Who are the Heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant?

John P. Davis

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666731026, 9781666723090
• eBook ISBN: 9781666723106
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Evangelicals debate the answer to the question, "Who are the heirs of the Abrahamic covenant?" This book offers a brief summary of the major evangelical approaches to the covenant, an exegesis of the covenant, and a discussion on some of the hermeneutical issues related to the interpretation of the covenant. In this book, the Abrahamic covenant is viewed as God's answer to the failures of Gen 1-11. In those chapters, the seed of mankind became corrupted through the fall, the land was cursed with a consequent loss of man's dominion over it, and the divine-human relationship was ruptured. The Abrahamic covenant restores to all of believing mankind, regardless of ethnicity, the promise of seed, land, and divine-human relationship.

Chapter 1

An Exegesis of the Abrahamic Covenant

The Biblical Context of the Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant, couched in the setting of the Pentateuch, furnishes for that body of Scripture its theme,1 as well as providing a theological track for the balance of Scriptures. In its literary context the Abrahamic covenant follows on the heels of the Babel account and is intricately tied to it. At a time of ethnic, social, economic, and linguistic unity mankind cooperated in an effort to achieve what appears to be “ . . . security through city building . . . and the perpetuation of his generation . . . through monumental works of architecture.”2

Babel was a search for a society with man at its center, not God. In a world that was to be a God-directed world, this was an arrogant human assertion.3 As Dumbrell aptly observes concerning the dispersion: “The severity of the divine action would lead us to suppose that a gross and flagrant act of rebellion by mankind had been committed at Shinar.”4

Instead of destroying the world as in Noah’s day, God, having dispersed the world’s population, now designs to reach them by graciously selecting and favoring Abraham and his seed with the end that the entire world would enjoy His blessing.

Accepting Genesis 1–11 as the background for the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant, according to Dumbrell, provides “ . . . a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world, a redemptive history which the call of Abraham sets in train.”5 McComiskey concurs:

[The promise given to Abraham] . . . comprises the heart of Biblical teaching regarding the people of God, for, besides affirming God’s intent to form such a people, it serves to define the nature of that people in broad categories. The promise thus provides a theological continuum that spans all time.6

Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum concur in their attempt to form a bridge between covenant theology and dispensationalism. In their excellent work entitled Kingdom Through Covenant, they demonstrate the connection between the Abrahamic Covenant and God’s original purposes in creation. In their discussion of Romans 4:16–17, they come to this conclusion regarding the statement in verse 17, “. . . God . . . calls into existence the things which do not exist.”

Therefore, according to the New Testament, as we read Genesis 12–25, we are to view the call of Abraham as a kind of ‘new creation.’ Just as the divine word in Genesis 1:3 brings into being things that are not, so in Genesis 12:3 it is the divine word that brings into existence a new order out of the chaos resulting from the confusion and curse of Babel – the condition of the world just prior to Genesis 12.7

A Survey of the Covenant Texts

Genesis 12:1–3 introduces God’s purposes with Abraham as “promise.”8 The first four prefix conjugations in verses 2 and 3 are all cohortatives,9 denoting Yahweh’s resolve:10 “I will make you into a great nation”; “I will bless you”; “I will make your name great”; “I will bless those who bless you.” The one non-perfective, “I shall curse the one who treats you lightly” signifies a contingent future.11 The conjunctive vav preceding the cohortative signifies either purpose or result (in order that) after the imperative,”go”.12 13 The combined sense is: “Yahweh said to Abram, “Go . . . to the land I will show you that I may make you into a great nation, that I may bless you, that I may make your name great.” The imperative with waw conjunctive signifies that these divine resolves have the further purpose that Abram “be a blessing.” A similar construction is found in Ruth 4:11: “May Yahweh make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah . . . and so do valiantly in Israel.” The first person cohortative and non-perfective of 12:3 give the purpose\result of Abram’s becoming a blessing. “Bless” signifies “to fill with life and victory” and “be” has its active sense, “become.” God filled Abram with life that he...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1: An Exegesis of the Abrahamic Covenant
• Chapter 2: Evangelical Interpretations of the Abrahamic Covenant
• Chapter 3: Hermeneutical Issues in Interpreting the Abrahamic Covenant
• Chapter 4: Selected New Testament Texts Relating to the Abrahamic Covenant
• Conclusion
• Bibliography