The Covenant of Promise - Abraham, being saved by faith, and Genesis 15

Paul wrote a convicting indictment to the church at Galatia - they were adhering to a gospel that was false...a gospel that Paul did not teach them. If you have ever read the letter to the Galatians, Paul comes right out of the gates in chapter 1 to let the church know how upset he is about the circumstances in which they put themselves, and then, he spends the rest of the letter fleshing out his argument - namely, that there is a significant difference between looking to the Mosaic covenant for life and looking to the promise given to Abraham for life. Before looking at what Paul says in Galatians 3, a quick glance at Genesis 15 might help shed some light on things.

In Genesis 15, Abram (not yet called by the name "Abraham") is pondering the promise made to him by God that he would bear a child in his old age and that he would be a "blessing to all the nations" (Genesis 12). God assures him again that he will fulfill his promise to him, in due time. Abram wants a sign. In ancient Near Eastern treaties, those who establish a covenant together ratify the covenant by a ceremonial sign. This ceremony is performed here by God in Genesis 15. God tells Abram to take different animals (i.e. a heifer, female goat, ram, turtledove, and young pigeon), cut them in half, and lay the halves one against the other, creating a bloody alleyway. What typically happens next is the two parties who have covenanted with each other ratify this agreement by walking side-by-side through the cut halves, thereby invoking a curse upon themselves, as if to say, "if my party does not fulfill all the requirements established in this covenant, then let me become as these cut up animals." This same ceremony is mentioned in Jeremiah 34, as God charges the leaders of Israel for not obeying his covenant. He says, "the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts..." (Jeremiah 34:18). These Israelite leaders confirmed the agreement between them and Yahweh by walking through a split calf - so when they transgressed his covenant, the curse they invoked during the ceremony came upon them.

The same scenario is established here - only God does not allow Abram to walk with him through the cut up sacrifices. God causes a deep sleep to fall upon Abram (Gen. 15:12), so that only God walks through the sacrifices. Verse 17 explains it this way, "when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces." The smoking fire pot and flaming torch are symbolic of God's glory - resembling the pillar of cloud and fire that would later lead Israel through the wilderness.

So what exactly is going on here? God burdens the entire weight of the covenant on himself. If either side fails to adhere to the requirements of the covenant, God will bruise himself. Consequently, he invokes the curse upon himself. The fact that Abram "believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6) has now been sealed with this covenant ceremony where God takes full responsibility for its complete fulfillment. This is what theologians traditionally call the covenant of promise. Now let us go back to what Paul says to the Galatians who are struggling with trying to be Christians by looking to the Mosaic law for their eternal inheritance.

Paul says in Galatians 3:15-18, "To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise." Paul says, in essence, "Galatians, why are you looking to the law for life, as if that is God's normative manner for saving his people? If God made a promise to Abraham - a promise made 430 years before the covenant made with Moses - then that promise is not annulled, seeing that it has already been ratified by God. The promise made to Abraham still stands today!"

What do we learn here? We learn that although the Old Testament people of Israel were given the law by Moses, "the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.'" (Galatians 3:12). The promise established with Abraham transcends the Mosaic standard, so that all people, Jew and Gentile, "might be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24b) and "there is neither Jew nor Greek...for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:28-29).

SDG

The Prophet like Moses

I truly believe that one could walk up to a Bible for the first time, read its pages, and glean wonderful things from it. That is the nature of God's word - living and active, cutting between joints and marrow, killing and making alive. But the fact remains - his revelation to us is a cohesive unit, meant to be understood as a whole. In line with this frame of thinking, what makes so many of the things Jesus says so shocking to the Pharisees and Saducees is that it sounds so familiar to them - Jesus is re-scripting the drama of Moses and the prophets. And he is declaring himself the one in whom they all anticipated. One such example is when Moses foretells of the prophet to come, who will speak the very words of God. Hear what Moses says from Deuteronomy 18:15-18,

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers - it is to him you shall listen - just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, "Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die." And the LORD said to me, "They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him."

Moses receives the Law from the voice of the LORD at Mt. Sinai (or Mt. Horeb). Fearing this voice, the people request that Moses speak to them. So Moses, as the representative prophet and lawgiver, enunciates the Law to Israel and pronounces its blessings and cursings. In Deuteronomy 18, however, the voice of the LORD says that there will be another prophet like Moses who will come bearing the very words of God in his mouth. The impression given is that this prophet will be greater than Moses - his capacity for revealing the mysteries of the commands of God to man will surpass that of his predecessor. The scene is set at a time when the people know they have not listened to Moses and all he communicated to them of God's law. But the LORD assures them that they will listen to this prophet.

Fast forward about 1400 years to another mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus now speaks to the crowds (Matthew 5:1-7:29). He expounds to them both the deeper meaning and the reality of the commands of God. He tells them that he came to fulfill all that the Law and the prophets spoke. Preceding each explanation with a series of "you have heard that it was said...", he clarifies what the imperatives of the Law actually meant and the extent of obedience the righteousness of God required of them. And after Jesus finished speaking, "the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority..." (Matthew 7:29). Whereas Moses speaks with a derivative authority, declaring, "the LORD your God says...", Jesus speaks with the authority that no man possesses - " I say to you..."

It seems the greater prophet who comes after and supersedes Moses is the same voice that spoke with such authority that afternoon on the mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The voice of the LORD that spoke to Moses at Sinai came down in the flesh and dwelt among men (John 1:14).

SDG