Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
4/13/2021
The Abrahamic Covenant – What does it mean today for the Gentiles?
In Genesis, the Abrahamic Covenant is really the beginnings of the formal revelation of the covenant of grace, of God's decision to reach into humanity and specifically save people for Himself. It comes in the form of a promise to Abraham, who's the son of an idolater, who did not know God. God takes the initiative with him, calls him into a relationship with Himself, and makes unilaterally some promises to Abraham. He promises that Abraham is going to be a great nation, that he is going to be given a land, a place to live, and that through Him, all of the nations will be blessed.
in Genesis 17, the promise is given a specific sign of circumcision. This covenant, this promise, of blessing to Abraham, to Abraham's seed, and then to the Jewish nations through Abraham really is the beginning of the covenant of grace that's going to find its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
So is the old testament, no longer relevant? Is everything new?
Paul says that in Christ Jesus all promises have become Yea and Amen ( 2Cor 1:20). So what happens to the Jewish people/nation who did not accept Christ?
Here it becomes clear what the New Testament means by the word “new” when it speaks of a new covenant (cf. Lk 22:20, 1Cor 11:25, 2Cor 3:6, Heb 9:15). “New” does not mean a historical innovation nor a reforming renewal but an eschatological/end time qualification.
The new doesn't abolish the old but brings about its fulfillment once and for all.
Just as we are the children of promise by God’s unfailing and unchanging words. So God has not abrogated his covenant with the Jewish nation. He has not and cannot reject or forget his people. God is still inclined towards these his people in love and faithfulness, in mercy, judgment, and forgiveness; he is with them and among them in the difficult hours and times of their history above all. Each Jew continues to stand beneath the promise.
But what about us new testament believers? In Romans, Paul uses the image of the root of the olive tree for Israel into which the church of the Gentiles is grafted like a branch. The root bears the branches and gives them sustenance (cf. Rom 11:16-24). With this image, Paul resists any Christian triumphalism.
“It is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you” (11:18).
The New Testament church is forever dependent on Israel, it cannot turn away from or against Israel without cutting itself off from its roots, thus damaging and weakening itself. If it does so all the same, it denies and harms itself. “For salvation is from the Jews” (Jn 4:22).
Thus Jews and Christians are different but dependent upon one another for the sake of their individual identity. They are like two brothers who have the same father in heaven and in Abraham the same father in faith. They can become alienated and hostile brothers, and unfortunately, that has often been the case. But they can also acknowledge and find one another again as Joseph found his brothers again after a long history of guilt and betrayal (cf. Gen 45). A similar process of rediscovery and reunion is in its initial stages in Jewish-Christian dialogue. This is not possible without repentance and rethinking and the timing of the Holy Spirit.
In the end, the relationship of Israel and the church is a mystery of election and judgment, of guilt and even greater grace, which Paul is able to approach only with a doxology (cf. Rom 11:33-36). The continuing existence of Israel confronts us inevitably with God’s unconditional faithfulness to his people. The existence of the church is also a mystery, for without deserving it, out of pure grace, God’s covenant commitment has been extended to the Gentiles. So the relationship between Israel and the church is an absolute mystery.
I cannot summarize this thought better than with the words of Martin Buber:
There is a way of walking together without coming together. There is a way of working together without living together. There is a way of unifying the prayers without unifying those who are praying. … Intentions which will meet at their goal have their nameless alliance in their orientation, differentiated on the basis of their truths but shared on the basis of the reality of fulfillment. We must not pre-empt, but we should prepare the way.
Lord help us understand the love you have for both Gentile and Jew. Lord, we don’t know how it will all come together but one day every knee will bow. Lord help us pray together.
Grace Family comes together in prayer every Monday at 12:00
Please join us in your own quiet time.
Excerpts are taken from the article: The Relationship of the Old and the New Covenant as One of the Central Issues in Jewish-Christian Dialogue by Cardinal Walter Kasper
Above All Michael W Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CIdfZBle38&list=RDVhrxRccU3Lw&index=29
