The Scripture Doctrine Of The Church - Historically And Exegetically Considered (1887) (Hardcover)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. THE COVENANT MADE WITH ABRAHAM. NOT only was the Gospel preached beforehand unto Abraham, but God's covenant was established with him and his. That weighty and pregnant word "covenant" meets us constantly, both in the Old Testament and the New, in connection with the name and position of Abraham in the history of revelation. Illustrations of this have already been given.1 God's promises to Abraham are indeed scarcely ever adduced in the later Scriptures without some reference to the fact that they are covenant promises. They did not come to him in word only, but were made sure and doubly sure to his faith by a solemn engagement entered into by God, sealed by sacrifice, confirmed with an oath, and with a visible sign and seal of the covenant annexed to it. This aspect of God's dealings with Abraham is especially dwelt upon by the Apostle Paul in the latter part of the third chapter of Galatians, and by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the end of his sixth chapter. Let us consider briefly the nature of the covenant, the parties with whom it was made, and the significance of the tokens or signs connected with it. 1st. It is plain that the nature of the blessing of Abraham determines the nature of the covenant. The great purpose of the latter was to guard the former, and to secure its full realization in the end. The covenant sealed and made sure the promises in connection with which it was established. "A covenant," to use the words of an eminent living interpreter of the Old Testament, " is properly an agreement between two parties who bind themselves by certain conditions with the view of attaining some object. A covenant 1 See above, pp. 3, 6-9. may be between equals, as that between Abraham and Abimelech, or between parties of whom one is ...