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Introduction The covenant is a central, unifying theme in Scripture, God's covenants with individuals and the nation Israel finding final fulfillment in the new covenant in Christ Jesus. God's covenants can be understood by humans because they are modeled on human covenants or treaties. At the heart of a covenant is an agreement between two parties that results in a strong kinship relationship. Biblical theology is utterly essential to rightly interpreting and ‘putting together’ the whole counsel of God and thus learning to ‘think God’s thoughts after him. Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum have argued that the covenants advance the storyline of the Bible in their book Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants . If one understands how the covenants function in the Bible, one will have a profound grasp of how the Bible fits together. This paper is a biblical theology of the covenants within the Hebrew Bible. Biblical Theology In considering definitions and descriptions of biblical theology, often these differ with who one asks. Questions arise as to how terminology is defined. What is meant by “biblical”? What is meant by “theology”? Are the two related and if so, how so? On the one hand, biblical theology is viewed as strictly for historical description. On the other hand, others claim it as purely a theological construction. In reality, biblical theology is both. It engages Scripture from both theological and historical perspectives. It attempts to discern the message of the Bible as it relates to revealing God’s plan of salvation.

As Peter Stuhlmacher states: “A biblical theology…must attempt to interpret the Old and New Testament tradition as it wants to be interpreted.” 1 While Systematic Theology is concerned primarily with interpreting one small part of Scripture, Biblical Theology must properly interpret the whole of Scripture. The proper method for doing this is the “literal” method, which is defined as seeking to find the sense intended by the author. Biblical Theology is not concerned with finding a more profound meaning but is concerned with finding the intended meaning. This includes not only the meaning intended by the human author but also the meaning intended by the Divine Author. Biblical theology, as a discipline, seeks to explicate the message of the Bible on its own terms without imposed categories. It explores what the Bible says about God, and how it says it. Elmer Martens describes biblical theology as: That approach to Scripture which attempts to see the biblical material holistically and to describe this wholeness or synthesis in biblical categories. Biblical theology attempts to embrace the message of the Bible and to arrive at an intelligible coherence of the whole despite the great diversity of the parts. Or put another way: Biblical theology investigates the themes presented in Scripture and defines their inter-relationships. Biblical theology is an attempt to get at the theological heart of the Bible. 2 Brevard Childs simplifies it further when he states: “Biblical theology is by definition theological reflection on both the Old and the New Testaments.” 3 Childs treats the Bible as a Christian work through the eyes of the Church even as he uses Biblical criticism. Brevard Childs, 1 T. Desmond Alexander, and Brian S. Rosner. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 5 2 Elmer A Martens, ‘Tackling Old Testament Theology,’ Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20 (1977), p, 123 as quoted in Scott J. Hafemann, and Paul R. House, eds., Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in diversity (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007). 3 Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 55.

in his introduction to monumental Biblical Theology, argues against James Barr that biblical theology did not spring up in a vacuum. Biblical theology seeks to discern what the Bible says theologically, in the light of God’s actions in history. Despite the various methods biblical theology uses to determine and communicate the Bible’s message, there is one commonality. This commonplace ideology is belief in a unified structure running through the Bible. Even so, much disagreement remains. Many have given up any attempt to articulate just what the unity of the Bible is and that on its own terms. Disagreement persists as to what biblical theology is. There seems to be agreement that there is unity, but disagreement on what the unifying elements are and how to express them. Systematic Theology Systematic Theology organizes and expounds the teachings of the Bible as a coherent and unified product of a completed history of revelation and redemption. Systematic Theology has concern with developing an account of Christian faith with conceptual coherence. 4 Systematic theology should always be grounded in Scripture and is relevant for all Christians in all walks and seasons of life. Systematic theology exists because the God who knows and loves himself in the bliss of the Trinity is pleased to make himself an object of creaturely knowledge and love through holy Scripture. Simply put, all Christians need systematic theology to help them interpret and apply the vast array of biblical truths to their lives. As a discipline devoted to studying and teaching the Scripture, systematic theology seeks to give heed to the full scope of biblical teaching. 4Colin E. Gunton, ‘Historical and Systematic Theology,’ in The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1997), 11-18

Systematic theology does not content itself to focus on a single biblical author or a single biblical theme. Systematic theology is a discipline that devotes itself to “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). J.I. Packer writes, “Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.” 5 The study of God should lead the Christian along the path of learning, meditating, humility and ultimately to praising God. Definitions and Presuppositions The Hebrew word for covenant (berit) is used in the Scripture for a number of different oath-bound commitments such as international treaties (Josh. 9:6; 1 Kings 15:19), clan alliances (Gen. 14:13), personal agreements (Gen. 31:44), national agreements (Jer. 34:8–10), and loyalty agreements (1. Sam. 20:14–17) including marriage (Mal. 2:14). A study of the presuppositions of covenants in the biblical world is a vast topic When two parties enter into a covenant, they make promises to one another to fulfill the obligations of the covenant, and generally, with a covenant, there are consequences—curses and penalties—if people do not keep promises. The result of such an agreement is that those who were before not bound by ties of natural kinship are, after cutting the covenant, now bound as tightly as any family. At the heart of such a covenant is a relationship between parties that is characterized by faithfulness and loyalty in love. The terminology for covenant has been widely misconstrued over time. Covenant (Hebrew běrî ; Greek diathēkē) is the Bible’s term for “a chosen [as opposed to natural] ṯ 5 J.I. Packer, Knowing God, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 19.

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