The Myth of the Unconditional Covenant

 

The key to gaining traction with any bad idea or belief is constant repetition. Any idea, ANY idea no matter what, no matter how unpopular it was at its inception, can become popular simply by consistent, persistent repetition. This is how ideas that were unthinkable in one age of the church, can become deeply held and cherished ideas in another age, and can even cause quite an emotional reaction in those who hold them when they are challenged.

One such idea is the concept of equality. For many Christians the idea of equality has basically become synonymous with the philosophy of Christianity, egalitarianism is seen as Christian and Christianity is seen as egalitarian. Many people will even talk about how the idea of equality is an intrinsically Christian idea that has seeped into the world, even though it is never taught in scripture, it is actually rebuked in scripture, and it is historically provable that the idea was an anti-Christian idea that was held and propagated by Christianity’s most ardent opponents. I won’t seek to make this case in any detail in this piece, simply because I have made it in depth in many posts over the years, and if you want to explore the topic there are plenty of articles about it on my blog for you to wrestle with. However, I will note, how obviously anti-Christian the quest for equality is with two passages which undermine it incredibly:

Philippians 2:3-7 – “3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

1 Peter 3:7-8 – “7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

The first passage passage tells us to shun the quest for equality, explicitly, and the other explicitly mentions the lack of equality in marriage to be a primary concern for how men should treat their wives. But like I said, you can explore this topic in far more depth on my blog if you wish.

Another idea that should be challenged that has taken hold in the church is the idea of the unconditional promise of the land to Abraham and his bloodline descendants. This is an idea that is contradicted simply looking at the scriptures involved, yet still many people hold on to this idea today. In fact, it is incredibly popular. Let’s examine some of the passages involved, because they establish that the promise was neither unconditional, nor simply for the bloodline descendants of Abraham.

The first is found in Genesis 12, where it I says,

“12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”

This has often been described as the unconditional promise to Abraham of God’s desire to bless the nations through him, which some interpret today to mean you need to be nice to Israel or God will smite you. Aside from that application not being justified from the text for a multitude of reasons, how anyone can say this is an unconditional promise to Abraham and his bloodline descendants is beyond me. Simply read what it says, “Go from your country…” So, God is asking Abraham to do something here. And God says in response to Abram doing this, “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you…”

This is a definite conditional promise. It is contingent on Abraham “going” to the land God has told him to go to. And what does Abraham do? He does just that, he goes, “4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…” God is literally saying here, “Do what I say and I will bless you.” Which is perhaps one of the most consistent themes in the Bible. God responds to those who trust him and act in faith. Another way to put that is God rewards the faith of those who demonstrate their faith is real by their words and actions. To make this conditional promise unconditional is incorrect based simply on a direct reading of this passage, but it is also shown to be incorrect when other passages which build on the promise are taken into account.

The conditional nature is again exemplified in Genesis 15. We read there that,

“1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue[j] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son[k] shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Not only is the conditional nature of these promises clear from this text, but the foundation of the condition is actually expressed; they are conditioned on faith. This is something Paul picks up on in Romans and Galatians. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. To separate what God promises to the faithful from the fact that faith is required from the faithful, is to misunderstand how God always has and always will interact with his people. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), but the converse of this is that with faith even a former pagan Babylonian like Abraham can please God and be found righteous in his sight and worthy of receiving those promises. This is not a worthiness based on Abraham’s, or any human righteousness, but a worthiness based in the righteousness that is accounted to us by faith. It is a gift that one receives through faith, in other words.

The promise is also shown to be conditional when God tells Abraham to get some required victims for a sacrifice, which Abraham duly obeys, “9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.” Abraham’s righteousness is not based on his obedience. It is based on his faith evidenced in obedience, which is exactly what Paul says in Galatians (c.f. Chapters 2-3). Again and again God is asking for a response from Abraham and he is getting it, and as Abraham is a man of faith he does as he is asked by God.

Now, you might say here, “Matt, that is your reading of the text, and it may be implied, but does it directly say that?” Well, the basis of a condition is that if you do something, then doing that something leads to gaining what was offered. In this case Abraham was offered to be a blessing to all the nations if he left and went to Canaan, so this is conditional and the condition was fulfilled by his faithful obedience. In the next instance, he was offered assurance that the promise would be fulfilled if he gathered what God required for the sacrifice. Again, this condition was fulfilled. God’s mercy is seen in that he asks for far less than he gives in return, and what he really wants is Abraham’s faith. That is what he wants from us as well, that is all we need to be included in his promises.

To show that faithful obedience was the condition for the promise to be fulfilled we can read Genesis 22 and Genesis 26. The first passage says this,

“17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:17-18).

And the next passage says this,

“3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:3-5).

It must be noted these words in Genesis 26 were spoken to Isaac, Abraham’s child of promise, and they reiterate clearly how we should read the interactions between God and Abraham in the prior verses. Abraham fulfilled his condition which was to act with faithful obedience, that is to demonstrate his faith by doing as God asked, and God carried out his side of the bargain which was to fulfill the promise.

The promise of the land and blessing were all wrapped up in the same promises and they were always conditioned on faith which was evidenced in obedience. As James says,

“21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God” (Jam. 2:21-23).

As we all know James is not saying here that we are saved by works, he is saying we are saved by true faith that is demonstrated by evidence. This was how the promise was always conveyed, it was always and only ever for all who had faith. It never was unconditional and it certainly never was conditioned on the flesh. Faith and flesh are in opposition in the scriptures.

We can even demonstrate that this is how the Apostles want us to read this, as well as Moses. Hebrews tells us,

“8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).

“By faith Abraham obeyed God when he was called to go our to a place…” Note that, Hebrews 11 is telling us explicitly that this was a conditional promise made by God, and it was conditioned on being accepted or received by faith, and that faith is evidenced in obedience. In other words, Abraham showed his faith by going where God told him to, by trusting God would fulfill his promises, and God made him worthy of this promise by credited righteousness. The land was never a conditional blood and flesh promise for the physical descendants of Abraham, it was always a conditional promise contingent on faith evidenced in living as God told his people to live. Which is why disobedience and lack of faith led to exile.

This is why Paul can say that only Gentiles and Jews who trust in Jesus are the real circumcision, “3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—” (Phil. 3:3). This is why Paul can say that Gentiles are heirs of Abraham’s promised inheritance,

“13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,…” (Rom. 4:13-16).

It was never, ever, an unconditional promise based on the flesh, Paul says this explicitly, “this is why it depends on faith…” Note, some will say Paul is simply talking about salvation here. But this is not correct, he is talking about who are the heirs of Abraham’s inheritance (v.13), which includes salvation, plus the inheritance of the whole world. In fact salvation is never a standalone thing, it brings a lot with it, including this inheritance of the whole new heavens and new earth. The land of promise pointed to this, it was but a shadow but the fulfilment is far larger as Hebrews 11, Romans 4, and Galatians 3 all demonstrate.

As you can see, we have demonstrated conclusively that there was no unconditional promise based on a fleshly land grant for Abraham’s blood relatives. The promise was always conditioned on faith and only those who have faith, whether Jews or Gentiles, have a claim on the promises made to Abraham. This is why he is called the man of faith, he is the beginning of the gathering of God’s people. 

“So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

Galatians 3:9