What is the difference between...

[cizz]

     A covenant and a promise? 

[cizz]

Here is an article I found on (The Hebrew for "promise")

http://www.tidings.org/exhortations/exhort200002.htm

Excerpt:

The Hebrew for "promise"

The word promise is very distinct in English. It has a clear and defined meaning and I thought the Hebrew word translated "promise" would carry the same sense. So I was surprised when I searched for the word "promise" in the Old Testament, I discovered there is no exact Hebrew equivalent for "promise" in English. The ancient Hebrew word for promise is dabar. This is a word we still use in Israel today. Literally it is just the noun form of the verb "to speak." Or simply the word means, "word." For example, when we read in Psalm 105:42, "For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant." The literal translation is "For he remembered his holy word, and his servant Abraham."

As the hymn goes, Jesus has promised that all who follow him will share his glory. Or in the words of Genesis 22:16, 18: "By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son...In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth by blessed, because thou has obeyed my voice." From here on in the inspired Bible, this is referred to as the "word" spoken to Abraham, or in our tongue, the "promise." What else is important is that Abraham is given this promise because he first had done a "thing." The word "thing" in the Hebrew is the same word translated word and promise -- dabar. Because Abraham had trust in God and had made a "promise" to God to do His will (even to sacrifice his son), God in turn made a promise to Abraham, swearing by Himself, that through his seed all nations would be blessed. Of course, it is through this that we also receive our promise by becoming part of Abraham’s seed.

[cizz]

Post from sister Betty: http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?showtopic=37804&st=0&gopid=398446&#entry398446  Post #2

Good Morning, Sister Cizz :




http://bible.cc/galatians/3-16.htm


Galatians 3:16

International Standard Version (©2008)
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn't say "descendants," referring to many, but "your descendant," referring to one person, who is the Messiah.


Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. This verse is parenthetical. The covenant of promise was not "spoken" (so Greek for "made") to Abraham alone, but "to Abraham and his seed"; to the latter especially; and this means Christ (and that which is inseparable from Him, the literal Israel, and the spiritual, His body, the Church). Christ not having come when the law was given, the covenant could not have been then fulfilled, but awaited the coming of Him, the Seed, to whom it was spoken.

promises-plural, because the same promise was often repeated (Ge 12:3, 7; 15:5, 18; 17:7; 22:18), and because it involved many things; earthly blessings to the literal children of Abraham in Canaan, and spiritual and heavenly blessings to his spiritual children; but both promised to Christ, "the Seed" and representative Head of the literal and spiritual Israel alike. In the spiritual seed there is no distinction of Jew or Greek; but to the literal seed, the promises still in part remain to be fulfilled (Ro 11:26). The covenant was not made with "many" seeds (which if there had been, a pretext might exist for supposing there was one seed before the law, another under the law; and that those sprung from one seed, say the Jewish, are admitted on different terms, and with a higher degree of acceptability, than those sprung from the Gentile seed), but with the one seed; therefore, the promise that in Him "all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Ge 12:3), joins in this one Seed, Christ, Jew and Gentile, as fellow heirs on the same terms of acceptability, namely, by grace through faith (Ro 4:13); not to some by promise, to others by the law, but to all alike, circumcised and uncircumcised, constituting but one seed in Christ (Ro 4:16). The law, on the other hand, contemplates the Jews and Gentiles as distinct seeds. God makes a covenant, but it is one of promise; whereas the law is a covenant of works. Whereas the law brings in a mediator, a third party (Ga 3:19, 20), God makes His covenant of promise with the one seed, Christ (Ge 17:7), and embraces others only as they are identified with, and represented by, Christ.

one . Christ-not in the exclusive sense, the man Christ Jesus, but "Christ" (Jesus is not added, which would limit the meaning), including His people who are part of Himself, the Second Adam, and Head of redeemed humanity. Ga 3:28, 29 prove this, "Ye are all ONE in Christ Jesus" (Jesus is added here as the person is indicated). "And if ye be Christ's, ye are Abraham's SEED, heirs according to the promise."

[Adullam]

God's word is His promise!

[cizz]

God's word is His promise!

  Amen! 

I found this answer on WikiAnswers: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_covenant_and_a_promise

A covenant is an agreement to a collection of promises between two or more parties for mutual gain and benefit. A promise is a pledge from one party to another agreeing to do/ not do something in the future.


Also: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080929193819AAaUBCm

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http://wsu.edu/~dee/HEBREWS/BERIT.HTM

Excerpt:

The relationship implied by the term "berit" is the relationship between a lord and his servants, for in Hebrew, a "berit" is a promise that is made unilaterally by a lord to his servants that he will protect and provide for those servants. The promise is not required by law nor forced on the lord by his servants—it is entirely voluntary. The word "covenant" means "business deal," or "contract," and implies a promise to deliver one end of the contract if the other end is met. But a covenant is a bilateral agreement; it takes the particpation of both parties and they are bound only by the terms of the covenant or agreement. God's berit  , however, is undertaken unilaterally without the participation of Abraham or his people in the agreement. Abraham is simply selected. As implied in the word, the relationship of God to his chosen people is a relationship of a lord to his servants; the chosen people, as servants, owe to God primarily obedience. In this sense, the Abrahamic berit  is open-ended; by choosing Abraham's offspring, God is demanding of that offspring unquestioning obedience for all the rules to come in the future. For God has not revealed his rules to his chosen people in the time of Abraham; that will come centuries later when the Hebrews are delivered from Egypt.

   So while it is traditional to translate the word "covenant" and to describe the relationship between Yahweh and his people as "covenantal," think of the word as meaning "promise," which is how the Greeks translate it when they translate the Torah into Greek. The Romans translate the word as "contractual pledge" and "testament" (which is a will that disposes of one's goods after one's death), from whence we get "covenant" (as well as "Old Testament" and "New Testament," which are nonsensical titles).

[me2lord]

How awesome is that finding on the word promise used with the Hebrew word which simply means word...the Word...the only Word...wow wow wow!     

what a great finding to share with us...Love you bunches for that gem....


In Christ's love