This week’s “Wednesday Word” is a summary of Dr. Wellum’s seventh session in his series, The Bible’s Big Picture, given on Sunday, October 25, 2009.
We continue in our study this week by unpacking how God’s initial promise of redemption in Genesis 3:15 is given further definition throughout the OT. There are a number of ways this is done, but a crucial way God tells us how he is going to keep his promise is through the biblical covenants. It is fair to say that the biblical covenants are a major unifying theme of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but it is also correct to acknowledge that there is much dispute over how the biblical covenants relate to each other. In my view, it is crucial to treat each covenant in its own immediate context in redemptive-history and then to ask how it relates to the covenants which come before and after it, depending upon where we are in the plan of God. As we do this, we discover how the promise of God unfolds and how it ultimately culminates in Christ.
The first biblical covenant is established in creation under the headship of Adam. Some people dispute this fact because there is no biblical word for “covenant” found in Genesis 1-2. However, for the following reasons I believe it is legitimate to think of a creation covenant with Adam. First, as William Dumbrell, Covenant and Creation, has shown, in Genesis 6, 9 God says he “established” his covenant with Noah. The word, “established,” in contrast to the word, “cut,” assumes that a previous covenant is already in force which makes sense only in light of Adam. Second, Adam is presented as more than a mere biological head of the human race, he is also presented as a representative head (see Rom 5:12ff). Third, in light of the typological relation between Adam and Christ, it is legitimate to see Adam as the head of the old creation. It is for these reasons (as well as a number more) that I believe that there is a creation covenant in Genesis 1-2. But sadly, as we discovered in Genesis 3, Adam’s disobedience brought about not only Adam’s condemnation but ours as well. As a result, the entire human race is now under sin and it is only if God acts to redeem that there is hope for us. Thankfully as we saw in Genesis 3:15 that is the case and we also see this in the covenant established with Noah in Genesis 6-9.
At the heart of the Noahic covenant is God keeping his promise not to destroy human beings finally and completely. Instead, he saves one family out of the earth in order to fulfill his promises to return creation back to its proper order and to reverse all the disastrous effects of sin. In this sense, Noah functions as a covenant mediator who will act like “another Adam.” He is given the same creation mandate, although in a fallen world, and he is the one God is now going to act through to fulfill his promise. But it does not take long to discover that in Genesis 9, he is not the one to bring ultimate salvation for he himself needs someone to save him! But we do learn with Noah, that God will keep his promise, and he will bring about our salvation, but we still await the full explanation of how that will come about.
Next week, we will continue to look at the biblical covenants to discover how our promise-making God keeps his promises—promises which ultimately culminate in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.