Theologians make a lot of the covenant. Ministers always talk about the covenant. But there doesn’t seem to be a clear definition of what a covenant is. God makes a covenant with his people. Marriage is always a covenant and friendship is sometimes a covenant, though not always (In the Bible, Jonathan makes a covenant with his friend, David). Is God’s relationship with Adam properly termed a covenant? Is a man’s relationship with his son properly termed a covenant?
I want to suggest a definition: A covenant is the formalization of a personal relationship. The covenant may begin the relationship, but the relationship may also have existed before the covenant. A covenant formalizes that personal relationship. If that personal relationship continues there are blessings and if that personal relationship ends there are curses.
I hope to write more on this in the future by both defending this definition and applying this definition to some of the arguments that exist in the Presbyterian and Reformed world.
Chris
I like the definition that “a covenant is a binding relationship with promises and duties.”
James
I like that definition as well. However, it lacks emphasis on the formal nature of a covenant; something I want to emphasize and something that I believe is part of the Biblical usage of the word, “covenant.” I realize that is an assertion not an argument, but to go through all the Biblical uses of the word covenant would take to much time in this comment.