4. What is a divine covenant?
If you ask those who favor the progressive liberal innovations of the Episcopal Church during the latter part of the twentieth century, what they regard as the most important part of the 1979 Prayer Book, at least some, perhaps many, will say, “the Baptismal Covenant.” When witnesses appeared before the Liturgical Commission at General Convention a few years ago asking for official permission for parishes to use services from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, they perceived that the only service that could not ever be used from the 1928 BCP was the Baptismal Service! Why? Because the “Baptismal Covenant” of the 1979 Service is central to the practical theology of the modern Episcopal Church. It presents God and human beings on near equal terms and it commits them all to working for peace and justice.
Therefore, it is most interesting to note that in the Outline two sections are devoted to the theme of covenant, the third and seventh. The definition of covenant is as follows: “A covenant is a relationship initiated by God, to which a body of people responds in faith.”
Here we find the use of two words that do not normally appear in good translations of the Bible – “relationship” and “initiate”. Though an old English word, “relationship” only came into popular use from the 1960s especially to refer to sexual liaisons as well as short-term or temporary comings together of persons or groups of persons. Regrettably, due to changes in culture and morality, the word now is used both of marriage itself and of that personal, eternal union with God created by regeneration by the Spirit of God. The use of relationship encourages the suggestion that what God wishes to put in place with people is possibly only of temporary duration or belongs only to this world of space and time. (It contrasts with the word “relation” which points to a permanent and lasting union.)
The word “initiate” (much used these days as a noun of the sacrament of baptism!) suggests that God takes the lead, that it is his idea and it is what he wishes. However, when the Bible itself speaks of God and his covenant, strong verbs are used, verbs which suggest that God acted decisively to set in place his covenant (e.g., establish, make, create). In other words, the biblical covenant of grace from God is very much one-sided in that God wills it, creates it, and then he invites and causes people to enter into it, which is always and only on his conditions. The covenant is agreed and established (e.g., between The Father and the Son Incarnate) before any baptized believer actually enters into it. And he who enters can do so only in the way God has appointed. There is no contract as it were between a major partner and a junior one. The covenant of grace in its Old or New Testament form is a totally one-sided covenant. And it must be so, if it is to be for the full redemption of those who are called into it.
In the Outline the divine covenants are presented as if they are special contracts and thus, for example, the human side of the New Covenant is said to be “to believe in Christ and keep his commandments.” Yet, while it is true that God commands his people to do exactly this, these duties are not presented in the New Testament as conditions of a contract and they are certainly not the means of earning the gift of God which is eternal life.
Turning now to the Articles, we find a very different approach to man’s relation to God and God’s relation to man. Salvation from God, in terms of the justification of sinners, is presented with great clarity and power in XI to XVI. The eleventh begins: “We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own works and deservings.” Good works are presented as the fruits of Faith; but, they cannot in any way at all put away our sins or turn away God’s judgment from us for our sins. Nevertheless, good works that flow from Faith are pleasing and acceptable to God.
The Articles say nothing specifically as such about “covenants” although they presuppose the existence of the covenant of grace made with Abraham and the people of Israel, of the Mosaic administration of this covenant, and then of the new covenant brought into existence by Christ’s bloody sacrifice. However, and most importantly, in XVII “Of Predestination and Election” the background to the covenant of grace and redemption is made very clear. And that background is nothing less than the everlasting purposes of God and his decrees. (Of these matters the Outline has nothing to say.)
To summarize. For the Outline, God and humankind are partners, with God taking the initiative, but ready to allow human beings to have their say. For the Articles, the Persons of the Trinity are “Partners” in establishing the covenant of grace and into this human beings are graciously and generously called! And this distinction portrays an important theological difference between Rite II and the Services of the classic BCP.
October 11, 2005
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