Stars in the Sky … Covenant Theology Part 3

In Covenant Theology Part 1, we learnt about the back story to Covenant and why Yahweh chose Covenant as his way of bringing his people back to himself. In Part 2 we learnt about Yahweh’s first Divine Covenant; his Covenant with Noah and all creation.

Yahweh’s second Divine Covenant can be found in Genesis 15 and is reaffirmed in Genesis 17. If Yahweh’s Covenant for all creation was made with one man, Noah, then his covenant with Abraham was made for a whole family.[1] Once again, I will brake down the Covenant by using the four sections explained in Part 1.

1.  The Vassel is Abraham and his descendants.

2. The contents of the Covenant are that Yahweh promises to give Abram as many descendants as there are stars in the sky (15:5). He also promised that many nations will come from Abram (17:4). Yahweh renames Abram as Abraham (17:5)

3. Yahweh’s seal of his Covenant and 4. The terms he gives to Abraham are circumcision (17:10-14). This is for every male aged eight days old, both family member and slave.

The Covenant is cut by Yahweh passing through the Abram’s sacrifice (15:17). This is significant because usually a Covenant would be cut by both parties. This teaches us something about Yahweh’s commitment to his people, he is placing his life as a guarantee for the Covenant. Later, God through Jesus, would take our place through sacrificing his life to Atone for our Sin. 

Abraham went on to father Isaac in Genesis 21:1-5. Isaac fathered Esau and Jacob in Genesis 25:21-26. Yahweh renamed Jacob ‘Israel’ in Genesis 32:28. Jacob had twelve sons who became the tribes of Israel. Yahweh, unsurprisingly kept his Covenant with Abraham.

This Covenant helps us to look back and see how Yahweh was growing his mission to bring humanity back to himself. It also helps us look forward seeing that this Covenant with ‘Abraham is part of a larger divine plan which will bring blessing to the whole world,[2]’ ultimately through his descendant Jesus Christ.

In Part 4 we will look at Yahweh’s Covenant with Moses.

[1] Sandra Richter ‘The concept of Covenant’ in The epic of Eden: a Christian entry into the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998) p. 165.

[2] Joel  Kaminsky ‘The Theology of Genesis’ in Craig Evans et al (ed.) The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation (Boston: Brill, 2012) pp.643-848.

Let’s Play ‘Pass the Predestination’

Predestination, according to oxforddictionaires.com comes from two words. Firstly pre meaning previous to or before. Secondly destination, meaning the place to which someone or something is going or being sent.

Predestination, therefore means that the place to which someone or something is going is known or decided in advance.

Image taken from: http://www.bouncypartyhire.co.uk

Picture the scene: It is a child’s 5th birthday party and they are playing ‘pass the parcel’. Under each layer of wrapping there is a small chocolate. There are enough layers for each child at the party to unwrap and have a chocolate. The father of the child decides in advance when to stop the music to ensure that every child gets a chocolate. This is Predestination.

The doctrine of Predestination is closely related to the doctrine of Providence, which I would suggest you read before going any further.

There are two main views of the Christian Doctrine of Predestination. Both concern God’s knowledge of who will respond to His offer of Salvation through the Repentance of their Sin.

1. God is Omniscient (all knowing), He can foresee every possible response to every possible situation. This is often call Foreknowledge. Because of God’s Foreknowledge He knows, but has not decided who will respond to His offer of Salvation. This view of predestination holds that individuals have free will and can choose to respond to God’s offer to bring us to Salvation. 

Image taken from: http://flavorpill.com

Picture the scene: I believe that I don’t need to set an alarm clock because I have foreknowledge that my wife’s alarm will go off at the time I want to get up.

This doctrine of predestination would normally be held by someone who holds to the doctrine of Limited Providence or Free Will Theism.

2. The second view holds that because we are sinners we are all unable to choose Salvation by ourselves. Because of this, only God’s grace can bring us to Salvation and it is not the choice of the sinner. Therefore, God must choose or predestine who will (and who will not) achieve Salvation. It could be argued that with this view of predestination, humanity has no free will.

Image taken from: http://powerofpositivity.net

Picture the scene: Remember that alarm clock my wife set? Well she predestined it to go off by setting it in advance. She did this because of her foreknowledge that I wouldn’t bother to set my own alarm!

This doctrine of predestination would normally be held by someone who holds to the doctrine of Meticulous Providence. 

Someone who holds to the doctrine of Open Theism would not hold to the doctrine of predestination.

The main chapters in the Bible concerning predestination can be found in Romans 8 and 9, Ephesians 1.

Les Miserables … The Theology of Love, Part IV

This is Part IV in a series of posts on The Theology of Love, please see Part I, Part II and Part III before reading on.

Image taken from: http://godzdogz.op.org/

In Part III we learnt that Jesus gave us two instructions for love which can be found in the Gospel of Matthew. It is the second of these instructions which we will examine in this post: Love your neighbour as yourself.

First we need to know who our neighbour is. Jesus was asked this very same question in Luke Chapter 10. His answer was to give us the story of the Good Samaritan. Therefore, our neighbours are the people we meet in our daily lives; whether we know them or like them or not. The BBC has some modern day real life Good Samaritan stories on their website.

Image taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troggs

It was The Troggs who sang I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes in the song Love is all around. But the Agape love which Jesus wants us to love our neighbours with, is a love which does not expect anything in return.

In the musical Les Miserables, Valjean agrees to take into his care and love Cossette who is the illegitimate daughter of Fantine. Fantine is a dying woman who used to be one of Valjean’s workers. Valjean does this with not thought about what is in it for him. 

It could be argued that Valjean’s decision to love cossette is a direct response to the Grace and Mercy shown towards him by The Bishop earlier in the musical. In the same way, our love for our neighbours could be seen as a direct response to the grace and mercy shown to us by God through Jesus’ death on the cross to Atone for our Sin and to bring us to Salvation.

In fact, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew said: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 

So, to love our neighbour, especially the most vulnerable is to love God too.

I will finish this series on The Theology of love, with some words from the Isaac Watts hymn When I survey the wondrous cross:

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

Jesus walked a fine line! … more Christology!

Christians believe that Jesus was sinless, that is he was without sin. Jesus did not do anything which dishonoured God, others or himself. But, Jesus had the ability to do so. In the previous post on Christology, we learnt that the nature of Jesus was both fully God and fully human.

Because Jesus had a human nature, He had the ability to sin, but did not. The bible tells us this in Hebrews 4:15. We know in Matthew 4:1-11 that Jesus was tempted in the desert, but whilst we would have given into that temptation, Jesus did not. When I wrote about  Atonement, I explained why Jesus, as the only sinless man, was the only person who could atone for our sins.

The reason that Jesus, unlike the rest of us was able to live without sin was because God did not intend for us to do wrong. Because of the fall we have been unable to get away from sin. Jesus was able to live in a way which God intended for all humanity and not give in to the very real temptation he faced.

Tightrope walkers manage to walk across a high rope, without falling off. Nik Wallenda is one of the world’s greatest tightrope walkers, he can perform amazing feats blindfolded without safety equipment! Imagine that were were to do the same tricks without any training whilst people were jeering us – we would fall to our doom! Now imagine that Jesus is the ultimate tightrope walker – he can do all that Nik Wallenda can do and more, but without any specialist training. Jesus was able to walk the tightrope of a sinless life, even though he was tempted. Unlike us, he did not fall.

Jesus walked a fine line!