We’re continuing to work through Covenant: God’s Purpose, God’s Plan. by John H. Walton.
Never do the biblical writers describe election as a reward. It does not come in response to any attribute or action of Israel. His election did not give Israel a privileged position among the nations so she might gloat. Rather, God chose Israel to serve him and reflect his character and ways to other nations—“that they may proclaim [His] praise” (Isa. 43:21).
(Kindle Locations 257-260).
Thus Israel’s election does not mean God has rejected the other nations. Rather, election creates for Israel the task of representing God among the nations so salvation might come to them.
(Kindle Locations 261-262).
Ahh … finally we can get past the old Calvinist v. Arminian debates about election. Election is God’s choice to call someone into relationship — so that person will serve God by revealing him to the world — by giving testimony, by being a witness, by being a person through whom God does his work in this world.
But is this right? Well …
Yahweh elected Israel to make himself known to the world through her. Israel was to show that “there is none like him in all the earth” (Ex. 8:10; 9:14; 14:4, 18), “the earth is Yahweh’s” (9:29), and “Yahweh is greater than all the gods” (18:11). By doing miracles and wonders for Israel, Yahweh demonstrated his existence and power to Israel as well as to other foreign nations. Thus Yahweh used Israel to be an instrument, to be his witness.
(Kindle Locations 299-302).
In my proposal both salvation and kingdom are important aspects of the covenant-revelation program, but neither is the primary focus. They are both subsumed under the aegis of an overarching plan of God’s revealing his character, his will, and his plan. In so doing, God provides a foundation for relationship with him (knowing God and being like him), a means by which that relationship might be achieved (salvation), and the structure that will define that relationship (kingdom).
(Kindle Locations 320-323). Notice that this approach converges nicely with the Eastern Orthodox teaching of theosis — of man being saved to become like God.
It’s not just self-revelation, but self-revelation to allow us to draw close to God by becoming like God. Obedience, doctrine, and all such considerations — as important as they are — are means to an end. Obedience not only pleases God but it’s how we demonstrate who God is to others; and it’s part of how we become like God. God’s rules aren’t arbitrary but rather are set to take us on a path toward becoming like him.
The sacraments aren’t tests of our faith but practices that, if pursued in community with regularity, will shape us to become more and more like Jesus.
Just so, doctrine is merely a means of understanding God’s self-revelation. We aren’t so much concerned to understand election because it will be on the Great True-False Test in the Sky but because election explains why God revealed himself to us and how we’re to respond to that revelation as his elect children.
Thus, the real point of learning about election is not to prove or disprove the understanding of John Calvin but to allow God’s sovereign election of us to reshape us into his image. (Do you see how horribly we sometimes miss the point?)
Consider, for example, God’s call of Moses —
(Exo 6:2-8 ESV) 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'”
God elects Israel as “my people” in order that “you shall know that I am the LORD your God.” Election is for the purpose of self-revelation.
God provides as more extensive explanation of his thought early in Deuteronomy —
(Deu 4:32-40 ESV) 32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”
Again, the theme is reiterated: God elects Israel to reveal his true nature.
David reaches the same conclusion —
(Psa 106:7-8 ESV) 7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.
Ezekiel connects God’s sovereign election of Israel with the new covenant —
(Eze 16:59-63 ESV) 59 “For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.”
Examples could be multiplied many times. The point is that God plainly states why he does what he does: to reveal himself, that he may be known.
But when we Westerners read these texts, we read right over these statements. We already know that the Lord is God. The text seems unimportant to us because it tells us what we already know.
As a result, what we miss is that God is acting to reveal himself — which tells us a lot about God and his purposes in salvation history.
amen brother Ben
well. Short and to the point JAy
The first use of “berith” (covenant, some 281 times in OT) is in reference to Noah and the bow in the sky. A review of ANE covenants show a similar pattern: parties involved, provisions (terms of enactment), signs (later circumcision) of affirmation (cutting the animals in two and attendant pledge), appeal to authorities (gods) as witnesses, blessing and curses. Covenant is more than revelation, it also entails obedience and judgment. The closest Gen. 3 comes to covenant is the veiled “bruised heel, crushed head” passage, but there are no provisions, signs, witnesses, etc.
