Love in Covenant Terms
Is not God’s love for the unbeliever (like John 3:16, Ps. 36:5-6) a love for one who has broken covenant?
Hosea 6:7, “But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant…”
If all the sons of Adam, as C.S. Lewis brilliantly described the boys in Narnia (Man in Hebrew is Adam), have likewise broken covenant, this implies 2 things, 1. That God made covenant with man BEFORE the Fall, and 2. All of us, BEFORE we became believers, were covenant-breakers.
If so, this brings New Testament understanding to the Hebrew word for love, “Hassed”; denoting a steadfast, covenantal faithfulness.
If this love is for unbelievers, it means much. It means that God doesn’t have different types of love, one limited type of love toward unbelievers and one vastly different love toward believers. He has one love, the Love that He Himself is, a covenant-keeping love. This changes the way I think God deals with man, He deals with us on the basis of covenant, before and after we fell.
What are the parameters and elements of covenant? These I will explore in the future. For now, let’s think about God’s love for the unbeliever as possibly being a love for one who has BROKEN COVENANT..
(Please comment and tell me what you think)
Truman
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“the Love that He Himself is…” is there anything better than that? The way that God’s being is somehow, in some strange mystery, fully defined and encompassed by Love? A covenant-al love for those who have turned their back and said no. He’s astounding…
Truman,
you definitely inspire me to get a better understanding of God’s covenants with man.
I think I’m tracking with your basic idea here, but am not quite sure I agree just yet. Looking forward to your future posts.
-Abby
Chessed actually means kindness and is used exclusively as such in hebrew. Ahava is love.