COVENANT COMMUNITIES
“Rules
are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.”
Douglas MacArthur. If we apply the “rules are made to be broken” approach to,
let’s say, sports, then how would a soccer match look if it followed the rules
of rugby? Or how would a game of cricket look if it followed tennis rules? I’m
sure if ice hockey started playing by the rules of baseball, then it would no
longer be hockey but baseball! Of course, when Douglas MacArthur made his quote
he was referring to government red tape and not referring to sports. Indeed, in
the height of battle Government over-regulation can be restrictive when one is
trying to win a war. However, in the ordinary bump and grind of life, things
run smother if everyone plays by the rules. But who makes the rules?
The
Geneva Conventions are the laws of war. The rules for sports are made up by the
various sports bodies. Sometimes rules or laws need to be tweaked, e.g., in the
interests of players’ safety in sports or civilians and non-combatants in war.
God’s covenant contains all the rules for humanity. However, just as there are
different sports’ codes, so there are different rules for different groups of
humanity. Let us call these groups of humanity “covenant communities.” There
are three basic covenant communities to be found in any Western nation, viz.,
Family, Church, and State. Notice that the covenant rules for each of these
communities, Family, Church, and State, are not the same. The Family is
symbolised by a rod, the Church by keys, and the State by a sword. The rod is
symbolic of family discipline, the keys of belonging to the Church are of God’s
Kingdom, and the sword is, of course, justice as administered by the State.
Just as the game of tennis works better with racquets than hockey sticks, so
the State works better with the sword of justice than with the keys of the
kingdom or the rod of discipline.
It
has taken centuries and has cost lots of blood and treasure for the West to
progress to the point where the demarcation of each of these covenant
communities has become and remains distinct. In history families have ruled
both Church and State, or the Church has ruled both the Family and the State,
or the State has ruled both the Family and the Church. Any nation is at its healthiest
when these covenant communities can easily be distinguished from each other.
However, the covenants of each of these communities comes under and is kept in
check by an overarching covenant, the Covenant of God. “One nation under God”
states this principle simplest and best.
Interacting
with the writing of Herman Bavinck, Cornelius Venema says,
"Whether in marriage, family, business, science, or
art, human social relationships and interaction invariably take the form of
covenants in which there is mutual obligation and intercommunion. This is no
less true of the highest and all-embracing relationship between God as Creator
and man as his creature. Indeed, there is no possible way human beings could
enjoy blessedness in fellowship with God other than through a covenant
relationship. In the first place, the “infinite distance” between God as
Creator and man as creature confirms that there is no possibility of communion
with God without covenant."[1]
The
Triune God is eternally in covenant with Himself. Each of the three Persons in the Godhead eternally loves God and His Neighbour as Himself. Loving God and your
neighbour as yourself is the summary of the Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments, the Decalogue, is the outward expression of the inward character
of God. Thus, the Covenant rules for humanity are the Ten Commandments as they
apply to every sphere of human social relationships and interaction. Thus, in
order to function properly the covenant communities of the Family, the Church,
and the State must each look to and adhere to the covenant rules as laid out by
God. These covenant rules must be adhered to only as they apply to the
respective communities with clear demarcation lines. Otherwise, like some out
of control ice-hockey games, they will begin to look more like boxing matches!
The
Bible is the Book of the Covenant. It is revelation of God from God, of how God
interacts within Himself as Father and Son and Holy Spirit, of how He interacts
with humanity, and of human social relationships and interactions. The Bible
records a series of “case studies” in which the Old Testament nation of Israel,
interacts with each of the Ten Commandments, as “one nation under God”. Though
there were one or two positive and therefore hopeful moments, (e.g., the early
days of Solomon), the lines of demarcation for the covenant communities (as in
prophets, priests, and kings) remained blurry at best and non-existent at
worst, resulting in national chaos throughout its history.
In
His Sermon on the Mount Jesus spelled out how God’s Covenant Law (the Ten
Commandments) properly applies to the individual, the family, the church, and
the state, i.e., in all human social relationships and interaction. Love for
God and neighbour is to be at the heart of each covenant community.
I
fear that after having come so far, Western nations are beginning to blur the
lines of covenant demarcation. The State is gaining too much control over the
Family and the Church as it redefines gender and marriage. As the old
bumper-stickers reminds us, it’s “God’s Law or Chaos!). The West looked so
promising…
[1]
Cornelius P. Venema, Christ + Covenant Theology, P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg,
New Jersey, pp. 163-4. 2017.
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