The Gospel According To Ane Covenant Understanding

Most Christians in the Church today in the West do not know about Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) covenants, nor do they understand that the covenants God has made with mankind are based in form on ANE covenants and their governing principles. In fact, the Old and New Covenants are ANE covenants. Scholars and theologians know that the greater understanding we have of the historical and cultural roots of Christianity, we can come to a more accurate interpretation of the New Testament Scriptures. This is particularly true since Biblical archaeology has unearthed information regarding ANE covenants which the Fathers of the Reformation did not have access to when formulating their doctrinal beliefs and creeds. Because the New Testament is an ANE covenant, the governing principles of ANE covenants affects how we must interpret the Scriptures emanating from that covenant. The information brought forth in this volume demands dissemination throughout the grassroots levels of the Church and Christian academia.

A fresh look at the earliest Christian movement reveals what made the new faith so compelling...and what we need to change today to make it so again. Once upon a time there was a version of the Christian faith that was practically irresistible. After all, what could be more so than the gospel that Jesus ushered in? Why, then, isn't it the same with Christianity today? Author and pastor Andy Stanley is deeply concerned with the present-day church and its future. He believes that many of the solutions to our issues can be found by investigating our roots. In Irresistible, Andy chronicles what made the early Jesus Movement so compelling, resilient, and irresistible by answering these questions: What did first-century Christians know that we don't—about God's Word, about their lives, about love? What did they do that we're not doing? What makes Christianity so resistible in today's culture? What needs to change in order to repeat the growth our faith had at its beginning? Many people who leave or disparage the faith cite reasons that have less to do with Jesus than with the conduct of his followers. It's time to hit pause and consider the faith modeled by our first-century brothers and sisters who had no official Bible, no status, and little chance of survival. It's time to embrace the version of faith that initiated—against all human odds—a chain of events resulting in the most significant and extensive cultural transformation the world has ever seen. This is a version of Christianity we must remember and re-embrace if we want to be salt and light in an increasingly savorless and dark world.

Leading scholar Daniel Block helps students of the Bible understand the big picture of God's covenants with humanity as they play out in both the First and the New Testaments. After fifty years of teaching and preaching around the globe, Block brings a lifetime of study and reflection on the First Testament and relationship with God to this comprehensive volume. The book focuses on God's covenants as the means by which God has reached out to a fallen humanity. It examines the heart and history of God's redemptive plan and shows why the covenants are essential for our understanding of the Bible.

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” —Genesis 17:4 Throughout the Bible, God has related to his people through covenants. It is through these covenant relationships, which collectively serve as the foundation for God’s promise to bring redemption to his people, that we can understand the advancement of his kingdom. This book walks through six covenants from Genesis to Revelation, helping us grasp the overarching narrative of Scripture and see the salvation God has planned for us since the beginning of time—bolstering our faith in God and giving us hope for the future. Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series.

A Comprehensive Exploration of the Biblical Covenants This book forms an overview of the biblical teaching on covenant as well as the practical significance of covenant for the Christian life. A host of 26 scholars shows how covenant is not only clearly taught from Scripture, but also that it lays the foundation for other key doctrines of salvation. The contributors, who engage variously in biblical, systematic, and historical theology, present covenant theology not as a theological abstract imposed on the Bible but as a doctrine that is organically presented throughout the biblical narrative. As students, pastors, and church leaders come to see the centrality of covenant to the Christian faith, the more the church will be strengthened with faith in the covenant-keeping God and encouraged in their understanding of the joy of covenant life.

This book is the printed form of a Doctoral Dissertation, the focus of the Paper is the application of Ancient Near East covenant principles to exegesis of New Testament Scriptures. This is an important work, for such application demonstrates many fallacies within currently held to Reformed Theology. Application of covenant principles to interpretation of New Testament Scripture is a more complete hermeneutic than what the Reformers had, and must be incorporated into the modern codified set of Biblical Hermeneutics. Because the New Testament is not a testament but a covenant modeled after ANE covenants, understanding what a covenant is and how a covenant operates is paramount to a more complete and accurate set of interpretative rules for comprehending ancient documents. This work is no less important to preachers, teachers, scholars and theologians than is Mendenhall and Trumbull's seminal work on covenants, Kline's work on covenant law, or Sander's work on the law.

One of the most misunderstood concepts of the Bible among Christians of all faiths is that of the old and new covenants. For decades, if not for centuries, Bible scholars and commentators have spoken of the meaning of these covenants in a general way and thus with no particular appeal. The problem has been that many of the explanations have grown out of a desire to prop up some cherished theological position. Thus the terms 'old covenant" and "new covenant" have become mere cliches that we use and hear, with no clear certainty about what they really mean. If you want to look directly at the nature of the covenants themselves, and find out what they actually are, The Glory and the Covenants is meant for you. Many ideas regarding the covenants held by Christians are vague and meaningless. When asked what the two covenants are, most people fumble for words unable to give a solid Biblical description. Usually there is some indistinct notion about the old covenant being for Jews and the new covenant being for Christians and that's where it stays. However no one seems to know just where in the Bible it says that. The Theologian and Apostle Paul, of Jewish and Christian heritage, is the one Bible writer to give the most detailed explanations of the covenants. Do you know the two foundational stories in the Old Testament that Paul uses as a foundation for his understanding of the two covenants? Can you give at least three illustrations from real life that Paul uses to depict the characteristics of the two covenants? Do you know just what characteristics someone will have in their life if they are trying to live under the old or new covenant? If you hesitated when thinking of answers to these questions then you will love reading this book. Lights will come on, indistinct things will come into focus, and you will no longer see "men as trees walking" (Mark 8:24) While the other writers of the New Testament may have used the word "covenant" a time or two in their books, the Apostle Paul referenced it over 20 times. For Paul the understanding of the two covenants is the bedrock of his gospel proclamation. Without a proper understanding of the covenants a presentation of the gospel falls incredibly short. Once you have heard the message of Paul unpacked in The Glory and the Covenants the subject will never be vague and indistinct for you again.

Evangelical Christianity has long been founded on the theological tradition of "justification by faith alone." This is the heart of the Protestant gospel. But how close is it to the Gospel revealed in Scripture? In Saved by Faithfulness, Mark Skillin highlights the interpretational problems that emerge when one holds to a faith alone paradigm. He talks about the importance of the concept of covenant in Scripture, and demonstrates through a survey of the biblical covenants that God has always placed faith and obedience in very close relationship to each other as necessary for the salvation of His people. Saved by Faithfulness challenges centuries of Scriptural interpretation and consequent church practice which have enshrined a distorted gospel, with far reaching consequences for the church. It is a call to return to faithful biblical interpretation and faithful Christian lives.