Second, God entered into a covenant with Noah and Abraham.
Second, God entered into a covenant with Noah and Abraham.
§ 124. (II) “God did not make His first covenant with the Israelites, but also with Noah (Gen. 6:18; 9:9) and especially with Abraham (Gen. 17:2). Therefore, as regards substance, there is only one testament, except that it has been renewed at various times.”
We respond. We know that Irenaeus (bk. 3, toward the end of ch. 11) lists four testaments given to mankind: first, before the flood, under Adam; second, after the flood, under Noah; third, the giving of the Law under Moses; fourth, that He renovates man and recapitulates all things in Himself, that is, He elevates man through the Gospel and raises them to the heavenly kingdom. Yet it is certain that when Scripture contrasts the old and new testaments to each other, the “old testament” must be understood as no other covenant than that which God entered with the Israelites in the wilderness after He had led them out of Egypt, for this is asserted in clear language: “Jehovah our God made a covenant with us on Horeb. Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant, but with us, who are here today” (Deut. 5:2–3). [And again]: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Jer. 31:31–32). Therefore the rest of the “specific covenants” (as I call them), such as that which was divinely established with Noah, must be removed from these two testaments.
But since in freeing the Israelites from Egypt God quite frequently recalled them to the covenant initiated with their fathers, there is then a slightly different understanding in regard to the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which cannot simply be excluded. It is to be understood thus: The covenant which God entered with Abraham and renewed with Isaac and Jacob contains two parts or articles. The first part involves the multiplication of Abraham’s seed and the possession of the land of Canaan. The following are assigned to this part: the solemn promulgation of the Law, the institution of the Levitical priesthood, and the decrees of the forensic laws. In fact, where there is a multitude of people and the inhabitation of a region, there occurs the necessity of teaching good behavior, the establishment of a government and of divine worship. The second part includes the promise of the blessed Seed in whom all nations were going to be blessed, that is, the promise of the Messiah who would be born of Abraham’s posterity. This is the chief, more important part of the covenant made with Abraham. In fact, the first part is referred to this one, for the multiplication of Abraham’s seed and the possession of the land of Canaan are promised in such a way that there would be a certainty of the Messiah teaching, performing miracles, and completing the work of the redemption of the sojourners.
Furthermore, both parts of the covenant can be considered in two ways: first, with regard to their promulgation; and, second, with regard to their fulfillment. If the time of their promulgation is considered, we admit that this is one [time]. “God said to Abram: ‘Go from your country, etc. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and increase you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed’ ” (Gen. 12:1–3). “God said to Isaac: ‘I will give that land to your seed, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, etc.; and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed’ ” (Gen. 26:3–4). The same promise is repeated to Jacob (Gen. 28:14). But if the time of fulfillment is considered, it is obvious that the first part about the multiplication of the descendants and the possession of the land of Canaan was fulfilled 430 years after the promise had been given to Abraham, because the Israelites multiplied in Egypt; and after being freed from their Egyptian slavery, first received the Law in the wilderness; and after forty years passed, they took possession of the land of Canaan. The latter part was fulfilled (according to the reckoning of Funccius) 1,938 years after the promulgation of the promise and 1,508 years after the liberation from Egypt and the promulgation of the Law, namely, when Christ in the fullness of time was born of a virgin (Gal. 4:4).