John F,
You make some good points. But how would those indicia apply to the “new covenant”? God plainly refers to the Christian age as being under a new covenant, referring to Jer 31:31 ff. There are parties. Terms are stated in Jeremiah and elsewhere, but hardly with the detail and formality we find in the Noah – Davidic covenants. Baptism is never made an explicit covenant marker, whereas the Lord’s Supper is. No witnesses. No express curses. Jeremiah 31 speaks only in terms of blessings.
This is not to disagree. Your ANE analysis is quite correct. But the cross and the resurrection do not meet these formalities. Hmmm …
So I’m thinking the Christian “covenant” is indeed spoken of as a covenant but largely for rhetorical purposes — rather like adopting a slave as a son. You might say, “I hereby enter into a new and better contract with you; no longer are you a slave but now a son.” Just so, the Edenic relationship was not established by a covenant/treaty or contract but was a personal relationship defined more like family than a treaty — but that was before sin entered the world.
Thanks. Very helpful regarding future posts. (Just wait until you see what’s coming.)
Jay, If we are baptized into Jesus, His death and burial and raised with Him, then baptism is the covenant agreement…we give up ourselves from the world and accept Jesus and are cleansed and washed in baptism. One gives themselves over to God. It is a true covenant, much like man and wife/marriage is. We are joined to Christ by going through (in a different, but relatable form)what Jesus went through. It is a good thing we are not required to stay underwater for three days, but the sense of spiritual burial and ressurection is there and submitting to another.
The Lord’s Supper isn’t to show that we are saints, any more than our life is, but is for our remembrance of Jesus with others who are in Jesus.
I was not attempting a full theology of covenant in a single post. That would be rather like the three legged pig.
For the OT covenants God used terms and conditions the covenantors would understand in their culture. The baptismal covenant has similar promises, just not a clearly expressed in a single form. The resurrection is the witness to the promise (eternal life); the presence of the
Spirit akin to the blessings, the danger of falling away akin to the curse, obedience akin to terms and conditions. Different and fuller comparisons could be made, but this is sufficinet to establish the comment. But these we superimpose from our overall reading; implicitly implied rather than explicitly stated.
Dwight,
Jesus referred to the Lord’s Supper as the “blood of the covenant” or “blood of the new covenant” — plainly tying the Lord’s Supper to God’s covenant making. THe covenant was made with Israel (with the Gentiles to be later grafted in). The promises of the new covenant come from the prophets and were spoken to Israel.
Therefore, it seems to me that we were clearly intended to think of the Lord’s Supper in covenant terms. I can’t think of an explicit reference to baptism in covenant terms — although Paul compares our baptism to the crossing of the Red Sea by Israel and our individual salvation is tied by the cross to our corporate salvation in Heb 10. So you are likely right that there is a parallel in there somewhere to be worked out.
Jay, I understand that to mean that it is the rembrance of of the covenant we made in Jesus, through His blood which was shed on the cross and his body that was broken. But the LS doesn’t initiate us into a covenant relationship, unless we aren’t in Jesus until we partake of our first communion and this really screws up the passages about baptism placing us into Christ. I don’t disagree that the Lord’s Supper does have covenant overtones, but it also has feasting overtones, which makes sense since it came from a feast, but the feast was based upon the covenant that God made with the Israelites that he would deliver them if they placed blood on the door post. And yet the Passover was dedicated not to the covenant, but deliverance, which they commented on profusely in the Sedar. In someway we often focus too much on baptism and less on what we have from Jesus in terms of deliverance. From what I understand of what a covenant is…it is an agreement, which always required give and take, but not always upfront. Most of the covenant with Abraham wasn’t realized while he was alive and God did most everything to fulfill it.
