Covenants

Covenants are complex

Have you ever signed a promissory note in your life? If you have, why?

By the very nature, covenants are complex enactments.

Characteristic of Covenants

(1) historical events that create relationships, usually (though not necessarily) between unequal partners

(2) customary ways of thinking characteristic of both parties, especially common religious ideas associated with deities;

(3) descriptions of norms for future behavior (which are often confused with “laws”);

(4) literary or oral forms in which the agreement is couched

(5) almost always some ritual act that is regarded as essential to the ratification of the binding promise

Since covenants are typically enacted between parties to create relationships that did not previously exist, both the substance and the form of covenants must be valid and meaningful to both