, the seriousness of Paul’s warning against arrogance, and salvation through Christ alone.

A useful study method is to ask four questions of each covenant passage: who is addressed, what is promised, what is required, and how does later Scripture develop it? Answer those before deciding how the passage fits a preferred chart. A chart can organize the evidence. It should not be allowed to replace it.

When studying a command or promise, identify its covenant setting and then ask how later Scripture applies it. That method avoids treating the Old Testament as irrelevant and avoids acting as though Christ’s coming changed nothing. God keeps His promises, and the covenants lead attention toward the Son through whom the saving purpose reaches its fulfillment.

Consider your perspective

The covenants help us read Scripture as a connected account of God's faithfulness rather than a collection of detached rules. Fulfillment in Christ calls for attention to both continuity and change, not the assumption that every command transfers unchanged.

Put it into practice

Before applying an Old Testament passage, identify its covenant setting and its relationship to Christ. Separate what the passage explicitly states from the theological framework you use to connect it with other texts.

Reflect and respond

  • What covenant setting governs the passage you are reading?
  • What is continuous, and what is fulfilled differently in Christ?
  • How does the new covenant join forgiveness and obedience?

Passages and further study

Scripture quotations are from the public-domain World English Bible (WEB). Historical confessions are study aids, subordinate to Scripture. This independent lesson is not an official denominational statement.