The Marriage Covenant-Part II

Rev. Jeffrey J. Meyers
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(Continued from The Marriage Covenant-Part I)

The Covenant of Creation

Beginning with the very first covenant, which is the covenant of creation, we ought to focus especially on God's covenantal relation with Adam in Genesis 2:4-17. Remember, we have already seen how God's relationship with Adam is covenantal from the start. Here in Genesis 2:4b-17, we have most of the basic outline of the covenantal relation between God and man. For pedagogical purposes I will analyze God's covenant under five headings.

First, in initiating this covenant, Yahweh (note the personal, covenantal name of God) takes hold of the ground and separates out of it material to form a new being. There is a separation. This is extremely important. Every covenant in the Bible will involve a separation of some portion of the old "material" in such a way that it can be formed into something new. Here in Genesis 2, after taking hold of the dust of the ground, God then makes a new being when the breath of life is united with the dust of the ground. There is a union. A separation and a union produce something new. What was once merely dirt is now transfigured into a new creation - Adam. Every covenant involves some kind of separation - a transfiguration of the old - and a union resulting in a new creation. God Himself, the covenant Lord, Yahweh, takes the initiative and graciously inaugurates this process.

Second, the new creation is given a new name. It's not entirely clear just where in the narrative of Genesis 2 that this first man gets the name "Adam." It's probably right up front in Genesis 2:7: "Yahweh God formed Adam from the dust of the ground." Adam is, however, also defined as "a living being" (literally, a "living soul"; Heb: nephesh hayim). This is the new creation. Implicit in this covenantal arrangement thus far is a proper hierarchy: Yahweh is God and Lord, and man is creature under Yahweh and answerable to Him. Yahweh is the one who took hold of the dust, united it with the breath of life, brought about this new being, and gave it a name. He is Lord. And Adam is in a living relationship with Yahweh, his Creator and covenant Lord. Covenants always involve new lines of authority fitting for the new covenantal arrangement.

Third, God speaks to Adam. Instructions are given. Words are essential for personal, covenantal relations. God's speech to Adam informs him of God's gracious arrangement with him. God's speech to Adam also constitutes their personal relations. Yahweh talks to him about what he is to do ("serve and guard the Garden"). Furthermore, Adam is told that he is free to eat of any tree in the Garden (including the Tree of Life, v. 9). Words inaugurate and sustain all covenantal relations.

Fourth, covenantal arrangements involve tangible signs and seals (often accompanied by public oaths of loyalty) with promises for faithfulness and threatened curses for disobedience. Here in Genesis 2:16 Yahweh commands Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Two trees are singled out of the rest to serve as "sacramental" signs and seals of the covenant. This should not surprise us, since food functions this way in virtually every covenant in the Bible. But the important point here is that essential to every biblical covenant are these public, very physical memorials of the covenant. There is a sign of the covenant, something physical and tangible to remind God and Adam of the covenant: the two trees in the Garden. Faithfully maintaining the covenant demands that Adam and Eve maintain a faithful relation to these two trees.

The Fifth aspect of the covenant of creation is God's arrangement for its succession. In other words, God ordains for the perpetuation of the covenantal relation. Here in Genesis 2 this aspect of the Adamic covenant is actually God's gift of a woman to help man and insure the continuation of the human race through childbearing. So, Genesis 2:18-24 embodies this fifth element of God's covenantal arrangement. The marriage covenant is directly related to this fifth dimension of the creation covenant.

And voila! We have a covenant. The first covenant. What was once plain old dust is separated from the ground, brought into a new state of existence, and given a new name. There is a new order and a fitting line of authority: Creator over creature. God inaugurates and maintains this new relationship with Adam by speaking to him, and Adam is encouraged to find blessing and life in obedience to his gracious covenant Lord. Finally, He graciously provides for the succession of the covenant by making a wife for Adam. There you have it. God and Adam are in covenant with one another. We call this "the creation covenant" or "the covenant of life."

I need to make a few qualifying comments here. I do not mean to suggest that this five-fold way of enumerating the dimensions of covenantal arrangements is the only way to slice the pie of this rich relationship that the Bible calls a covenant. There have been other Reformed theologians who have analyzed this covenantal sequence using a three-fold, a four-fold, a six-fold, a seven-fold, even an eight-fold model. Models like these are helpful in that they quantify for us something of the amazing richness of God's covenantal dealings with man. Like maps, they also help us appreciate a rich landscape by giving us some identifiable features from which to orient ourselves. Those who use different numerical models will almost always include everything that I have discussed, even if they sometimes lump some of them together or separate others out and made a separate "point" out of them. There are always fuzzy boundries between these "points." This five-fold way of breaking it down has been given a convenient acronym by a friend of mine, Ralph Smith (a missionary in Japan). He uses the Greek word for God (theos) to help us remember these five aspects:

T (transcendence)
H (hierarchy)
E (ethics)
O (oaths)
S (succession)

This is as good a way to remember this as any I know. Transcendence: God sovereignly and graciously initiates the covenant by taking hold of the old order, separating out something (usually person or a people), and inaugurating a "new creation." Hierarchy: the new order is given a new name and new lines of authority. Ethics: God speaks to the new person or people, instructing them in the way of life appropriate for covenant. Oaths: covenant signs and seals are given which are tangible memorials, even "witnesses" of the covenant. Usually blessings and curses are also enumerated at this point to encourage faithfulness to God's gracious new arrangement. Succession: everything needed to perpetuate the covenant is provided by God.

Now, let's review what we have discovered here in this original creation covenant. The creation covenant contains in seed form everything that will go into the other covenants in the Scriptures. Here the covenant involves:

1) A separation from one state to another, from the old to the new: a new creation.
2) A new union (dirt and life-giving breath of Yahweh) with a corresponding new name together with a new hierarchical relationship. There is a covenant head (Yahweh) and there are those who are dependent on that covenant head (human creatures).
3) A new verbal communication of stipulations comes the covenant Lord, a way of life fit for the new covenantal situation, a gracious enumeration of how to live fully and joyfully in this new covenant.
4) The gift of signs and seals of the covenant (two trees) together with a setting forth of blessings for grateful faithfulness and curses for ungrateful disobedience.
5) Yahweh's arrangements for the future succession of the covenant, which in this covenant involves marriage and children.

Canvassing the Whole Bible

It is appropriate now to examine in summary form the other biblical covenants and see how they also fit this basic pattern. We will see that these same dimensions (and, of course, more) are present in every covenantal initiative that God makes with His people, from Noah to Christ. I will not examine these covenants in great detail, but will attempt to establish the presence of this basic pattern. My goal is to show, at the end, how the marriage covenant fits with this pattern and then, in the light of these dimensions of the covenant, to examine how healthy, biblical marriages need to be maintained and enjoyed by Christian men and women.

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