No problem. That is a fine technical term to use. Have used it myself on a number of occasions! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
[quote]Covenant a contract or agreement between two parties.
That was the definition I learned as a Presbyterian. But marriage, which is the primary analogy by which Christ speaks of His relationship to His people, who are called "His Bride" (Joh 3:29; Re 18:23; 21:2,9; 22:17) is more than a mere contract. There is nothing of the will in volved in a contract, there is nothing of love, emotions, union, and becoming "one flesh" in a contract.
Certainly there are descriptions of political covenants and Suzerainity treaties in the Scriptures, but they are not the primary description of our relationship to Christ as believers. The marrriage is. What Calvinist soteriology has done is to take secondary definition of a covenant and make it the primary definition. Bad form, old chap!
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means "to cut," and hence a covenant is a "cutting," with reference to the cutting or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties passing between them, in making a covenant (Ge 15:1-21; Jer 34:18-19).
And why is that? Because cutting always involves the shedding of blood. Scripture states that the "life of the flesh is in the blood" i.e, there is a giving of "life unto life" in the making of a covenant. Thus, we see that covenant involves more than just a mere contract which can be enacted without the giving of one life to another. Covenant, on its deepest and most profound level, involves the giving of one life to another, the joining of these lives in the union which is "one flesh" as St. Paul describes it. A contract does not do that, in fact, one can make a contract with another, walk away from the table and never have anything to do with that person again. But the blood of covenant means that my life belong to that other person, either as a vassal slave (Suzerainity covenant -- secondary meaning of covenant in scripture) or in the covenant of marriage (primary meaning of covenant).
This is why our blood covenant with God is so profound. We give ourselves to Him completely and without reservation as a bride gives herself to the groom on the wedding night. (Where, incidentally, blood is shed, is it not?)
This is where you see covenant described between equals there is the Suzerain Treaty which is imposed by a greater upon a lesser (Ezekial 17:11-14)
In all cases there is no "concept" of a trinity forming a Father/Mother/Son relationship. Point of fact with the Suzerain treaty you see it broke down into:
The relationship of union between the three persons of the Blessed Trinity is not a Suzerainity treaty. It is the deepest possible union of love between them, perfect union and perfect harmony, of which, as I said before, we as mankind are the image. The marrital analogy works perfectly. Just take some time to sit with a fine glass of wine and reflect upon how this might be true rather than reject it out of hand because it doesn't fit your paradigm.
These describe the covenant actions between God and his people and his people and other people. I repeat there is nothing in scripture that describes the covenant as you have laid it out.
Interesting list. Where, might I ask, did you get it from? Ray Sutton (have you read his book on covenant) describes 5 principles of covenant:
T = Transcendence (greater makes covenant with lesser)
H = Hierarchy (who's in charge)
E = Ethics (what are the rules)
O = Oaths and Sanctions (all covenants are blood oaths and all have sanctions if you disobey them)
S = Succession. Covenants pass down from generation to generation.
[color:"FF0000"][My personal note: this is why you can "lose your salvation" as it is called. If you enter into the covenantal kingdom and make your oath of baptism (which if you understand covenantal oaths, is saying "if I do not keep this covenant faithfully, may this death become mine") and then fall away (break covenant) you will recieve the eternal death which Christ suffered on the Cross in your stead. That is the sanction for covenant breakers][/color]
By the way, Sutton wrote his book, THAT YOU MAY PROSPER - Dominion by Covenant, as a Presbyterian. If you would like to read it free online you may find it here:
This is a Reconstructionist site. All of them fine Calvinists. I'm sure you would like it! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Take those 5 principles and apply them to marriage. They work. And within the family, there are still principles of oaths/sanctions. I am not suggesting that there is no legality within a marriage, just that it is secondary to the union of love which composes the marriage.[
Oh, one last thing: The analogy of the marital covenant, i.e, husband, wife, and children, is not to say that the Blessed Trinity exists in that framework. Remember, it is an analogy, not an exact picture. But the family is constructed along the same lines as the Blessed Trinity. I know that theologians have referred to the Father as Supreme in a certain sense (please forgive me for not being able to say more about this -- I haven't studied it thoroughly yet, just heard some things in passing), that the Son represents the feminine qualities of the Godhead in that He was RECEPTIVE TO THE WILL OF THE FATHER (I have come to do HIS WILL) as a wife is receptive to the one who is her covenant head in marriage, and that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
The truth is, of course, much more deep than we can understand with the little analogy which God has given to us. But the parallels are there within the analogy and they are striking[
