The Trinitarian Covenant Model

Since Jesus rarely used the term of ‘covenant’, I doubt that we can or should use it as the most important theme for the complete redemption history.  In my home church denomination, a preacher was considered “not reformed” (read: “not a genuine Christian”) unless the whole history of salvation was clothed in covenantal terminology.  Yet, the church’s calling to be witness in the world and to make disciples somehow did not fit too well into this covenantal scheme of things.  It felt like something that was somewhat artificially attached to the main doctrine.  But this cannot be correct. In fact, mission is such an essential calling for the church that any overarching theme or scheme must have ‘missions’ as essential and fully integrated component.

When I tried to personally come to grips with this, I sought to respect my roots while looking for a fresh biblical way of looking at God’s covenant with humankind.  This is how I came up with the idea of a three-dimensional or Trinitarian covenant model.  In essence I still use this model in my teaching. 

When you look at the relationship between God and humans, globally and individually, a common pattern seems to emerge.  At each level, God reveals himself as he provides his blessings.  He provides for and gives his promises to people, and therefore he expects, yes demands a response in true repentance.

1              God is our creator and provider.  As such he is father of all humankind.  As a consequence of the rebellion, we may in many ways no longer look like our Father.  Following the Deceiver, we have begun to take on his likeness.  Selfishness, hatred, sexual abuse, and violence (especially) on the weak and defenseless are sins for which God holds each human being accountable.  People often think or claim to seek or serve God, while they actually seek moral approval and/or divine blessing for selfish reasons.  Yet, God has not abandoned his creation or the people he created.  Deep down, every human being knows there is a bottom-line good and evil.  Evolution cannot develop morality, only pragmatism.  Sacrificial love, as modeled in Jesus’ crucifixion, cannot be explained by pragmatism.  Yet, God so loved the world that He gave his beloved Son to build his church, to restore His Kingdom, and to renew his good creation.

And so, God, in his mercy, continues to work in human hearts all around the world.  So, when people (by His grace) seek to praise, honor, and serve the true God in humility of heart they begin to please God.  I believe this was true for many of the hill tribes in Myanmar, who refused to give in to the pressures of Buddhism, insisting that there was only one God, who had created them, to whom they were indebted, and who would eventually reveal himself again (Don Richardson: ‘Eternity in their Hearts’).  How can we know that people who never read the Bible or heard the Gospel live in the right relationship with God?  When they hear the Good News in Jesus Christ they recognize and embrace it as the truth.  They accept it as the revelation and confirmation that they had been waiting for.  If people, when they hear the true story and teaching of Jesus, persistently ignore and reject it, then this proves that they were never God-fearing people.  Yet, those who truly seek God will find Him. It is our task to spread the Good News, in confidence that among all nations and people groups God has people who truly belong to Him.  They must hear the Good News so that they may join his church as witnesses in word and deed; in love and in obedience.

2              God has revealed himself in his Word.  God gave his special revelation to Abraham and his offspring so that they in turn might be a light on the mountain to draw all nations to the True God.  After thousands of years, he sent the true Son of Abraham so that in Him all nations might recognize that God, their Creator-Provider is also the rightful King of the whole cosmos, who seeks and works to be the king of every human heart.  So, God has given us a special blessing in revealing his Word.  In his Word, but especially in his Son (the Word who became a human being), he has manifested his holiness and his holy will, his love and mercy.  When we begin to understand and accept God’s amazing love in this, we must stand in awe.  Anybody who hears the Gospel must follow Christ to be reconciled to the Father.  This requires trust in and obedience to God. 

In the past it was the children of Abraham who had received the revelations of God: they had the teachings of (God through) Moses, the words of God through his prophets, and the books of Wisdom.  If they took these to heart, then they would live in humble trust in and obedience to their God, just like their father Abraham.  Then, they would also recognize that Jesus was the promised Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and the Son of Man.  They would recognize him as the Son of God.  Following Him, they would be blessed by His Holy Spirit and empowered to live again in a way that could please their God and Father.

Today, the same pattern holds for anyone who hears the Gospel.  It is in the Gospel that Christ comes to them.  Some don’t care knowing about God: they will continue to run away from their True Father.  Others will reject Him: they want to be in control, and so they pretend they can live without God’s goodness in their lives.  A third group will embrace the Gospel, recognizing it as the Truth.  Those who genuinely do so, persevering in their faith, will receive His (indwelling) Spirit by whom they will produce fruit for Him.

3              Those who have in true faith embraced Christ as their Savior and thus as their King have Christ (or: His Spirit) living ‘in their hearts’.  They are called to walk with the Spirit and to nurture their walk with God to produce fruit for Him. 

So, who are God’s covenant people?

1              In one sense all people are, for all have God as their Creator-Provider.  Nobody can (read: may) walk away from that and innocently ignore the (Father-child) relationship that they have with God.  All people should realize that humans are not merely animals.  Those who most loudly proclaim that we are just animals, often use their special status as humans to argue for a changing attitude from a standpoint of responsibility.  All people must seek God, and His Word must go to all the nations now.

2              People who clearly hear or have heard the Gospel are recipients of deeper revelation and more wonderful blessings.  They can know God not only as Creator and Provider, but also as King and Redeemer, the Mighty God Who is perfectly righteous and amazingly gracious.  All those who hear God’s Word must submit to God’s kingship and follow the Son of God.  Baptized in water, they must live a life of thankfulness and sacrifice in response to His amazing sacrificial love.  Greater gifts give a correspondingly greater responsibility.  Those who have clearly heard the Word, the Gospel, can no longer pretend ignorance.  After studying the Bible, nobody can still claim to be an agnostic.  Rather, it becomes obvious that such a person has refused to accept the life-giving truth.

3              Those that have accepted the Word and have become followers of their Lord Jesus have not yet arrived.  Sure, they have been saved by the Word through the sacrifice of Christ, but the purpose is that they bear fruit for Him.  They have received His Spirit, but now they must live with Him and persevere in faith.  The indwelling Spirit is a greater power and blessing than the physical presence of Jesus Christ, but this may not make us passive. 

A critical question remains: if we want to look at today’s situation from a covenant perspective, what constitutes the people of God?  The New Testament suggests that the Christian church (at a local scale, at a global scale) is today’s covenant community.  It is the church that is called to represent God’s Kingdom as a “royal priesthood”, adopted by the King and called to sacrificial service.  Yet, this does not provide us with a sharp boundary: Just as Israel often did not follow God, some churches today no longer follow Christ.  Just as in Israel there were many who did not live as “true children of Abraham”, so in the church there are many who do not “walk as Jesus walked”.  Some churches attempt to set high standards for their members.  They require a (high) level of godliness to be displayed in their members to prove that they are Christians indeed.  I have been in churches where those who would only attend one of their two Sunday services would (for this reason) be placed under discipline.  Such strict enforcement of derived standards easily leads to legalism, hypocrisy, and pride.  Other churches set little or no requirements and would even embrace committed Moslems and Buddhists as members.  Such ‘churches’ have lost their power to be a Light for the world in darkness.

I hope to deal with more specific church related topics later.  Yet, there is one topic that begs to be discussed.  My teachers and leaders in our former church probably rejected my view of the covenant especially as it seemed to discredit their rationale for infant baptism. Indeed, if you are member of a Reformed - Presbyterian church, you may have wondered about my views on infant baptism as you read my blogs about the covenant.  So, this must be the topic of the next blog.