Date

5-22-2024

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Chair

Timothy Rucker

Keywords

Covenant, Abraham, Biblical Theology, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Old Covenant, New Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Covenant Theology

Disciplines

Religion

Abstract

Evangelical Christianity is broadly divided into two ways of thinking about biblical covenants. In particular, the division is set in terms of the continuity of the old and new covenants. With this comes the distinction between old covenant theocratic Israel and the New Testament Church. Dispensationalists argue for discontinuity between the covenants and the separation of old covenant theocratic Israel and the New Testament Church. On the other hand, traditional Reformed covenant theology finds a significant amount of continuity between the covenants and less distinction between old covenant theocratic Israel and the New Testament Church. However, beliefs about covenant theology do not always fit nicely into either of these two categories; instead, they fall within a spectrum of positions within and between these categories. This dissertation will demonstrate that YHWH engaged in two distinct covenantal encounters with Abraham in Genesis 15 and 17. In Genesis 15 a covenant is established by YHWH with Abraham. However, in Genesis 17 a covenant is only promised to Abraham. This promised covenant is fulfilled as the Mosaic covenant in Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 26. While significant disagreement exists among Evangelicals at this macro-level of the doctrine of covenant, more agreement can is found when examining individual covenants in scripture. Most evangelicals understand the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12–17) as a unified covenant. Even though YHWH is said to have made a covenant with Abraham in Gen 15:18 and again in Genesis 17, the consensus is that these two covenant interactions are two aspects of the one Abrahamic covenant (emphasis added). A few evangelical scholars have broken from this consensus. These scholars say that YHWH entered into a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 and gave him the promise of another covenant in Genesis 17. According to this view, that promised covenant was established in Genesis 22. To demonstrate this dissertation’s thesis, the dissertation will provide an overview of covenant theology, a detailed exegesis of Genesis narrative of YHWH covenantal dealings with Abraham (Genesis 11:10–25:34), and a biblical theology of YHWH’s covenant dealings with Abraham. Before engaging directly with the primary texts of Genesis 15 and 17 (exegesis) and other relevant passages (biblical theology), the dissertation will provide background on the topic. In the introduction, a general overview of covenant theology, implications of covenant, and the theological presuppositions of the work will be provided before finally introducing the specifics of the thesis in relation to the broader topic of covenant theology. In the second chapter, the dissertation will survey different positions proposed throughout the history of Christian interpretation of the Abrahamic covenant. Since covenant theology has become of greater importance since the Reformation, particularly in the Reformed tradition, the early and Medieval church will only be briefly surveyed. The position of two particular interpreters, Irenaeus and Augustine, on the Abrahamic covenant, will be provided. Medieval interpretation will receive only a brief commentary on its notion of covenant since no particular view of the Abrahamic covenant is put forward during this period. Because the Reformation brought renewed attention to the notion of covenant, particularly in the Reformed tradition’s defense of paedobaptism, a broad survey of theologians will be considered from this era, among these Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin. Covenant theology became codified in various post-Reformation confessions. These confessions remain foundational beliefs about covenant theology in many branches of modern-day Evangelicalism. This is particularly the case among Reformed and Presbyterian evangelicals and Particular Baptists. For this reason, the dissertation will provide a more extensive overview of the beliefs of important seventeenth-century British covenant theologians who influenced the doctrinal formulations of those confessions with the most robust explanation of covenants—the Westminster Standards and the London Baptist Confession of 1689. This aspect of the dissertation will also provide background to the continuation of the survey of positions held by earlier American theologians (18th–20th centuries), the view of twenty-century critical scholars, and views held by modern theologians. The central part of the dissertation will be the exegetical and biblical-theological examination of the issue. Through exegetical and biblical-theological work, the dissertation will affirm the thesis—YHWH’s covenantal dealings with Abraham resulted in the establishment of a covenant in Genesis 15 and the promise of a later covenant (Genesis 17) that was the Mosaic covenant. Because YHWH’s covenantal dealings are grounded in his establishment of a relationship with Abraham in Genesis 12, the connection of the interactions between the two parties—YHWH and Abraham—will be presented first. A detailed exegesis of Genesis 17 will establish the plausibility of the thesis. The plausibility of the thesis will be made definitive by following up on the exegetical findings with a biblical theological explanation of the YHWH’s covenantal dealings with Abraham. The dissertation will conclude with a final chapter. The concluding chapter will review the topic by reminding the reader of the main issue and its relevance. Following this, an overview of the exegetical and biblical-theological findings that pertain to the thesis will be reviewed. The dissertation will finish with an explanation of how the truth of the thesis has application for contemporary evangelical Christianity.

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