What is “our part”? To believe!
“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. “(Romans 4:3)1
The Abrahamic Covenant is the mirror covenant of the New Covenant because of its unconditional nature. For the purpose of understanding more about the New Covenant with its promises and blessings for believers, we’ll glance at the Abrahamic Covenant and contrast the unconditional nature of the Abrahamic with the conditional nature of the Old Covenant, and then we’ll touch on the realization of the Abrahamic Covenant in the New Covenant.
Every covenant involves three things: benefits, beneficiaries, and a benefactor. With these three covenants the benefits are the blessings of God. The beneficiaries are the people of God. The Benefactor is God.
So what’s the difference? The nature of the covenants: conditional or unconditional. Here are these three covenants and what is required to qualify for the blessings of God under the terms of each covenant:
The Covenant of Abraham was an unconditional covenant that was based on bloodline. If one was born in the family line of Abraham, he qualified to receive God’s blessing. An unconditional covenant is an agreement between two parties, but only one of the two parties has to do something to fulfill the covenant. Nothing is required of the other party. Nothing was required of Abraham’s descendants but to be born in the family and because “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”2
The Covenant of Moses, also called the Old Covenant, was a conditional covenant based on performance. Under the Mosaic Covenant, one qualified for God’s blessing based on his ability to perfectly keep the law. A conditional covenant is an agreement that is binding on both parties for its fulfillment. If either party fails to meet their responsibilities, the covenant is broken, and neither party has to fulfill the requirements of the covenant.
God could keep His end of the bargain in the Mosaic Covenant of law, but the bankrupt flesh of man could not, even though they agreed to it. Thus God in His mercy established the priestly blood sacrifices to atone for (cover) sin while the Mosaic Law was in effect. However, the people still suffered greatly under the Old Covenant. Multitudes died or were sent out of the camp, flogged, stoned, and otherwise punished for breaking the law.
The New Covenant in Jesus’ blood is the unconditional covenant based on the love of God. God’s blessing is not based on an earthly bloodline or fleshly performance. It’s based simply in the fact that you were born a new creation in Him. Belief in Christ is not a condition within the New Covenant, but it is the one condition of entering into it. You must believe and receive His free gift of righteousness to be born again. When we receive the Lord Jesus, we enter into his death and are raised a new creation in His resurrection.
The Abrahamic Covenant is recorded in Genesis 15, and it shows the unconditional nature of the covenant. In those days both parties of a covenant would pass between the pieces of animals. In Genesis 15 we see God alone passing between the halves of animals to enact the covenant. God appeared as “a smoking oven and a burning torch” as He passed between the pieces. This symbolized the promise that in the midst of darkness, God would bring the light of His salvation.3 God alone bound Himself to the covenant with all its promises of blessing. God caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham so that he would have nothing to do with the enactment of this covenant. Fulfillment of the covenant fell on God alone. In the Abrahamic Covenant there were no “if” clauses, and we are included in this covenant!
A couple of years ago, I was teaching on the unconditional nature of the New Covenant, and although I said nothing about Abraham in that teaching, a former pastor in the group who had been wounded terribly during his years serving in ministry and feeling like he was forever branded by his mistakes, the rejection of people, and disapproval of God, interrupted the teaching session and yelled, “STOP! Stop talking! I GET IT! God put Abraham to sleep!!! God did it all!!! God’s covenant with us is not dependent on us!!” We watched this man over the next few weeks be immersed in God’s unconditional love as he studied the covenants and begin to be healed of years of hurt.
For some people learning about the covenants is just theology. For others it’s the key that sets them free to receive the extravagant, unconditional love and blessing of God.
(from pages 209-211 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
2Romans 4:3
3Genesis 15:17: the smoking oven and burning torch also symbolized the coming afflictions that Abrahams descendant would suffer at the hands of the Egyptians, but God’s glorious and joyful deliverance for them.”
