Are Believers the RESULT OF a Covenant or IN COVENANT?
There’s this teaching going around that believers are not in a covenant with God but, rather, are the result of the covenant between Abraham and the LORD (Genesis 12:1-3 & 17:4-5). A minister can be observed teaching this in this 7.5 minute video.
He is correct that believers in Christ are the product of the Abrahamic Covenant (Galatians 3:16 & 3:29), but he’s incorrect to say that believers don’t have a covenant with the LORD. All spiritually-regenerated believers (Titus 3:5) are under what the Bible calls the New Covenant, which is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, but separate from it.
So the quick answer to the title question — Are believers the result of a covenant or in covenant with God? — is both.
To explain, let’s start with…
What Is a ‘Covenant’?
‘Covenant’ is a word usually only heard in Judeo-Christian circles. In the Koine Greek, ‘Covenant’ is diathéké (dee-ath-AY-kay), which simply means “a set-agreement with terms determined by the initiating party.” In short, it’s an agreement between two parties with terms (unless of course it’s an unconditional agreement).
With this understanding, consider this minister’s illustration of a couple who are in a marital covenant and they have a child. He says that the husband and wife are in covenant (agreement), which is true, but he claims that neither the father nor mother are in covenant with the child.
This is incorrect. Every child has a social contract (agreement) with his/her parents, even if it’s unspoken. For instance, if the child disobeys he or she will be disciplined in some manner and, in extreme cases, kicked off the property, assuming they’re of age. In radical cases where the offspring is stubbornly impenitent, the consequences can be loss of inheritance or even disownment. Only if there were no social agreement with terms — a covenant — would there be no discipline or repercussions.
Speaking of which, the minister emphasizes how believers are heirs to the eternal kingdom and coheirs with Christ, which is absolutely true (Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:29, 4:7 & Ephesians 3:6). But this doesn’t mean that there’s no agreement between the believer and the LORD with the corresponding terms, i.e. a covenant. Evidence of this covenant can be observed here:
5And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:5-11
For the LORD to discipline us like this, there has to be some sort of agreement in which God holds the believer accountable to conditions. This agreement is…
The New Covenant — the Believer’s Contract With the Creator
It is true that God’s promise to Abraham was to his seed, not seeds, and that seed is Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16 & 3:29). This makes sense when you understand that all genuine believers are in Christ and therefore part of the body of Christ, aka the worldwide Church. However, it’s error to say that the LORD does not have a covenant with individual believers, i.e. an agreement with terms.
For more specific proof, Hebrews 8 speaks of the New Covenant in contrast to the Old Covenant that God had with the Israelites. Verse 6 says “…the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs (the Hebrews’ covenant with God) as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” In the following verses he quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34; please observe what this passage says about the New Covenant:
7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said :
“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
9It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
13By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Hebrews 8:7-13
Notice clearly that this “new covenant” — as the LORD calls it — is with the believing people. In other words, God indeed has a covenant with the individuals who believe and He calls it “a new covenant.” So much for believers not having a covenant with the LORD.
Someone might argue that the text is specifically referring to a New Covenant (agreement) that the LORD has “with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah” (verse 8), but we know from many other verses that the eternal salvation provided in the New Covenant is for both Jew and Gentile (Romans 1:16) and, furthermore, Gentiles are Hebrews in a spiritual sense (Romans 2:29), proven in this article. “Scripture interprets Scripture” is a common sense hermeneutical rule.
Elsewhere, Paul plainly spoke of the New Covenant, which believers have with the LORD. In this passage he quotes the Lord Christ:
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
And here Paul contrasts the superior New Covenant that believers have with God with the inferior Old Covenant that the Israelites had, which he refers to as “the letter” (Hebrews 8:6).
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
In light of all this, it’s a great mystery how a fivefold minister can suggest that believers are not in covenant with God.
The Terms of the New Covenant
While the believer’s covenant is a one of faith and the corresponding repentance (Acts 20:21), “faith works in love” (Galatians 5:6). These are the terms of our covenant (agreement) with God. To explain, New Covenant believers are not under the Mosaic law, but under the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-21 & Galatians 6:2). This is the law of love, which Yeshua said had three simple applications in Matthew 22:37-40:
- LOVE GOD
- LOVE PEOPLE
- As you LOVE YOURSELF
Paul explained this law as such: “whoever loves others has fulfilled the Law” (Romans 13:8), which includes tough love when appropriate (Proverbs 27:5). This is how we “Keep God’s commands,” as the apostle plainly taught (1 Corinthians 7:19). Meanwhile James referred to this law of love—the law of Christ—as “the royal law” in Scripture (James 2:8).
Can Believers Lose Their Inheritance If They Don’t Comply With These Terms?
Yes, but it should be emphasized that God is extremely patient and lovingly merciful, as observed in Luke 13:1-9.
For glaring evidence that foolish Christians can lose their inheritance through stubborn impenitence, note what Paul said, by the Spirit:
9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
The apostle was addressing believers in Christ, who — again — are heirs to the eternal kingdom and coheirs with Christ (Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:29, 4:7 & Ephesians 3:6). Yet Paul plainly warns them — stressing “do not be deceived” — that those who unrepentantly walk in sin as a lifestyle “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In other words, those who foolishly refuse to walk according to the law of Christ will be disowned by the LORD, as observed in this passage:
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:21-23
These are people who openly confess Christ as “Lord” and are involved in good works to some degree (which Jesus does not contend), but they’re obviously walking in the flesh as a lifestyle because Yeshua plainly refers to them as “evildoers,” that is, unrepentant practitioners of lawlessness, aka sin.
This coincides with something Paul said:
11Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:12
Praise God that, if we are faithless and fall into sin, the LORD remains faithful and therefore is ever willing-and-ready to forgive us when we humbly ‘fess up in repentance (1 John 1:8-9). However, if we disown Him, He will disown us.
Now, someone might argue that we have to verbally disown the Lord in order to actually disown him, but Christ said that it’s possible for people to say one thing while the truth of the heart is quite the opposite; in other words, they’re hypocrites, aka fakes (Mark 7:6). Paul backed this up when he warned Titus of false believers, including staunch legalists: “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Titus 1:16).
The minister noted at the beginning of this article revealed his motivation for the claim that believers are not in covenant with God: In the opening of his video he talks about how “you’ll be struggling to fulfill your part of the covenant so that God will fulfill His part of the covenant.” Any believer who’s struggling in this negative sense has fallen into the rut of legalism and needs to break out in favor of the awesome freedom available in the New Covenant (Galatians 5:1).
In short, the law of Christ — the law of love — is not burdensome. Notice what Christ and John said on this point:
28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
By “His commands,” John was talking about the aforenoted law of love — love God, love people, as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40), which he stresses is not burdensome.
As the Messiah said, there is a yoke and burden to serving the Lord but, unlike the yoke of the flesh or the burden of religion, Jesus Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light. How so? Because that’s the nature of the law of love and love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:8-10).
Related Topics:
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How to Walk FREE OF THE FLESH by being Spirit-Controlled
Christianity — Does it Weaken People or Empower?
Once Saved Always Saved? — Answering the Best Arguments
LEGALISTS Are Obsessed With the LETTER of the LAW
LEGALISM Creates Sheeple; CHRISTIANITY Creates Unique People
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