Gods Plan of Salvation | Page 4

heart of the Gospel; verse 17 is just one
aspect
W e turn our thoughts to where the salvation-plan had its
true foundation. We take our place with the call of
Abraham; and to the central and foundational role of
God's covenant with Abraham.
17

3. GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM
God's Salvation-Plan was initiated with the call of
Abraham and the subsequent Covenant, Abraham's
faith and the later giving of Torah and Covenant-
falure
Abram was called by God to leave his father's land and
go to one God would show him (Gen 12:1) Along with the
Call came a Promise that in Abram all the nations of the
earth would be blessed. (Gen 12:2-3). In faith Abram
trusted in God's faithfulness, and we read later that this
was counted as righteousness (Gen 15:5-6) when God
made a Covenant with Abraham (Gen 15:15-18).
Before pursuing the Covenant further, it is worth turning to
one side and consider the fact that Abraham's faith was
counted as righteousness: what do we mean by
'righteousness'. Is it what the traditional Reformed view
holds or not? Surely, it has much more to do with God's
character and will to 'put things right', and in face with
man's fall and sinfulness and the associated corruption of
the whole creation (Rom 8:23). And God's plan is rooted
in that wider concept of righteousness which Paul, with
his Jewish roots and training would know was in terms of
"covenantal faithfulness", and his choice of Abraham and
his offspring, with whom he made covenant, purely to put
things right. This contains an eschatological element; God
would one day intervene again to fulfil that 'putting-all-
right' This point becomes clearer when we go on to look
at that pivotal chapter, Romans 4.
Covenant-faithfulness is indeed a key elements in God's
salvation-plan. Consider these words of Tom Wright:
we can say with extremely solid assurance that 'God's righteousness',
in Paul as in the Psalms and Isaiah regularly refers to God's own
18

righteousness, not in the mediaeval senses which iustita Dei
generated, but in the Old Testament....sense of the 'covenant-
faithfulness of God, through and because of which,[.....]ultimately all
creation will be set right 5
W e already note that Abraham believed God's call, and it
was counted righteousness. God overlooked Abraham's
sin and then confirmed his faith and the promise of a
family and nation in a Covenant.
This faith of Abraham's is the theme of Romans 4, often
considered as pointing Abraham as a 'proof case' for
justification by faith. This is one reading of Rom 4:3-5. But
this misses the real point of all of chapter 4, which is
about the bigger picture: God's establishment of his
covenant people. Rom 4:11 looks at the giving of the
covenant mark of circumcision. and that Abraham
received this mark after the ratifying of the covenant (see
Gen 15:15-18).
But the point that verse 11 makes in this context is that
Gentile as well as Jew could 'qualify' for covenant
inclusion. Compare this verse:-”He received circumcision
as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to
make him the father of all who believe without being
circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned
to them “(RSV) with Gen 17:11 (where the seal of
circumcision is given) :-”You shall be circumcised in the
flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between me and you “(RSV) The point is that
where Genesis uses 'covenant', Romans uses
'righteousness' In other words justification is the
equivalent of covenant-membership.
And that was the position after Jesus died on the Cross
and God raised him again, The central point at stake is
19

whether we are in God's people; 'in Christ', included in
covenant blessing. Yes we are as covenant-members
justified as we have believed God's faithfulness just as
Abraham. did; whose sin God overlooked because he
knew the day would come when he would deal with sins
already committed, (Rom 3:25)
W e shall be returning to the subject of God's people-of-
promise later in this book. Meanwhile we need to stay
with the covenant theme. The people of God after
Abraham flourished, through Joseph settled in Egypt, and
after mistreatment they were set free through God's
intervention and escaped and travelled into the Sinai
desert. Here called them his chosen people.
“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod
19:5,6) They had already received the Torah (the Law)
with (in Deut 27-29) blessings for obedience and curses
for disobedience.
Now God calls Moses up the mountain to receive the 10
Commandments. On the heels of this comes a renewal of
Covenant with the people in the 'Mosaic Covenant'
There is much to learn.
The Mosaic Covenant.
W e