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From Eden to Kingdom Come
What promises has God made to us and what (if any) restrictions and conditions does he place on us? The anwers to fundamental questions rooted in ancient times shape much of what we believe and how we act in our 21st-century Christian lives and churches.
A Covenant-keeping God is the first of a series (d.v.) of articles on important doctrines
 SOME time ago the question of ‘Sunday Sailings to Lewis’ raised the question of what is or is not permissible under God.
Rather than respond to the question at that level, an article ‘Drilling Down on Christian Issues’ was produced as template to illustrate that many issues relating to what we believe and how we respond to situations in our modern wold and lives are in fact symptoms of much more fundamental principles, precepts and doctrines.
The above-mentioned template and article set out a framework which would ‘work upwards’ from a foundational base. The subject of ‘Covenant Theology’ is one which most of us would be happy to leave to the perennial debates within theological circles, but in fact this framework (and another referred to as ‘Dispensationalism’) sets the scene for much of what we do and don’t believe – including the questions of how we view the Mosaic laws, baptism, end-time scenarios and the place of Israel and the Jewish people.
In this context an article entitled ‘A Covenant-keeping God’ has been placed on the Christians Together web site which looks at the promises God has made with mankind. It is very much a ‘work in progress’ and (d.v.) will be followed by others which will be ‘built up from’ this theological base. This first article gives an overview of major Biblical covenants, but ultimately focuses down on the covenant(s) God made through Abraham.
The main plea on these issues is that in arguing a position, reference is made to Biblical proof texts and not to church tradition and/or the views of this or that theologian: there is enough confusion extant within and emanating from these camps already.
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Christians Together, 21/05/2010
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