COVENANT



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Running head Three Principles

Name of the article: Three Principles

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Abstract

There are three basic principles laid down by Christianity which are discussed in detail in my paper here, i.e. Covenant, righteousness and Salvation and New Creation. Covenant basically implies as a promise made by an individual to fulfill or take on a particular task. It however, can be implied in several contexts, majorly being religious, legal and historical contexts. Righteousness, on the other hand, justifies all the acts done by an individual in his lifetime and determines whether the concerned individual deserves to go to hell or heaven. The third principle discussed here is Salvation and New Creation which says that only those individuals deserve to seek salvation that are firm believers of god and have complete faith in all the things created by him.

COVENANT

In general sense, a covenant is a dignified promise to engage in a particular action. It may be defined in three different contexts-religious context, legal context and historical context.

In Religious context, a covenant implies a belief that is shared by the members of religious community that there is a relationship between god and his pupils. This belief is taken into account in Judaism and Christianity. Such sort of Covenant is to be seen in an example of Abraham and God, in which God made a Covenant with Abraham that he would bless Abraham’s descendants.

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In Legal context, there was a presence of a seal which distinguished it from the ordinary contract. It indicated some unusual promises in the seal.

In a historical context, a covenant, along with an oath, implied a long term promise.

It is a promise that binds the individual with long term humanity. It makes sure that the people who follow it, goes through all the formalities.

The New Testament tradition of the Covenant gives the evidence that the origin of Covenant in Christianity was a primary affair. It has been said that Jesus’ last supper with his disciples was considered as a New Covenant by Jesus himself but the very meaning of the Covenant, in historical terms in nebulous.

The central approach of the post-apostolic church was the transference of the Davidic covenant to the Messianic figure. The word “Paganism” was referred quite frequently in the early church. Paganism was a concept in which a person holds religious beliefs other than those of established religions. In order to maintain the authority of new religious community, the early church faced several problems.

The importance of Covenant was greatly felt in 7th century AD, or 1st century AH-after the Hegira, Muhammad’s fight from Mecca to Medina.

The concept of Covenant was also taken in the issue of marriage. In the Old Testament

Covenant, marriage vows were quite seriously. A very significant incident about an ancient ceremony tells us that a marriage vow was taken in full conscious mind. The fathers of the two nomadic tribes, in order to tie their son and daughter in the bond of marriage, slaughtered a goat or any other animal, cut the dead body in half, and then walk

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barefoot through the blood path. The animal slaughtered would symbolize the catastrophic and gruesome end of the either party if they changed their minds and violated the terms of agreement.

In today’s era there is no such solemn practiced. Rather there is freedom to quit before the marriage actually takes place. Either party may back out prior to the marriage. There is no agreement between the two parties, instead of that an arrangement takes place which has no legal value.

In our culture, importance is not given to the religious ceremonies involved in wedding, but to the arrangements done. According to BRIDE’S MAGAZINE, when the average couple adds up the costs of a wedding gown, tuxedos, and dresses for the maids, rings, music, flowers, cake and the reception ceremony, they spend more than $19000.

Today, marriage is an agreement between the two parties and their lawyer acts as a mediator who arranges for all the formalities, once the couple has decided to get released from their agreement.

No one is really interested to know the actual meaning of Covenant.

In the early church, Covenant had witnesses and in the same way, marriage vows are taken in front of human witnesses.

The commitment of marriage was seriously adhered in the Covenant and in the traditional marriage. People may feel that Covenant is a boundation defined as marriage but there are many others, who feel that it’s a lifetime security granted by the Church.

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The Covenant theory is a quite confusing one. There are different conclusions regarding the number of covenants. Few theologians say that there is one covenant i.e. the covenant of redemption and concludes that the other covenants are inclusive in it, but other theologians do not agree and say that there are two covenants: the Eternal Covenant and the Covenant of Grace.

The agreement between the father and the son, where the son takes place the position of Christ is known as the Eternal Covenant, whereas, the Covenant of Grace is defined as a promise of god to save the sinner. It’s a spiritual redemption based on faith in Jesus.

God entered a covenant with Adam in whom he promised life to the latter, but the only condition was that god demanded perfect obedience.