From a historical standpoint, the treaties / covenants of the Roman world do not have much in common with the ANE covenants, so we should not expect to see comparable terminology. From the Roman / Jewish treaty related by the Macabeean literature we find little or no comparison to the earlier centuries among the Hittites,, etc.
“Thanks. Very helpful regarding future posts. (Just wait until you see what’s coming.)”
You don’t mean to tell me that we are finally getting to comment on the letter to the Hebrews? 🙂
One of the finest sermons I ever heard was by an episcopal priest on “entrusted with or entitled to”. Were the Hebrew people entitled to God’s law because they were so good or were they entrusted with the Torah? Are people entitled to their education, inheritance, trust fund, etc. or are they entrusted with it? Also when people are entrusted with something, they are expected to use it wisely and in the case of knowledge, convey it to others. Hence, elect may mean chosen.
GOD’S ALTERNATIVE CHOICE TO THE COVENANT OF ELECTION BY GRACE
(LOVE OF HIS VERY GOOD WORK.)
“God’s righteous decree” ROM. 1:18-33″used in conjunction with,
Genesis 3:22 mankind is culpable (choice)
“Now that the man has become like one of us,knowing good and evil, and the stated decree in Genesis 6:11-12?
NET BIBLE
divine judgment.
Genesis
6:9 This is the account of Noah.
Noah was a godly man; he was blameless
among his contemporaries. He walked with God. 6:10 Noah had three sons: Shem , Ham, and Japheth.
6:11 The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence. 6:12 God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful. 6:13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,
Genesis 3
3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us,
knowing good and evil,
ROM.1:31
God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,
1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers,62 heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,64 they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.65
The Condemnation of the World ROM3
3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”15
3:13 “Their throats are open graves,16
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.”17
3:14 “Their mouths are18 full of cursing and bitterness.”19
3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.”20
3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”21
I THOUGHT THIS would be an appropriate close
BY RICHARD BECK
Where is Wisdom?
Posted on 6.04.2015
1
But where does Wisdom come from?
Where is Intelligence to be found?
No human being knows the way to her, she is not to be found on earth where they live.
“She is not in me,” says the Abyss; “Nor here,” replies the Sea.
But where does Wisdom come from? Where is Intelligence to be found?
She cannot be seen by any living creature, she is hidden from the birds of the sky.
Perdition and Death both say, “We have heard only rumours of her.”
God alone understands her path and knows where she is to be found. (For he sees to the remotest parts of the earth, and observes all that lies under heaven.)
When he willed to give weight to the wind and measured out the waters with a gauge, when he imposed a law on the rain and mapped a route for thunderclaps to follow, then he saw and evaluated her, looked her through and through, assessing her.
Then he said to human beings,
“Wisdom?–that is fear of the Lord; Intelligence?–avoidance of evil.”
–Job 28.12-14, 20-28 (NJB)
Mark,
I think the Anglican ministry had read Paul well.
(Rom 3:2 ESV) 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
And I think this means that the Jews were chosen/elected to be the light of the world, to bring God’s word to the surrounding nations. Their role was to multiply the knowledge of God for the sake of the nations.
So I entirely agree. Thanks for the note.
Dwight: “Most of the covenant with Abraham wasn’t realized while he was alive and God did most everything to fulfill it.”
In the Gen. 15 covenant (patterned after ANE) the two parties would walk between the cut animals, stating the same cutting in two should come to them if they broke covenant. Interestingly, Abram did not walk through; God passed though twice — smoking pot and flaming torch. Abram knew he could not comply? Just as we pass through the covenant in the blood of Jesus — actualized in baptism, remembered in the LS (nothing we can do to completely comply with the terms) Abram’s covenant was sealed with blood by God for Abram’s benefit.