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Covenant with Abraham

secondary Covenant Theology

God established a covenant with Abraham and his seed.

This doctrine distinguishes traditions but is not a boundary of orthodoxy.

Denominations

Who binds this (creedal)

Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.

Affirm · 31
African Methodist Episcopal ChurchSTRONGAmerican Baptist Churches USAAnglican Church in North AmericaSTRONGAssemblies of God USASTRONGChristian Church (Disciples of Christ)STRONGChristian Reformed ChurchSTRONGChurch of EnglandChurch of God in ChristSTRONGChurch of the NazareneSTRONGChurches of ChristSTRONGCooperative Baptist FellowshipEvangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaEvangelical Presbyterian ChurchGeneral Association of Regular Baptist ChurchesSTRONGGlobal Methodist ChurchSTRONGGreek Orthodox Archdiocese of AmericaSTRONGInternational Church of the Foursquare GospelSTRONGLutheran Church—Missouri SynodSTRONGMennonite Church USASTRONGNational Baptist Convention, USASTRONGOrthodox Church in AmericaSTRONGOrthodox Presbyterian ChurchSTRONGPresbyterian Church (USA)Presbyterian Church in AmericaSTRONGReformed Church in AmericaRoman Catholic ChurchSTRONGSouthern Baptist ConventionSTRONGThe Episcopal ChurchThe Wesleyan ChurchSTRONGUnited Methodist ChurchWisconsin Evangelical Lutheran SynodSTRONG

Key scriptures

  • Gal 3:16 — Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
  • Gal 3:8 — And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
  • Gen 12:1 — Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
  • Gen 12:2 — And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
  • Gen 12:3 — And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
  • Gen 15:18 — In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
  • Gen 15:5 — And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
  • Gen 15:6 — And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
  • Gen 17:1 — And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
  • Gen 17:19 — And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
  • Gen 17:4 — As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
  • Gen 17:7 — And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
  • Gen 22:17 — That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
  • Heb 6:13 — For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
  • Rom 4:13 — For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
  • Rom 4:16 — Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
  • Rom 4:3 — For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Confessional witness

What the confessions say

Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.

Voices from the tradition

The Church Fathers

The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.

Abraham, styled "the friend," [Isaiah 41:8] was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God. He, in the exercise of obedience, went out from his own country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, in order that, by forsaking a small territory, and a weak family, and an insignificant house, he might…

If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through…

Abraham, accordingly, who through hearing believed the voice, which promised under the oak in Mamre, "I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed," was either elect or not. But if he was not, how did he straightway believe, as it were naturally? And if he was elect, their hypothesis is done away with, in as much as even previous to…

Clement of Alexandria (215) on Rom 4:3

And if of Abraham, how much more, to be sure, of David, as a more recent progenitor! For, unfolding the promised blessing upon all nations in the person of Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed," he adds, "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." When we…

There is added in what follows: "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness." This saying is taken from the book of Genesis, from that place where not Abraham, but Abram says to the Lord: "Since you have given me no seed, this house-born servant of mine will be my heir. And the Lord said to him: This man shall…

Origen of Alexandria (253) on Rom 4:3

Some were reached by the Word of God through the law of promise and the discernment of the good inherent in them from their first formation. They did not hesitate but followed it readily as did Abraham, our father. Since he offered himself in love through the law of promise, God appeared to him, saying, "Go from your country and your…

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