Ten Commandments were part of god’s covenant with Israel. These were ten rules that governed the covenant relationship and these rules were proposed for the maintenance of good relationship with god. This was just to set an example to the world. The Ten Commandments, mentioned above, were a ruled plate of inscription of testimony. These were evidence of the covenant of god’s relationship with Israel. God’s covenant was not just restricted to Israel, but was also open to non-Jews. They could also take part in god’s covenant. But the only thing specific to Israel was that it was a witness to all the people.

The disregarding of god’s Ten Commandments led to the breaking of the covenant and punishment from god. This was the reason why Israel was accused of rebellion. But the

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Old Covenant ensured that the people were under the shadow of faith. Under this Covenant, Israel was bound to obey the commandments of law. However, these commandments could not lead to salvation.

Traditionally, covenants are held between different nations or other groups. The word Covenant is used in different contexts in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In the Old Testaments, the word Covenant is translated from the Hebrew and in the New Testament, the Greek word “diatheke” means Covenant or Will.

The Covenant highlighted many immune commitments which were rather necessary to follow. It understated self-righteousness codes and held the supreme in power. The legislative control was also takes into account.

The Old Testament was continued with Jesus Christ’s life and death and after the death of Christ, new covenant was formulated. The Old Covenant depicted the doings of Jesus Christ. God had send Jesus on earth to make things right and preach humanity. The Old Covenant proved that the sin was far more powerful than the law. The law was underestimated by the individuals and the light of sun was sharper than ever.

There were many contradictions between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Exposing sun was the purpose of law in the Old Covenant but in the New Covenant, Jesus proposed to defeat sin.

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Mathew 27:51 states at the time of Jesus’ death, that the veil of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom, are indicating that there was no longer a need for the temple after Jesus’ death. No priest was required to enter the holy place and continue the ceremonies as Jesus himself became the New Temple. Such were the perceptions of the people at that time.

Thus it can be concluded that a Covenant i.e. an agreement between two parties is used to officially assign a status of the regular procedure of day and night.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Righteousness can simply be explained as the sole reason which justifies our acts. It is

Best described as the ultimate redemption which determines the reason why a certain

individual is placed in heaven or hell.

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Righteousness in simple terms means right behavior of an individual in a community. It states that a person’s actions are justified and proves that a person has been reckoned as leading a life that is pleasing to god.

It refers to the concepts of ISLAM, JUDAISM and CHRISTIANITY. In more literal terms Righteousness means ‘up righteousness’ in the sense of conformity to an established norm. Righteousness, in a way, is a characteristic of god’s nature.

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In the New Testament it is stated that Jesus is our righteousness. “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness”. This quotation holds good as it is quite relevant. It states that if Christ is within us, we are

gifted the path of righteousness, whatever we do will be accounted in his book. Our spirit will be alive with the source of righteousness.

It is said that there is a deal between Jesus and the Christian. In this spiritual deal, Jesus, the god, takes our sins and gives us his righteousness in return. This is the reason god loves Jesus Christ and all the Christians equally.

There are two categories of righteousness-Imparted righteousness and imputed righteousness. Imparted righteousness is that precious gift which is given by god at the moment of new birth and it enables a man to attain holiness. It is the righteousness of Jesus that is applied to the Christian. It’s a process working in the Christian to enable the process of sanctification.

Imputed righteousness proposes that righteousness of Jesus Christ approves all the follow-ups necessary in god’s grace. This kind of righteousness is followed by those people who believe that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was the final outcome of his sins.

God is considered the judge of the created order and his judgments restored Israel as they are quite redemptive.

Righteousness may also be considered as a religious concept. With the assurance of god to redeem Israel, the nation had a mutual relationship with god. Now that Israel became a slave slot to god’s favor, it had few responsibilities of accepting the settled norms of New

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Christian. God in his process of bestowing salvation on Israel did not formally laid down the rules for following it, but made sure that the natives do not surrender to the hands of evil. The law, on the whole, was considered to be a divine source, through which Israel could maintain good relations with god. Therefore, in order to continue the stature of salvation, Israel made it a point to follow the law that god has laid down and this following of the law ensured righteousness among the natives. This law provided the means of repentance to the people and kept them away from their misdeeds.

