“I will establish my covenant as an
everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the
generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you .
. . Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and
your descendants after you for the generations to come.”
(Genesis 17:7, 9, NIV).
God comes to Abram again and says, “I
am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.”
(Genesis 17:1, NIV). Abram is 99 years old.
What appears to be confusing is that, God seems to add a condition:
"Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly
increase your numbers.”” (Genesis 17:1–2,
NIV). Was the Abrahamic Covenant conditional or unconditional? According
to Genesis 15 the Covenant God made with Abram was clearly unconditional.
God made promises to Abraham that required nothing of Abraham. But in
Chapter 17 there appears something that Abram is to do, namely be obedient in
regards to circumcision.
“Then God said to Abraham, “As for
you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the
generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after
you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”
(Genesis 17:9–10, NIV).
Some have sought to answer the conundrum by
suggesting that this covenant in Chapter 17 is a different covenant. As
noted in the ESV Study Bible: "The manner in which God
introduces this covenant distinguishes it from the formally unconditional
covenant already made in ch. 15 . . . Here, however, a conditional dimension is
explicit, indicating that this covenant will benefit only those who walk before
God and are blameless." [1]
It is hard to believe that there are two covenants
in view here. So why is there confusion? The mystery lies because of a false assumption among Believers -- that
assumption is this: "If a promise has conditions it makes it
uncertain." In other words conditions to an unconditional promise
render it insecure. John Piper is helpful here when he writes,
"But that is not true. It is a false
assumption based squarely on the conviction that man is autonomous and
self-determining. But if, as Ezekiel 36:27 says,
God puts his Spirit in man and causes him to walk
in his statutes (and thus fulfill the conditions of the covenant), then a
promise can be both conditional and certain of
fulfillment. If God commits himself to work so that Abraham fulfills the
conditions of the covenant promises, then there is no inconsistency in saying
that the promises are sure, steadfast, irrevocable, and conditional." [2]
This same mystery confuses people in other
promises God has made. For example there are ample promises in God's Word
that assure the believer of the certainty of their salvation. For
example, Paul assures the Colossae believers that Christ will some day present
them faultless and then he adds: “if you continue in
your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the
gospel . . ..” (Colossians 1:23, NIV). The word
"if" seems to make a unconditional promise, "conditional"!
St. Augustine understood the conditionality of unconditional promises.
He prayed, ""O Lord, command what
you will and give what you command." God makes the promise and God
alone provides the grace to bring the promise to pass.
Therefore when we pray for
enablement that an unconditional promise of God be effected in our lives we are
neither questioning God's integrity nor doubting His promise. To pray
such reveals a true understanding of how God's works.
Father, this is deep and "heady" truths about You and how You work. Help me to see that when You promise to accomplish something in my life, You don't render me passive and robotic; yet You also grant the grace to accomplish the steps so that the promise is fulfilled. Hypothetically it is true that if Abram had not obeyed Your command, the promise would not have taken place. But You also made a covenant with Yourself that that eventuality would not happen. Yes Lord it is all of grace that I awaken each day believing and trusting in You. Left to myself I would have forsaken You many times. So with Augustine, Father, I pray, 'Command what You wish to me, today; and Father, please give to me the enablement to do what You command.' Amen!
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1. Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (79). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
2. http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/the-covenant-of-abraham
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