Jeffrey Thayne

I recently read an article by Ed Gantt and Stan Knapp entitled “Marriage: Of Contracts, Commitments, and Covenants,” and want to share some of the things that I learned. As a missionary, I frequently taught investigators the meaning of the word covenant. Because the word is so infrequently used in modern society, I would use an unfortunate metaphor they were already familiar with: an economic contract. We promise God obedience and service, and He promises us salvation and blessings in return. When we hold up our end of the deal, He holds up His. I am not alone in describing covenants this way. As Gantt And Knapp explain, “Today, outside theological circles, the term covenant is most often invoked as a synonym for contract and taken to refer to a two-way promise between mutually interested, and more or less equally powerful, parties.”

Although in many ways this metaphor can approximate the nature of a covenant, it seems clear to me now, however, that covenants and contracts are based upon very different assumptions. “The modern tendency to equate covenant and contract,” Gantt and Knapp continue, “obscures the fact that covenant has historically been used to refer to a relationship with God that cannot be understood as a mere contract.^“1 Continue reading →