Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)

Sacra theologia

I AM WITH YOU EVERY DAY... (GOD’S PROMISES ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES) 39

The paradox of faith reaches its climax where, despite the impossible situation, the divine word and sign open up immeasurable horizons for Abraham, since the promises given to him are both fulfilled. His invitation, and then the promise given to him, is the starting point in the history of salvation for the people of Israel. Abraham is therefore the first person to respond to God’s word without hesitation and to set out on a pilgrimage of faith in response to the invitation: he is thus the first witness to the fulfilment of his promises. From this point of view Abraham is seen as our ancestor in the faith, whom the Apostle Paul also proposes as an example to his readers (i.e. Rom 4).

IV. The covenant promises

The Bible teaches us that the Creator and Maintainer of all things is the Sovereign Lord, our holy God who seeks and establishes a relationship with man. God is the initiator, who sovereignly reveals himself to whomever and however he wills; his free love cannot be earned by man, but can only be accepted as a gift, as in the case of Abraham and the promises made to him. In the course of salvation history, however, this relationship, which seems to be one-sided, gradually deepens, widens and becomes visible in a reciprocal way in which even God desires and therefore expects a freely given response, not only from a single individual but from a whole nation whom he has chosen to receive and bear his holiness and promises. The dialogue between God, who reveals himself, and man is seen as a covenantal relationship of its own.5 It provides the framework in which the divine promises are made and in the context of which they are fulfilled. We have spoken of the making of the covenant with Abraham as an act with a man of faith and as a specific situation. In what follows, we will also observe that there is a condition for the survival of a living and vital relationship, namely man’s readiness to respond, which is shown by his acceptance of the gift of the promises and by his conversion of the promises into action, which God asks of him. By faith in God, he accepts the covenant and commits himself to keeping the conditions of the so-called ‘sacred bérit’ (the sacred covenant) in order to fulfil the promise - so that he may become a witness to the fulfilment of the promise in his descendants.

Observing the particularities of the ‘sacred bérit’6 between God and man, we may discover that the first step is always taken by God towards man, who,

5 What the Hebrew Bible means by the word bérit, the English language renders by the word “covenant’. And the Greek Septuagint uses the word diathéké, which has the profane meaning ‘will’, hence the Latin equivalent is testamentum.

6 Although we speak of covenant making between people still now, and even in the Bible and in the ancient Near Eastern world there were many covenants, these covenant relationships, known as ‘profane covenants’, are fundamentally different from the covenant relationships that have