The Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant (original) (raw)
Related papers
2017
Over the last two decades there has been a small, but important revival of scholarly interest in the ancient promises God made to Abraham. The resurgence of scholarly study on this topic appears to be a natural consequence of the major transitions taking place in Old Testament studies across the board. As the last two centuries' dominance by source criticism fades faster and faster, scholars favoring holistic and literary approaches to the canonical texts are taking new looks at old materials that had been thought by most to have been exhausted long since. While Genesis 12:2-3 is usually treated as the locus classicus of the original Abrahamic covenant, it surfaces in other locations and in somewhat different formulations. And there is no universal agreement as to what the covenant says or includes. Most studies of this topic focus on the twin promises of descendants and land implicit in the opening statement: "I will make you into a great nation." Much less attention has been given to the closing promise that "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3, NIV). This third promise provides the principal focus for most Book of Mormon discussion of the Abrahamic covenant. And it is the Nephite interpretation of this specific promise that
A Meditation on the Meaning of God's Covenant with Abraham (renewed with Isaac and Jacob) in the context of the Relationship between Jews and Christians in World History
An Appraisal of Abraham's Role in Postexilic Covenants
This article departs from the scholarly view that all post-exilic writers conducted their theological inquiry into the divine/human relationship in light of God’s promises to the patriarch Abraham. The article demonstrates that there were two other keys to renovating the covenant: confession of sin interacting with divine mercy, and God’s power manifest in creation.
The People Israel, Christianity, and the Covenantal Responsibility to History
To be a member of God's covenant with the Jewish people — to be a ben berit — is to live in the unfolding of sacred history. The drama began at twilight of the sixth day, when God created Adam with a unique holiness, inscribing him with Tzelem Elohim (Imago Dei). It progressed through Noah, Abraham, and the revelation at Sinai. It continues through today, and will end in the messianic era, when all persons recognize the reality of God and his1 moral authority. And as the prophets Isaiah, Micah, and Zechariah taught, only when all the world lives in blessing and tranquility will the Jew-ish people fulfill the sacred covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants. The call of the covenant is to be a partner with the Divine in completing creation and an essential actor in the story of humanity. God's covenant with the Jewish people at Sinai would be meaningless without this historical mandate. A divine covenant with individuals whose purpose is personal redemption is possible without a historical dimension, but the God of history's covenant with an eternal people assumes purpose only if the covenantal people has an enduring mission over the sweep of time. 145 1. I use the masculine " his " in reference to God only as a linguistic convention, not implying any gender or gender preference to God. In the Jewish theological tradition God transcends gender, although in attempting to understand God it is helpful to ascribe to the Divine traits traditionally both associated with masculinity (e.g., authority and punishment) and femininity (e.g., compassion and nurturing). This has significant pedagogical implications: Imitatio Dei would demand that human beings also strive to develop a combination of personality traits as an ideal religious and ethical model. According to Jewish mystical thought, in the eschaton all these traits will merge into a perfect unity — both in God and his creatures.
A DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP: CHRIST, THE COVENANTS, AND ISRAEL
Master's Seminary Journal, 2019
This article published in Master's Seminary Journal explores the notion of covenant within biblical theology and answers questions raised concerning Christ's relationship to the biblical covenants. While most interpretations favor Christ serving a single fulfillment or typological role to the covenants, this article defends the only option consistent with a literal methodology: Christ relates to each of the biblical covenants "dynamically" as recipient, fulfillment, and/or mediator-and does so without collapsing any promised future for national Israel.
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 2017
Alongside 'Mosaic discourse', Second Temple period authors increasingly looked to Abraham as a source of instruction and authority. This article focuses on the growing importance of the Abrahamic covenant through the lens of five re-tellings of Israel's history that link the past with the present: the Damascus Document, the Apocalypse of Weeks, 4 Ezra, Nehemiah 9, and Galatians. This article argues that various authors placed themselves within a historical narrative that spotlighted the Abrahamic covenant in order to identify themselves as the elect and demarcate the boundaries separating them from the non-elect. The ideological orientation of each text can account for why the Abrahamic covenant, rather than the later Mosaic pact, became the basis for identity politics.