"For God So Loved The World, That He Gave His Only Begotten

God promised Abram three promises which the narrator repeated several times. It is important to know to understand the rest of the bible. The first promise was that Arbam would have a great nation. The second promise to Abram was that the lad he was standing on would be for him and his people and family. The final promise was that God would bless the whole earth through one of his descendants. God created a covenant with Abram and renamed him Abraham. This was a patron covenant. It is a covenant that solely depends on God and does not rely on others.

Without devotion to God, violence and death would flourish in Israel. These factors would impede God’s blessings of security and life; thus, the Mosaic covenant demonstrates the continual faithfulness of God in the Old Testament. Finally, God is faithful to Israel during the people’s complaints in the desert. Rather than abandoning the nation for its faithlessness, God provides them will nourishment and protection during their journey. These acts further reinforce the faithfulness of God, even when his followers stray. In all, the Pentateuch demonstrates the theme of God’s faithfulness.

The covenant dominates the relationship, and was created to teach Abraham how to live in a civilized manner. We can prove that the relationship between the two is a guiding one because God speaks unto Abraham, saying “Be thou perfect” Gen 17.1, during the formation of the covenant. God means to guide Abram in two distinct ways to bring him closer to refinement. The first is changing Abram’s name to Abraham. This represents the changing of Abram’s purpose in life, away from a husband with no children, to a father of a multitude of nations. The second change is the

God loved and care for His creation of humanity so much, that He sent Himself to earth in human form, Jesus Christ the messiah to save all people of all nations. God as Jesus develop human relationships with the people around Him, especially the twelve disciples who he sent out to proclaim the message of God’s kingdom. Jesus even spoke to the disciples about loving him more than they would ever love their wife or children before Him. God wanted to be your first love before anyone else in your life, he wanted a lasting deep relationship in your life, He wanted to actively involve with humanity. God loved humanity and wanted an eternal bond with His creation “that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall

• Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin are death but the gift of God is enteral life in Christ Jesus our Savior

However, Christ’s resurrection ensures our regeneration. We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter explicitly connects Jesus’ resurrection with our regeneration or new birth (1 Peter 1:3-4). When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life, a “resurrection life” in a human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited for fellowship also obedience to God forever. In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life. Notably, we do not receive all the new “resurrection life” when we become Christians, for our bodies remain as they were, still subject to weakness, aging, and death. But in our spirits, we are made alive with new resurrection power.

God loves us and He does not want anyone of us to perish but He wants us to have eternal life with Him and so He his Son to die for us and pay for our sins (John 3:16). In order to have eternal life, we have to accept Jesus in our life and believe

However, Christ’s resurrection ensures our regeneration. We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter explicitly connects Jesus’ resurrection with our regeneration or new birth (1 Peter 1:3-4). When Jesus rose from the dead, he had a new quality of life, a “resurrection life” in a human body and the human spirit that were perfectly suited for fellowship also obedience to God forever. In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life. Notably, we do not receive all the new “resurrection life” when we become Christians, for our bodies remain as they were, still subject to weakness, aging, and death. But in our spirits, we are made alive with new resurrection power.

Jesus spread “good news” of God’s kingdom. He did “miraculous works of healing and calming the sea and feeding the 5,000” (Lecture 4, 2015). In Echeverria’s, The Christian Faith as a Way of Life, he states, “Christ is Lord of all-over every aspect of life. Yes, even the intellectual life is in service of Christ the King” (2007, p. 244). Jesus Christ was sent by His Father to atone for humanity’s sins. This act is an example of God’s eternal love for humanity. John 3:16 says, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

Another personal favorite scripture is also written in the gospel of John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (3:16). John is emphasizing the relationship between Father [God] and Son [Jesus]. He is saying that the Son has come from the Father and in order to see the Father one must first believe in the Son (125).

Abraham’s seriousness and dedication in regards to his covenant with God control tense actions and events between Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is compelled in his actions by his understanding and faith that his belief in God will reap benefits. Without hesitation, he considers doing everything that God tells him to do. Abraham’s willingness and sacrifice of Isaac show the great power that God has over Abraham. Abraham’s desire for God’s approval and blessings compel him toward grave actions without the concrete command from God. Abraham merely implies God’s intentions from the limited conversations held between Abraham, God, and the angel.

God develops many special relationships with His people throughout the Old Testament. Another word to describe the relationship between God and his people is covenant. The word covenant goes into the details of the relationship. Within the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Historical books, Poetical books, and the Prophet books, one may pick up on the relationships being developed between God and humanity. God has an unconditional love for His people; He is always faithful to them. On the other hand, humanity has more of a conditional relationship with God. Humanity continuously falls short, making the love seem “conditional,” but are given a choice to either follow God into a relationship and receive love and benefits of the covenant or not. “No child of the covenant who presents to Him a faithless and insincere heart shall be included in its blessings.” Going off the idea of love being unconditional and conditional, this paper focuses on how the Old Testament is about God, humanity and their relationship.

     Abraham’s continual obedience to God is central to his character and the desired character of the Hebrew people. God, in his great plan, wishes to remove the human tendency to believe only in his judgment, the pride of thinking he knows better than God. Thus, God wishes to promote the qualities of obedience and humility, to birth a nation of men who fear God and follow orders. Only in this way can people be expected to follow a moral code and adhere to laws; they must understand that there are powers beyond them that they do not always understand, but must perpetually follow.

As believers, we are constantly reminded that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. His death and his resurrection are fundamental to our Christian faith. Without his death, the relationship between God and His creation would have remained broken. Unfortunately, many believers do not take the time to consider the complex and deep meaning of Jesus’ death. If I have learned one concept throughout this class is that if I do not have a personal comprehension of Jesus’ death, I will never be saved. His death signifies salvation. It motivates us to imitate Jesus’ life as he was completely human and never sinned, yet he died on the cross in the cruelest way. Personally, Jesus’ death means love, reconciliation, redemption, and victory.

Covenant making and covenant people have been a part of God’s plan since the beginning of time. In the Old Testament, and with Jesus Christ being just a foreshadow of things to come, covenants often made God and God’s holiness visible (Fehren, 1996). Furthermore, covenants were the vehicles or processes in which God used to institute promises and manage people (Korver, 2015). In the simplest terms, a covenant is an agreement between two or more parties concerning shared responsibilities and privileges, once ratified, covenants cannot be changed in any way, including the parties involved or the covenant provisions (Korver, 2015, p. 29). Covenants, may either be unconditional or conditional. Thus, an unconditional covenant, such as the one offered to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), requires no conditions to be placed on the recipient (Korver, 2015). Hence, the onus of the Abrahamic covenant was completely on God, and Abraham needed only to accept God’s offer. However, the enjoyment of the blessings made in the Abrahamic Covenant was dependent on how well Abraham and the future nation of Israel adhered to and listened to God’s commands (Merrill, 2006). Therefore, some action was required on behalf of Abraham and Israel to reap the full benefits of God’s blessing. Conditional covenants, such as the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:1-8), requires the recipient to meet certain conditions before enjoying the benefits of the covenant (Korver, 2015). Typically, conditional covenants