The San Diego Presbytery publishes a document that highlights some of the distinctives of reformed expression of the Christian Faith. Here's what they say about Christian Covenant Life
Covenant, in the cultural context of the Bible, described the strongest relationship of
love and loyalty between persons. It was a solemn relationship and bond, often with
explicit oaths and obligations, often sealed solemnly with the blood of sacrifice.
Reconciliation after hostility and conflict was often marked by a covenant
ceremony. A covenant was entered into by faith as a relationship of trust and
solemn promises; it was held together by faithfulness. Covenant faithfulness led to
blessing and life; breaking covenant invoked a curse. Covenants described the
relationship between rulers and subjects, wife and husband, business partners,
neighboring nations. God adapted this covenant model to describe his special
relationship and bond with the people he redeemed.
God’s covenants had different forms and details at different times in salvation
history (for example, with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David), but they reflected a
single sovereign and gracious purpose to redeem, sanctify, and preserve a people
who belonged to God. The divine covenant was always initiated by God; it was
sustained by God’s faithfulness in spite of humankind’s history of unfaithfulness; it
was an expression of God’s steadfast love (Hebrew, hesed); and it reached a
culmination and fullness in the “new covenant” (Luke 22:20) established and
perfected by Jesus Christ.
In Jesus, the promised Messiah, we encounter personally and directly the Mediator
of God’s perfect and everlasting covenant (Hebrews 9:15). Jesus has perfectly
fulfilled the obligations of the covenant for us; he has demonstrated complete
faithfulness to God as a covenant partner. In his substitutionary death he took on
himself the curse for our covenant breaking, ended the hostility our sins had caused,
reconciled us and made us right with God. Those who put their faith in Christ are
spiritually united with him, enter the new covenant where there is salvation and
redemption, become members of the covenant community called the church, and
enjoy the covenant promises of eternal life and blessing.
Every believer is called to be a faithful and participating member of a local church,
where “the community of the new covenant” has local expression and where they
can be discipled into holiness and maturity. The community of the new covenant is
to be a demonstration of the supernatural reality and power of the kingdom of
God—what the world looks like and might become where God is acknowledged as
King; a community of love and wholeness; a ministry extending the healing,
deliverance, and grace that marked the life of Jesus and his disciples.
Scripture
Genesis 6:18; 9:8-17; 17:1-8; Exodus 19:3-6; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 9:6-7; Jeremiah
23:5-6; 31:31-34
Luke 22:20; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:12-13; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 2:9-10
Confessions
Scots Confession 3.16
Second Helvetic Confession 5.125-5.126
Confession of 1967 9.31
What Is Not Affirmed
Any doctrine—
• that promotes a covenant life which is to be lived out in a solitary manner, devoid of
community;
• that suggests that covenant life need not be different than the life of the unbeliever in
any profound way;
• that would seek to lay the foundation of our covenant life on anything other than or
contrary to God’s Word.