People can adhere to the laws if they have wholeheartedly accepted god as a means of salvation. The path of righteousness comes along with the path of salvation. However difficult it may be, but it was not impossible.

The person following the path of righteousness was bound to accept few demands of the legal and social precipitance. It was not just subjected to family and friends, but to the entire nation and also included the services to the foreigners. It was all about covenantal relations.

Giving one’s own self to the god’s will, entirely overthrowing the evil structure and recuperating god’s notion is all that one has to follow. One who abides such theories becomes god’s favorite and he/she is atoned to his old life.

The notion of human righteousness is parallel to the notion of god’s righteousness. Now we need to understand this term “god’s righteousness”. It may have two distinctive theories-whether god is righteousness and whether god gives righteousness. This distinction is quite nebulous. God has created such a possibility in which he had laid

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down few charges against human kind and in order to understand those charges, individuals are required to follow the path of righteousness.

In the Old Testament, the word righteousness has some other meaning. According to it, the god used to judge the qualities of the people before giving them salvation, and then used to decide whether or not that person is worthy of acquiring righteousness. But in the New Testament no such view is presented, rather it states that god bestows his grace to all and is righteous in judging his sinful people.

Augustine maintained the view that ‘righteousness of god’ means the righteousness which god gives us. It states that righteousness, more or less means, covenant membership.

In Biblical terms, god’s theology as a creator ensures that the people are not to imitate god’s designs but to follow the church and emphasizes that the justice that it ascertains is the legitimate right of the citizens. The church is a means of god’s intended humanity which offers the preaching of god himself.

Now we have embarked upon the most significant aspect of the Self Righteousness which implies the path of self improvement. A prig is always committed to lead a life of humbleness and is always dedicated to the cause of self improvement. This attitude is taken by the Christian as irrelevant as according to them, self righteousness means that a person’s goal is to improve himself in order to please god. It is a psychological craving of an individual to please god, in order to become acceptable. However, Christians do not show any enthusiasm to this particular reference. No one adheres to this cause and lead

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life in their own way. They do not get enticed even by the means of teachings that the Church provides in context of self righteousness.

In order to settle this issue of righteousness, Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians-“I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”.

Therefore, there is a need to understand the difference between righteousness of god and self righteousness. Instead of admiring our own righteousness, we must have faith in the righteousness of god.

According to Paul, we should not practice self righteousness in front of others in order to get noticed, rather we should subdue in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is not about proving yourself superior over the other, but trying to justify our position in the eyes of god by noble deeds. We can never meet god’s standards in proving ourselves worthy.

Thus it can be concluded that the person who solely believes in the majestic approach of Christ, without signifying self righteousness knows Christ primarily.

Salvation and new creation

Salvation flows from the fountain of god’s mercy. According to Paul, salvation comes to those who prefer care of god and thus remain protected from all dangers, snares and

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deadly conflicts. Jesus Christ is considered to be the creator of universe and it is quite well known that if you have faith in Jesus, you can be rendered worthy to live in this creation.

Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity preached the gospel of universal love, brotherhood and love of mankind and to live in peace and harmony with others. His teachings concerned common men, their beliefs and their convictions, with a bias towards socialism, humanism and spiritualism. He delivered his message of equality, fraternity and liberty to all human beings irrespective of color, wealth and culture. The theory of new creation of Jesus states that one should follow the path of righteousness so that his soul goes to heaven and lives in peace there. He talked of the other world which one is likely to aspire after his death and where god welcomes all those who led a pious life.

New creation means a new heaven and a new earth to the person attaining salvation from god. It includes Jesus Christ’s teachings for the man of this new world. Anyone is free to enter this world of new creation. All one has to do is to relinquish his/her old life. God imparts the good deeds within us and checks out the scrupulous actions. We are then just left out with resurrection life and our life of salvation cannot be lost in anyway once gained with utmost dedication.

