Latest revision as of 20:38, 6 April 2019

Objectives

• Students will admit that while total depravity is globally true, it is also locally true in that each individual is totally depraved.

Opening

• What are examples of promises that were made to you that took a long time to be fulfilled?

Main Body

The Dispensation of Promise

The Dispensation

• What command did God give Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3?
  • Get out of your country
  • Leave your family
  • Go to a land I will show you

• What promises did God give Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3?
  • He would be a great nation
  • He would receive a special blessing
  • God would provide blessing through Abraham

• Why do you suppose that God called Abraham out?
  • I believe that this is another aspect of God's unfolding demonstration that he alone is Holy. Man fell from innocence, violated conscience despite knowing good from evil, and used government for evil rather than restraining evil. Mankind is in every way, totally depraved. Now God is going to show that even select men are totally depraved. When we speak of the total depravity of man we often think about the total depravity of others. Through the dispensation of promise God shows that we are each, individually, totally depraved.

• Did Abraham perfectly follow God's directions?
  • No, Abraham brought Lot with him (Genesis 12:5). I don't think I can dogmatically say he was wrong to do so, but God told him to separate from his larger family and Lot did cause Abraham a lot of problem.
  • Also, Abraham fled to Egypt when things got difficult in Genesis 12:10-20. Ultimately, the entire nation of Israel ends up in Egypt.

• If the dispensation of promise was a test of Abraham and his decadents ability to obey, what was the result?
  • Failure of that test. God alone is Holy.

The Source of Holiness in the Dispensation of Promise

• According to Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19 what was it that Abraham had?
  • Faith

• According to Hebrews 11:20-22, what did each of the Patriarchs in the dispensation of promise possess?
  • Faith

• According to Genesis 15:6, what was the source of Abraham's righteousness?
  • We are often quick to say it was his belief. I don't want to devalue this but read carefully, belief was certainly important but what does it say? God accounted it to him for righteousness. In other words it was by grace, through faith. God still bestowed the righteousness. Remember that each dispensation demonstrates that without God we are totally hopeless.
  • This truth is so foundational that it is actually repeated three times in the New Testament, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23.

• What was the means by which someone was declared righteous in the dispensation of promise?
  • by grace through faith just as it is today according to Ephesians 2:8-9

The Abrahamic Covenant

The Covenant and Ratification

In Genesis 15, God takes the promises of Genesis 12 and turns them into a unconditional covenant.

• What request does Abraham make in Genesis 15:7-8?
  • In essence Abraham wants God to ratify His promises in the form of a covenant.

• What does God ask Abraham to do in Genesis 15:9-11?
  • God asks Abraham to prepare for an ancient covenant ratification ceremony. This ceremony apparently involved walking between animals that had ben cut in half. "The proceeding corresponded rather to the custom, prevalent in many ancient nations, of slaughtering animals when concluding a covenant, and after dividing them into pieces, of laying the pieces opposite to one another, that the persons making the covenant might pass between them." ^[1]

• What promises are made in in Genesis 15:12-16?
  • Descent into Egypt
  • Deliverance
  • Note: this is not the covenant yet, the covenant is about to happen.

• How is the covenant ratified in Genesis 15:17?
  • God, in the image of a oven and rich passes through the animals. God does not allow Abraham to pass. In other words, God is making an unconditional covenant with Abraham.

• What is the covenant God makes according to Genesis 15:18-21?
  • God promises Abraham the inheritance. It is worth noting that Israel has never possessed this entire promised land. Final possession will not happen until the millennium.

Conditional or Unconditional?

• What does Genesis 16 teach us about Abraham's faith?
  • Abraham's faith faltered. This does not mean Abraham lost faith or lost his righteous standing before God. Rather this is important because it teaches us that even faithful Abraham who was counted as righteous still messed up.

• Some theologians use Genesis 17:1-2 to argue that the covenant was conditional and God is renewing the covenant with Abraham after Abraham broke it with Hagar. Does this fit Genesis 15? Is there a better explanation?
  • I think Genesis 15 is pretty strongly unconditional so instead of the future tense in 17:2 indicating a future covenant I suggest it indicates future fulfillment. In other words, this is God clearly stating that he is going to fulfill His covenant.

• What sign had God given Noah of His covenant?
  • God provided the rainbow to remind all of us of God's covenant with Noah.

• According to Genesis 17:9-10, what sign did God give Abraham of the covenant?
  • Circumcision

• How does Romans 4:9-12 teach that circumcision was a sign of the covenant and not a condition of the covenant?
  • Romans clearly teaches that circumcision was a sign. Circumcision was used to signify those who fell under the special covenant God had promised Abraham. Also, notice that circumcision was performed on an infant. I think signifies demonstrates the unconditional nature of the covenant, the child is not performing any act rather the covenant is being given unconditionally. We could spend an entire series on circumcision but we don't want to get bogged down in it at this point.

• Circumcision was not a condition on the covenant. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant. God still has a plan for Israel. What other passages highlight the fact that God still has a plan for Israel?
  • Romans 11:1-2
  • Romans 11:25-29
  • Hebrews 6:13-18

Conclusion

• According to Galatians 3:7-9 and 26-29, in what way does the Abrahamic covenant apply to us today?
  • God promised to bless all nations through Abraham. God has accomplished this through Christ. In particular, 26-29 do not teach that the universal church replaces Israel, instead they teach that through the blessing given to Abraham God has brought people to himself regardless of their ancestral descent.

• What does this mean for us?
  • We need to understand that Christ offers salvation to all. Remember that in each dispensation God demonstrated that man is in and of himself totally depraved and incapable of holiness. It is only through Christ that we can be united together with God in righteousness.

References

1. ↑ Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 137.