Covenant - Definitions
English Dictionary Definition:
- World Book Dictionary
- A solemn agreement between two or more persons or groups
to do or not do a certain thing
Hebrew and Greek (from Strong’s Concordance) :
-
(ber-eeth) covenant, alliance, pledge
- treaty, alliance, league (man to man)
- constitution, ordinance (monarch to subjects)
- agreement, pledge (man to man)
- alliance (of friendship)
- alliance (of marriage)
Between God and man:
- alliance (of friendship)
- covenant (divine ordinance with signs or pledges)
Greek - diatheke (dee-ath-ay'-kay)
- A disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last
disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a
testament or will
- A compact, a covenant, a testament; God's covenant with Noah, etc.
Theological Definition of a
Biblical Covenant between God and Man:
- A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship
.
Note: Although this definition includes the word
agreement in order to show there are two parties,
God and man, who must enter into the provisions of the relationship, the phrase
divinely imposed is
also included to show that man can never negotiate with God or change the terms
of the covenant. (Grudem, Systematic Theology
p.515)
A covenant given by God is imposed on men. It is entirely from God. Men have no part in any negotiation over it, but it contains stipulations about their conduct and it may also include penalties for disobedience.
(Zaspel and Wells, New
Covenant Theology, p.5)