Jesus Christ, in his teachings to mankind told people “love your enemies, do good to them who hate you”. So his teachings aim at universal love, brotherhood and according to him hate should be replaced by love. He goes one step further in his message of love when he says that you must offer your other cheek if one is smitten. It means that there is

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no place for hatred, violence and selfishness in our dealings with others, especially war is completely ruled out. The other remarkable thing about his teaching is that he believes in forgiveness, since to err is human, to forgive divine. So it should be the duty of everyone to treat others not harshly, since nobody is absolutely free from sin.

In general term the word Salvation refers to the liberation from evils and the transfer of the deeds to a level of security. It’s the liberation of individuals from sin.

Christ had many roles to play namely that of a teacher, a king and a priest. As a teacher, he preaches the divine gospel. He makes us aware of our sins and then direct us the path of salvation. As a king, he’s keeping a check on our actions and is rendering them up to the mark. Christ’s sacrifice, being that of a divine person, carries his own acceptance with it. It’s a kind of gift of god to man. He persuaded god and took the blame of all the sins and the sinners.

Salvation begins with the grace of god which touches a sinner’s heart and then leads him to the path of repentance.

In the New Church, salvation is taken as the process of spiritual rebirth, rather than an immediate event. Christ is seen as god himself who makes his human a divine authority and lets the people to believe in him and follow the path of salvation that he has laid out. Divine grace redeems people’s faith in god but the only condition to attain that grace is by avoiding the evil actions. There is always a path to attain salvation. It’s never too late for anything. Christ is always at the forefront to forgive us for all our misdeeds and is ready to accept our repentance if we are ready to confess our sins.

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If we owe ourselves to Christ in order to attain salvation, we are listed in his book of faith and are free from the sinful acts. The New Testament tells us that if we confess with our

mouth that we have considered Christ our ultimate deity and believed in our heart that god has raised us from low stature then we will be saved and if we believe that we are made right with god, we have attained salvation.

A New creation does not mean that our sins are forgiven by Christ; rather it implies that after attaining salvation we are referred as forgiven person as we are reborn in Christ.

Now is the time when we need to ameliorate our deeds. Teachings of Christ have full relevance even today. The world is torn with bitterness and strife when everybody thinks of his own interest and wants to usurp for the right and property of others by hook or crook which is the bone of contention in the present materialistic world. The remedy lies in the change of outlook and conviction. We should shun materialistic world of living which aims at killing and harming others and which shows denial of spiritual values. If the modern world is afflicted with pain, sufferings and agony, it is all due to lack of spiritual values and lack of spiritualism. The people have become materialistic, money-minded and selfish and brute even. They have thrown to winds their morality, ethics and decent behavior. They indulge in all sorts of malpractices, exploitation instead of being helping hand for the needy and the poor and so on. It has made human beings brute and animal like. Now man has become enemy of man and wants to rule the universe according to his own Whims, fallacies and convictions. He does not possess any moral scruple and has become a victim of evil designs of devil. If we consider the relationship

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between one nation and the other or between our race and the other, we will notice how feelings of selfishness and the idea of possession has divided man from man. Nobody thinks of moral scruples of spiritual values and will not hesitate to destroy for petty gains. His teachings are more relevant in political field which conveys the message of co-existence and rules out the possibility of war, provided people and statesmen follow his teachings sincerely and honestly. There is bloody race of stock piling of nuclear arms and one big nation wants to over-awe the smaller nations by show of strength. Justice and fair play which are the corner stone of Christianity have been given farewell by the statement of today.

In economic and social field, we find too many disparities but there is little attempt to help the needy, helpless and poor sections of society. Rich man exploits the poor and cannot think of giving the poor his due, his rights and freedom or equality of status. Instead of love, mutual help, considerateness and feelings of self sacrifice, we find greed, self-aggrandizement, exploitation and denial of justice and freedom. Materialism is the way of life that prevails everywhere.

There is lack of feeling of trust and co-operation between different people, different nations and different races. There is conflict of ideologies which has divided the world into many camps, distrustful of each other. So teachings of Christ have more relevance today than at any time in the history of mankind.

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References:-

I. SALVATION AND NEW CREATION

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II. RIGHTEOUSNESS

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•   . /ASrticles/selfrighteousnessweakness.htm

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III. COVENANT

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