It is undeniable that the genealogical lists in Scripture can seem boring. But, rightly understood, they do have both a narrative and a covenantal significance in several ways. Narratively, they give a sense of time, space, and relational context. The Genesis 5 genealogy, for example, describes the growth of human families, whereas the Genesis 10 … Continue reading Reading the Genealogies (Gen. 9:18-11:32)
Genesis
The Covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:1-9:17)
The account of Noah and the ark is one that always features prominently in children’s Sunday School materials with colorful illustrations of lots of animals, but it is actually a very dark story; God did, after all, destroy the entire world with a flood because of the moral corruption mankind had sunk to. From a … Continue reading The Covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:1-9:17)
Start of the Covenant of Grace (Gen. 4:1-6:8)
The Fall of man resulted in the Covenant of Works being broken, but God did not leave matters there. If man was to have the intimate, eternal communion with God for which he had been made, then the initiative for bringing that about would have to come from God by His grace. Grace is God’s … Continue reading Start of the Covenant of Grace (Gen. 4:1-6:8)
The Covenant of Works (Gen. 2-3)
The covenantal motif laid out in chapter 1 continues in chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis in describing God’s relationship with man. Adam, as originally created by God, was not merely subordinate to God, but was given a dominion of his own to rule over by God. In this, man was to be God’s vice … Continue reading The Covenant of Works (Gen. 2-3)
Creation and Covenant (Gen. 1)
The Reformed tradition has long held that the way to read Scripture is covenantally. Covenants in the ancient world were simply treaties, that is, legal arrangements regulating the relationship between two sovereign entities. Typically in the ancient world a suzerain (an overlord) king would impose a covenant on a vassal (subordinate) king. Such an arrangement … Continue reading Creation and Covenant (Gen. 1)
